Lots and Lots of Beans: Let’s Make “Vegetable & Bean Soup” with a Southern Twist

On a cold, drab and rainy day like today, nothing is more satisfying than a savory soup. So, I concocted an absolutely tasty “Vegetable & Bean Soup.” Usually, I would make a simple vegetable soup — today I am revving it up by adding canned beans which give a “Southern” twist to the soup. I was not interested in spending much work in the kitchen today. With shortcuts in the recipe, the soup was quick and easy to make. This included using some of my surplus supply of canned beans (that’s another story) along with canned petite diced tomatoes, vegetable bouillon cubes, onions, carrots, jalapeño pepper and fresh parsley. Look — this could a healthy, vegan recipe if I had swapped out blackeye pea brands. This soup provides complete protein (from the blackeye peas and lima beans which are really legumes), vitamins and minerals while being easy on the sodium. It makes a complete meal. If you are looking for an simple soup recipe, I suggest trying this one.

Recipe Inspiration

My “Vegetable & Bean Soup” recipe has an unusual back-story. It begins when I asked my husband to make a grocery store run to pick up canned green beans, wax beans and red (kidney) beans. I was making my delicious “Three-Bean Salad” for a covered dish buffet and time was short. He came home with green beans, wax beans and pinto beans. How could that mix up be possible? So, he graciously agreed to return to the grocery store to pick up the proper beans — red beans. He came home with every bean on the vegetable isle. So, so many beans. What a bean surplus! I used the pinto beans to make refried beans. I don’t particularly care for black-eyed beans and decided to “temper” the flavor by adding them to my vegetable soup.

Recipe Ingredients

This is a very simple recipe. Just open several cans, chop up onions, carrots, jalapeño pepper and parsley and sauté in oil. Add a vegetable bouillon cube and extra water and let the soup simmer. No extra pepper, spices or Cajun seasonings are in this recipe. It is relatively low in salt and the flavor of the vegetables tell the story, not alot of spices. And, no additional salt!

Blackeye Peas. These are technically beans, not peas. They are a variety of cowpeas and are considered to be lentils. These small kidney-shaped beans have a black spot on the inner surface. They are a “complete” protein meaning they have all the amino acids needed for growth. They have a mild, earthy and slightly nutty flavor. Perhaps, an acquired taste. However, the blackeye peas blend well with other flavors, for example, as in soups.

Trappeys is a local Louisiana brand and I like to try to use “local” brands whenever possible. However, on closer inspection, I see that this brand has bacon added for flavor. For a vegetarian soup, I should have used the store brand of blackeye peas.

Lima Beans. This is another lentil. I do love lima beans — and decided this bean might “mellow” the other bean flavor. Plus, I had lots of canned lima beans.

Petite, Canned Tomatoes. I love tomatoes, they make a great addition to vegetable soups. The petite tomatoes have a smaller dice and are just right in size in comparison to other ingredients.

Vegetable Bouillon Cubes. Since I was aiming to make a vegan soup, I added vegetable bouillon for flavor rather than chicken broth. However, I see that there is a huge difference in sodium content of various brands. Pay attention to what you are purchasing. The small bouillon cubes (shown on the left) have 105 mg sodium per serving. The jarred bouillon has 660 mg per serving. For this recipe, I used the low sodium bouillon cubes. Notice that there is not additional salt in the recipe. You don’t need extra salt with the amount in the bouillon, canned beans and canned tomatoes.

Vegetables — Onions, carrots, jalapeño peppers and parsley made it into my soup. These are my favorite vegetables, but other types could easily be added. These vegetables all add substance to the soup. I love sweet Vildalia onions for flavor and was pleased to find this brand in the grocery store on my latest grocery shopping trip.

I have both flat Italian parsley and curly parsley growing in my garden. It is so nice to be able to just step out the back door and pick what I need. Fresh parsley adds a great flavor “pop” to the soup. I add it at the end of cooking so it doesn’t lose flavor.

Making the Recipe

The hardest part of this recipe is chopping the vegetables. Then basically all the ingredients are added to a pot and allowed to simmer.

I chopped the onion and jalapeño pepper finely and diced the carrots to make bite-sized pieces. And I minced the parsley. Removing the seeds and pith of the jalapeño pepper removes some of the “hot” components and tempers down the taste. Okay for me.

Get these ready first — then the rest of making the soup is easy.

Also, drain and rinse the canned blackeye peas and lima beans.

To finish the soup, sauté the onions, carrots and jalapeño pepper in oil until the onions are tender and translucent. (The carrots will become tender as the soup cooks.) This takes about five minutes on medium-high heat.

Add the drained beans, diced tomatoes (with juice), and vegetable bouillon dissolved in water. Let simmer for 30 minutes (or longer, if desired). This softens the carrots and tomatoes and lets the flavors meld together.

Last, add fresh parsley — just before serving. (If you add fresh parsley too early during cooking, the flavor dissipates.)

For added interest, I made homemade croutons in my air fryer. It is a great use for stale French bread, ordinary bread, dinner rolls and even hamburger buns. Just coat with margarine and cut into small cubes. Cook at 300 degrees for 10 minutes.

And we have a wonderful, tasty soup to eat on this relatively cool, rainy and overcast day. It is May — and I don’t expect this “cool” weather in Louisiana to last much longer! It was quite a surprise. But, the weather changes quickly — so next week is sure to be hot again.

This “revved” up vegetable soup was a great way to use up some of my supply of canned beans. My choice of beans — blackeye peas and lima beans gives a Southern twist to the soup. It is a good way to use lesser known beans — and I have plenty of those in my kitchen cabinet right now. This healthy, filling soup makes a complete meal. And, eating less red meat and animal protein is good for all of us.

This is an adaptable recipe. Swap out types of beans. Add other vegetables — celery, green beans, corn, turnips.

Enjoy this soup!