This creamy, delicious white bean soup is infused with a hint of garlic, lots of fresh dill, and tender bites of asparagus in every spoonful. It's incredibly comforting, healthy, and meal-worthy. The best part: this simple soup can be on the table in about thirty minutes.
There's not a whole lot to this soup, but somehow it's still incredibly delicious and comforting. This simple soup manages to combine all the deliciousness of my vegan cream of asparagus soup and my white bean soup, but with fewer ingredients and steps than either one. It's really easy, yet incredibly tasty!
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It's asparagus season, and soup is a great type of dish for incorporating lots and lots of asparagus in. It's so easy! Asparagus requires minimal prep, and cooks up super fast. Throwing it in a pot of soup is kind of a no-brainer.
In this particular soup, fresh asparagus goes great with the creamy, savory flavor of white beans, and the refreshing, zippy character of fresh dill.
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Olive oil. Other high-heat oils like vegetable oil, canola oil, and coconut oil are fine substitutes.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Vegetable broth.
- Cannellini beans. I love the flavor of cannellini beans in this particular soup. However, you could certainly substitute other types of white beans if you don't have them on hand. Navy beans, great northern beans, and butter beans should all work just fine.
- Asparagus. Please don't use frozen or canned asparagus. We're cooking it very lightly, so it has that perfect tender-crisp texture you can only get from the fresh stuff.
- Fresh dill. This also needs to be fresh. Dried dill won't cut it in terms of flavor.
- Lemon juice. I rarely say this, but you can skip the lemon juice if you want. It's great and adds a whole layer of flavor, but I initially developed the recipe without it, and the soup was still very flavorful.
- Salt & pepper.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Heat your olive oil in a large pot, then add diced onion. Cook it for a few minutes, just to start softening it up.
Step 2: Now add your minced garlic to the pot, and cook it with the onion for about one minute, stirring and being careful to avoid burning.
Step 3: Add your broth and beans, raise the heat, and get the liquid to a boil. Lower the heat and give the soup a brief simmer — ten to fifteen minutes is all that's needed.
Step 4: Take the pot off of heat and blend half of the soup. I like to use an immersion blender for this, but you also could transfer it to a regular blender.
Step 5: Place the pot back over heat and stir in chopped asparagus. Let it simmer briefly — just let the asparagus get tender-crisp.
Step 6: Take the pot off of heat again, then stir in the dill, lemon juice if you're using it, and some salt and pepper.
Your white bean asparagus soup is ready to enjoy! Ladle it into bowls and dig in. This soup is great with some crusty bread.
Leftovers & Storage
Leftovers of this soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about three days, or in the freezer for about three months. It will thicken up during storage, but reheating will help to loosen it a bit. You can add some water or broth if it still seems too thick.
Frequently Asked Questions
It certainly is!
It can! Simply use broth or water in place of oil when cooking the onion.
Yes, but you'll need to soak and cook them completely before incorporating them into the recipe. You will need about six scant cups of cooked beans for the recipe.
Variations
- Extra creamy soup. For an extra creamy version of this soup, you can blend all of it instead of just half. Alternatively, or in addition to blending all of the soup, you could stir in up to a half cup of full-fat coconut milk or vegan heavy cream alternative.
- Extra chunky soup. Keep the soup chunky and skip blending it!
- Switch up the herbs. Not a fan of dill? Substitute fresh basil, chives, or parsley.
- Add veggies. Add some more veggies, like kale, spinach, carrots, peas, or broccoli. Keep in mind that harder veggies will take a bit more time to cook, while softer ones will cook faster.
More Soups
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📖 Recipe
Creamy White Bean, Asparagus & Dill Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 3 (15.5 ounce/439 gram) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and chopped into 1-2" pieces
- ¼ cup chopped fresh dill, or to taste
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice (optional)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with the oil and place it over medium heat. Add the onion and cook it for about five minutes, stirring occasionally, until it begins to soften.
- Stir in the garlic and cook it with the onion for about one minute, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the broth and cannellini beans. Raise the heat and bring the liquid to a boil, then lower the heat and let the soup simmer for ten to fifteen minutes, until it has thickened a bit.
- Remove the pot from heat. Blend about half of the soup, either using an immersion blender, or by transferring it to a blender then returning it to the pot. Always use caution when blending hot liquids.
- Place the pot back over medium heat, bring it back to simmer, and add the asparagus. Cook the soup 2 to 3 minutes, until the asparagus becomes bright green and tender-crisp.
- Remove the soup from heat. Stir in the dill and lemon juice (if using). Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.
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Thank you for this recipe. And, many thanks for giving us the amount of beans if cooked from dry. I love getting the fresh asparagus in the spring, and your recipe gives me another way to use them! We are still in the melting snow and muddy roads season, but as soon as I can get some fresh asparagus I plan to make this delicious soup.
Very delicious! I love Rancho Gordo beans so I used the small Alubia Blanca beans, (cooked in a crockpot in vegetable broth.) I then used this broth in the soup as well. The only addition I made was using white pepper! I love this spice, (husband not so much but he is out of town for a few days.) Thank you for the recipe!
Just made this. So quick, simple, and tasty. Using my immersion blender made it even easier. I added some roasted zucchini for extra veg impact. Thanks!
I made it last night for dinner. Delicious! The dill makes it so savory. Loved it. Thanks!
Love this! Discovered it last Spring and was really excited to make it again this year.
I add some fresh peas and use a few extra herbs, and sauté the onion and garlic with a bit of white wine. (Plus a little Parmesan on top for the non veg folks -shhhhh)
Also I make the peas from dry with an instant pot, which is a game changer! (Dry to done in an hour!) Adding just a bit of garlic, salt and oil as they cook makes them ridiculous good on their own!
That sounds like a delicious variation! I'm so glad you like it! Thanks Linda!
There is vegan parmesan. Follow your Heart and Violife are excellent tasting. Vegans don't have to miss out on anything!
And nutritional yeast can be used in place of parm, as well
This was amazing. Thank you.
I'm so happy to hear that!! Thanks Cara!
Great recipe, Alissa! I made this a few weeks back, and am making it again tonight. It was a hit with vegetarians and meat-eaters alike!
Awesome!! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Thanks Wendi!
This looks like such a delicious and hearty soup. I really want to make this next time the family is all hulled up inside the house on a cold day! They would love it! Thanks so much for sharing, I love that the soup has dill in it too! Can't wait to try making this at home.
This is perfect for a cold day! I hope everyone enjoys it!
This was superb. Maybe I will make it tomorrow during the snow.
How warming and nourishing is soup!? This recipe looks so delicious and creamy! Asparagus is one of my faves. Yum!
I don't run cold, but had the misfortune of working in places that got up to all of 55 degrees F. by noon which was brrrrrr for an office job. This looks great! Similar to how I make white bean soup with escarole, but I never thought to add asparagus. Your version is on tonight's dinner menu :)
Creamy white beans have been my crack lately. I can't get enough. I love how you totally classed them up with the dill and asparagus -- this could totally be served at a fancy pants brunch.
I am a fellow coldallthetime person! Nobody gets it! Last night I slept with long underwear as pajamas and the electric blanket on high. Perfectly toasty. Soup (or zoup as my Papa used to say) is a favorite food!!! Investors been vegetarian for 25 years but only vegan for a year, so a creamy vegan soup is going straight to the list to try. Thanks so much!
I've been (not investors)
Haha! Glad it's not just me! My husband thinks I'm nuts wearing sweaters when it's 70 degrees out. I hope you enjoy the soup!