This Provençal style soup makes the most of the vegetables that are good in the winter – carrots, parsnips, spinach, green beans – along with a handful of frozen peas and hearty white kidney (cannellini) beans. This particular recipe makes a big batch, but there is no fear of it going to waste. Left-overs will keep very well in the fridge and will even freeze well.
This French, Provençal style soup is both hearty and healthy, with loads of winter vegetables, beans and a delicious tomato broth.
The variety of vegetables can easily be varied, according to what odds and ends you might have to use up in your fridge.
This soup is perfect served with a rustic, crusty French bread. In fact, I’ll be back later this week with just that – the recipe for the Rustic Crusty French Bread you see next to my soup here!
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 2 medium parsnips, chopped
- 5 cups + chicken or vegetable stock
- 3 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1/2 tsp. Herbes de Provence
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 8-10 mini red potatoes, halved
- 1 1/4 cups fresh green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 can white kidney (cannellini) beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes, with juice
- 3-4 handfuls chopped fresh spinach
- In a large soup pot (5 1/2 - 6 quarts), heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring until softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add celery, carrots and parsnips and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes. Add chicken stock, thyme sprigs, Herbes de Provence and a bit of salt and pepper. Raise heat under pot to medium-high and bring stock to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add potatoes and green beans and simmer an additional 10-15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Add frozen peas and kidney beans and simmer 5 minutes. Add tomatoes by hand-crushing them into the soup, adding the juice as well. Add the spinach. Simmer 10-15 minutes more, to allow flavours to blend. If soup is too thick, add a bit more chicken stock to thin.
- Taste soup and add salt and pepper, as needed. You may also like to stir in a few more fresh thyme leaves at this point.
Cook’s Notes
Soups like this one are endlessly customizable and perfect for using up odds and ends of vegetables in your fridge or freezer. Just remember to add the vegetables in the order of how long they take to cook, so root vegetables first and greens like spinach or kale at the end.
Cooking time may vary, depending on how vigorous your simmering is. Taste test the vegetables to ensure they are all tender.
Be sure to taste your soup at the end and add more salt and pepper, as needed. If you taste your soup and it seems “bland”, add salt and keep adding, a bit at a time, until the flavours shine! A good salting will ensure a flavourful soup. I also like to stir in some more fresh thyme leaves at the end, for an extra bit of herb flavour.
Left-overs will keep well in the fridge or freeze.
If you have some pancetta on hand and would like to add another layer of flavour, fry some in the pot until golden before adding the onions. (If a lot of fat renders off, remove most of it before adding the onion).
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Count me in Jennifer! With temps dipping into the 20’s here I could eat soup 24/7. This sounds so delicious!
Thanks Mary Ann and it’s cold here, too (and snowing today!). Soup is in regular rotation :)
What a perfectly wonderful winter soup!
Thanks so much, Jennifer :)
What beautiful colors this soup has, it looks so healthy.
Thanks Grelinde and yes, it has lots of goodness in it :)
Soup with thick slices of bread is the best. I LOVE the simplicity of this!
Thanks Katrina :)
You know I love soup and this one looks fantastic! I love cannellini beans – they are my favorite! Hope you made a big pot – looks like some weather heading your way? Thank you Jennifer!
Yep. This makes a BIG pot and we needed it. And weather is always heading our way this time of year. We live due east of the Great Lakes (Lake Huron, to be exact), so lake-effect snow is a definite thing here. Winter here is getting things done between snow squall warning ;)
This looks heavenly…and I have a thing for those big white beans, they are so creamy!
Thanks Sue and I love those beans, too :)
We’ve been making soup several times a week lately, and this has to be the next one on the list! Love all the hearty vegetables and your bread looks fantastic!
Thanks Laura and same here. Soup is in regular rotation here, as well!
It’s cold and gray here today, this would be a perfect lunch or dinner! Pinning!
Thanks and same here, Chris. Perfect soup weather though :)
I’m definitely making this this week, it sounds incredible. Even if I’m only living alone. I’m planning on making a big batch and give a part to a few of my neighbours. I might even make some bread to go alongside it too.
Do enjoy, Eline! It would freeze really well too, if you have any left :)
Made this soup recently and it was very good! Parsnips aren’t a favourite in our house but made the receipe as written. And we survived! Didn’t have fresh thyme so used 1 1/2 tsp dried. Would definitely make again!
Thanks for a great winter soup receipe.
So glad you enjoyed it, Irene, despite the parsnips. I don’t mind parsnips, but my daughter is not a fan. She basically ate around them, as I recall :)