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Italian White Bean Vegetable Soup

Hearty white bean vegetable soup with tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, celery, herbs and a small amount of pasta.

Prep20 minCook40 minTotal60 minYield6 servingsLevelEasy

Source-reviewed. No original CookClue test is claimed unless it is actually recorded.

Italian white bean vegetable soup with tomatoes, beans, zucchini and small pasta

Before you start

What this method is trying to achieve

Build the vegetable base, keep the broth measured and mash a small portion of beans for body before adding quick-cooking pasta near the end.

Success looks like

Know the target before you cook

The soup should stay spoonable with a lightly thickened broth and distinct beans and vegetables.

Ingredients

What you need

Base

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced

Vegetables

  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 2 stalks celery, diced
  • 1 zucchini, diced

Beans

  • 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Tomato

  • 400 g diced tomatoes

Liquid

  • 1.4 L vegetable broth

Pasta

  • 75 g small pasta

Finish

  • 50 g Parmesan, grated — optional

Method

Cook by the cues, not just the clock

Cook vegetables

  1. Soften onion, carrot and celery in olive oil.

Add beans and broth

  1. Add beans, tomatoes and measured broth.

Mash a portion

  1. Mash about one quarter of the beans in the pot.

Add zucchini and pasta

  1. Simmer until pasta is just tender and vegetables are cooked.

Rest and serve

  1. Let the soup stand briefly, then adjust broth if needed.

Critical checkpoints

Stop here and check

other

Broth measured?

Liquid volume matches the bean and vegetable load.

Avoid adding excess broth.

texture

Some beans mashed?

A small portion is broken down into the broth.

Mash more if body is lacking.

other

Soup too thin?

Broth remains watery after resting.

Use white-bean-vegetable-soup-too-thin.

If yours looks different

Route the failure before changing the recipe

The soup remains broth-like with too little body.White bean soup too thin? Diagnose broth ratio, simmering and bean mashing.

Why Is My White Bean Vegetable Soup Too Thin?

After cooking

Storage, reheating & substitutions

Storage

Refrigerate covered.

Reheating

Reheat with extra broth if beans or pasta absorb liquid.

Substitutions

Cannellini, navy or great northern beans can be used.

Evidence

Sources & methodology

Technical claims and method decisions are tied to sources. Recipe-specific advice is not presented as a universal food-science law.

  1. Bean Soup RecipesFood Network

    Food Network lists several bean soups built from white beans, vegetables and broth.

    publisherPassage verified
  2. Tuscan White Bean and Garlic SoupFood Network / Giada De Laurentiis

    Food Network uses white beans and aromatics as the body of a Tuscan-style soup.

    publisherPassage verified