This simple and healthy vegetable white bean pesto soup is a protein packed, nutrient dense soup filled with carrots, kale, broccoli, green beans and leeks.
This six vegetable white bean pesto soup was created out of necessity. After a few weeks of over-indulgence, not very much sleep and too much stress, my body and mind were just feeling awful and when that happens, simple, hearty and healthy meals are needed. It doesn’t help that I’ve done something to my knee, so I’ve been out of my ballet classes for the past six weeks or so.
I usually dance three times a week, so this hasn’t been the most fun and I’m feeling quite sluggish as a result. Not only is it how I love to keep my body active, but it is so incredible for the mind. I think everyone should try taking dance classes at least once, whether it’s ballet (my favourite, but I’m biased), hip-hop, jazz or even a zumba class.
My knee is slowly starting to feel better so I’ve been doing little workouts here and there, but I’ve decided that for March, I’m going to try and get things back to track by leaning a little more to the healthier side of things around here – don’t worry, nothing crazy, just more of my usual simple and flavour food that is good for your body and mind. Basically, healthy meals without trying too hard. You know what I mean?
I don’t want you to head out to the health food store to pickup specialty ingredients, all you need is right there, naturally in healthy vegetables, beans and legumes.
Also, make sure to vote in the poll I’ve added at the bottom of the post so you can have a say in what kind of recipes you see more of around here!
I can’t remember where I got the idea of stirring pesto into the soup once it’s cooked, but wow it is so good. I’ve already talked about my love of pesto and why you should always have a jar in the fridge, and using it in soup is one of the most perfect ways to use up leftover pesto. Just add a teaspoon or so to the bottom of your bowl and spoon a few ladles of this six vegetable soup over top and stir.
It’s magical and really elevates the flavour of this soup and makes it into something magnificent. Because this soup gets its flavour naturally from the vegetables, the pesto is another natural and healthy way to amp up the flavour. Do you know what pesto is made of? It’s usually a mixture of basil, nuts and olive oil – all ingredients that are good for you.
I know you’re probably thinking that six vegetables is such a random number, but don’t knock it until you try it. The vegetables I went with for this comforting soup are leeks, carrots, potatoes, green beans, broccoli and kale. Which happen to be a few of my favourite vegetables (especially the broccoli and kale). The rest of the soup is made up of vegetable broth and garlic – it is that easy. This soup really doesn’t need any herbs or spices, the hearty vegetables, white beans and pesto do the trick.
Soups, are by nature, quite forgiving recipes especially this vegetable white bean pesto soup. If you don’t have carrots on hand, you could easily substitute with sweet potatoes. Toss in swiss chard instead of kale, and use black beans or kidney beans instead of white navy beans. Just don’t leave out the broccoli! Ok, you could leave it out, but I’m biased because broccoli is one of my favourite vegetables.
Six Vegetable Soup recipe breakdown
Lighten up dinner with this simple and healthy six vegetable white bean soup. The natural flavour of the vegetables is enhanced by swirling in pesto right at the end. Packed with protein from the white beans, this nutrient-dense soup is the perfect comforting dinner for the winter.
Six Vegetable White Bean Pesto Soup
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Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 leek, sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 potato, peeled and diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 cup chopped green beans
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 19 oz can white navy beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups packed chopped kale
- pesto at the end
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil over medium heat, saute leek and garlic for 2 minutes.
- Add potato and carrot, saute for another 2-3 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
- Add broth and water, bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Add green beans and broccoli florets, cook another 3-5 minutes or until all vegetables are tender.
- Stir in white beans, kale. Stirring until kale is wilted, about a minute.
- Serve with roughly 1 tsp of pesto in each bowl, ladle soup over pesto and stir. Serve immediately.
I tried to use up as much of the vegetables as possible so you won’t have lots of leftover half-used veggies in the fridge. You can buy one leek, a small bunch of green beans, one potato and a carrot, but you will have some leftover broccoli and kale from this soup. Here are 5 recipes you could use these in:
Sarah 
Lou 
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Cailee 
Ayngelina
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