Scrappy Recipe: Cannelli Bean Soup 

The Italian ladies of Sardinia cooking bean soup in Live to 100: Secrets to the Blue Zones, inspired me to make this cannellini bean soup. A versatile recipe, I can use pantry ingredients or fresh ones. It also lets me use fresh veggies that need to be cooked or risk spoilage. 

Instead of vegetable broth, I used 2 spices common in Indian cooking: mango and coriander powder. It’s a tangy and lemony combo that I find replaces vegetable broth well. 

Make this recipe your own. It’s hard to go wrong with this recipe. Scrappy cooking lets you be creative. You can make a little extra of this cannellini bean soup to freeze. 

The recipe includes using dried beans or from a can. But I hope you start cooking with dried beans. With an instant pot, it’s quick and easy. It’s also so much more economical.

Scrappy Recipe: Cannelli Bean and Kale Soup

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 30 Minutes 30 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 2 voted )

Ingredients

1.5 cup raw cannellini beans or 2 cans of 15.5 oz cans cooked cannellini
2 tbs olive oil
5 garlic cloves (grated or minced)
1 small onion (diced)
2 stalks celery (chopped finely)
1 carrot (diced)
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp mango powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 1/2 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or if using whole canned tomatoes, 4 small tomatoes
3 cups of water or vegetable broth
1 head of tuscan kale leaves chopped and hard part of stem removed
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
salt to taste

Instructions

If using dried beans, rinse beans and soak overnight. Remove overnight water and add 3 cups of water. I used the instant pot to pressure cook for 8 minutes with natural pressure release. Drain the beans.

Heat pan and add olive oil. When oil is hot, add garlic and then onions and sauté until translucent.

Add celery, carrots, and thyme. Cook until tender. Then add the spice powders and tomatoes. Simmer until tomatoes are soft (5 minutes).

Add the beans, water or vegetable stock, salt. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the kale and nutritional yeast, cover, and turn off heat. The heat will soften the kale.