Butter Bean Soup: An easy, yummy dinner

I got this recipe from my Grandma–I’m not sure where she got it from, but I’ve added my own twist to it with the fire-roasted tomatoes and the addition of meat. This works great as a vegetarian dish too–Use veggie broth instead of chicken.

This is one of my go-to weekday recipes because it’s extremely quick and easy, and my whole family likes it.  Perfect for those not-quite-warm-enough spring evenings, this soup uses hearty butter beans, which are larger than the more well-known cannellini beans.

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cup sliced celery

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup onion, chopped

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 quart chicken broth

2 cans butter beans (if you can find the Italian-seasoned ones, even better!), drained.

1 can diced, fire-roasted tomatoes (with or without Italian seasoning)

salt and pepper, to taste

If you’d like to add meat, half of a rotisserie chicken works perfectly and is the easiest option.  I’ve also used cut-up chicken breast and turkey sausage.  

You can also make this soup even heartier by adding a small amount of quick-cooking barley or brown rice during the last 15 minutes on the stove. The soup in these photos, which I made last night, has barley in it.

Directions:

Saute the onions and celery in the olive oil with a little salt.  Add the carrots, broth and tomatoes, and bring to a boil.  Add the beans.  Add cooked meat, if desired.  Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer until carrots are cooked through.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.