This Greek White Bean Soup is thick and naturally creamy. With simple, fresh, and appetizing flavors of lemon and garlic. Made with dried beans and pantry vegetables like carrots, celery, onion, and potato. All cooked in plenty of extra virgin olive oil!

Can you think of a better winter comfort food than a white bean soup? Especially when it's all made from scratch, so it's very nutritious.

Table Of Contents

A Greek Fasolatha Soup
How To Make A White Bean Soup From Scratch
Precooking Dried Beans
How Long To Cook Dried White Beans
Can You Use Other Beans?
Serve With
Recipe

A Greek Fasolatha Soup

There are two traditional versions of Fasolatha (Greek White Bean Soup). One is cooked plainly and flavored with lemon, like in this recipe, while the other is made with tomato. Both are equally delicious, and when it comes to deciding which one to make, I almost never decide.

What I love most about this lemony version of white bean soup is how simple it is. It's so basic that you can add so many things to it. You can add anything like bacon, sausage, or my real favorite, almost any type of greens. Like spinach or kale, or even wild greens.

→If you want to add bacon or sausage (go for Italian sausage), use about 200 grams /7 oz and add it when sautéing the onion and garlic.

→If you want to add greens like kale or spinach, use about 400 grams/ 14 oz and add them towards the last 5 minutes of cooking.

How To Make A White Bean Soup From Scratch

The first thing to do when making a bean soup with dried beans is to soak them in water overnight. This helps reduce cooking time and improve the beans' overall texture. Soaking beans also helps reduce gas and bloating.

To soak beans, take a big cooking pot, add your beans, and cover them with plenty of cold water. Let them soak at room temperature overnight. Then drain in a strainer.

Precooking Dried Beans

When cooking dried beans or any dried legume except Fava (it's difficult to do in that case), it's best to preboil them first.

Bring the legumes, in this case the dried white beans, to a boil in plenty of water. Boil for 2-3 minutes, removing any foam that rises on the surface. Then drain in a strainer.

This way you remove any dirt and pesticides from the legumes. Because in order for the beans to last long inside the packages they're sold in (meaning they won't sprout), they get sprayed with chemicals. These chemicals can also cause gassy discomfort. If you ever wondered why this bean variety caused you a lot of discomfort while another didn't, that's why.

OTHER TRADITIONAL GREEK LEGUME SOUPS YOU MAY LIKE ⬇

Make this soup even more flavorful using this easy + healthy Homemade Vegetable Stock.

How Long To Cook Dried White Beans

The million-dollar question! This depends on how old the beans are, their variety, and how long they soak. If you cook dried white beans on the stovetop, they may take from 1-2 hours to even 3. If you don't have that much time to spare, though, you can use a pressure cooker.

Cooking the beans for about 15-20 minutes in the pressure cooker will be more than enough to soften them. Slow cooking, though, gives a thicker and velvety texture to the soup.

Can You Use Other Beans?

Yes, you can use any type of white beans, like navy beans, great northern, cannellini, or baby lima beans. Check this article on → The difference between these 4 types of white beans. You can even use black-eyed peas to make this soup.

SIMILAR RECIPE:

Fasolatha - White Bean And Tomato Soup

Very similar to this recipe, this version of Greek Fasolatha is flavored with tomato instead of lemon and is equally delicious!

Serve With

For Greeks, Fasolatha is always served with something really salty on the side. Such as feta cheese, Kalamata olives, salt-cured sardines, or in northern parts of Greece with sausage or brined peppers try for example these Fried Green Peppers with Vinegar or try a sweeter version of Roasted Red Peppers served with olive oil, garlic and vinegar.

Recipe

Greek White Bean Soup With Garlic & Lemon

4.11 from 504 votes

A very easy and nutritious white bean soup, with a nice and thick texture. All made from scratch with few basic ingredients.

Cook Time 2

Servings

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Ingredients

500 grams (17.5 ounces) cannellini beans (or other small white beans) soaked in water overnight
100 grams (1 small) onion minced
4 garlic cloves 2 minced, 2 chopped
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon thyme or oregano
120 grams (1 branch) celery finely chopped, including some of the leaves
200 grams (2 medium-large) carrots cut into ½ cm thick slices
50 grams (1 large) spring onion minced
125 ml (½ cup) extra virgin olive oil + extra splash for sauteing
180 grams (1 medium-small) potato peeled and grated or use celery root for stronger flavor
2.5 liters (10 cups) hot water or vegetable stock
80 ml (⅓ cup) lemon juice
½ lemon zested
coarse sea salt

To Serve With:

minced dill or dried oregano
freshly ground pepper
a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
lemon halves to squeeze some fresh lemon on top

Instructions

Prepare the beans. Bring the beans to a boil in a cooking pot with plenty of water. Boil for 2 minutes, skimming all foam from the surface. Drain the beans in a strainer.
Heat a splash of olive oil in a cooking pot.
Saute the onion and the 2 minced garlic cloves.
Add the beans, bay leaf, and the hot water or stock.
Simmer covered on low heat for about 1 hour. Or until the beans become tender.
Add the celery, carrots, spring onion, thyme, and the 2 chopped garlic cloves. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook for 20 minutes, partly covered over moderate heat.
Add the grated potato, olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
Continue cooking partly covered until the veggies soften, the potato is cooked, and the soup turns creamy. Stir frequently. So it won't stick.

To Make In A Slow Cooker:

If using a slow cooker, take the time to separately saute the garlic and onion in olive oil until golden using a separate skillet, as it will make a huge difference to the flavor instead of adding everything in at once.
Add the sauteed ingredients to your slow cooker along with the remaining ingredients except for the lemon juice and zest. Pour in 1.5 liters of hot water or stock, season with salt and pepper. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Add the lemon juice and zest and cook for 5 minutes more.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?I would love to see! Mention @real_greek_recipes or tag #real_greek_recipes!

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