Chicken & White Bean Soup
A hearty one-pot soup of chicken, white beans, spinach, and tomato, high in fiber and protein for a steady, satisfying, blood-sugar-friendly lunch.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
A soup that uses up leftover roast chicken and takes about twenty-five minutes from cold pot to bowls. Cannellini beans give it body with no cream and no flour, and they do it two ways at once: most of them stay whole and give you something to chew on, while the ones that break down over the simmer thicken the broth into something closer to a stew. If you want it thicker still, press a ladleful against the side of the pot with the back of a spoon before the spinach goes in.
Use a low-sodium broth and hold the salt until the end. Canned beans, cooked chicken, and boxed broth all arrive carrying salt of their own, and six cups of broth multiplies whatever is in it across the entire pot. Season at the finish, when everything has cooked down and you can taste what is actually in the bowl, rather than at the start when you are guessing at it. A soup you can still adjust is worth more than one that has already been decided for you.
Chicken and white beans together make this count as a meal rather than a starter, and it is better on the second day once the thyme has settled in. Mashing a spoonful of the beans against the side of the pot is worth the ten seconds it takes, since the starch they release is what gives the broth enough body to coat a spoon rather than sitting thin around the chicken. Roast our Baked Chicken With Butternut Squash one night and this soup uses what is left.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 2 cans (15 oz) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes
- 6 cups chicken broth (choose a certified gluten-free, soy-free broth)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Soften the onion, then wake the thyme up in the oil: Warm the olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat and cook the diced onion for about four minutes, stirring, until it turns translucent and smells sweet rather than sharp. Add the garlic and the dried thyme and stir for thirty seconds. Dried herbs need fat and heat to open up, and half a minute in hot oil gives you more thyme flavor than fifteen minutes of simmering in broth ever will, which is exactly why it goes in at this point and not later.
- Cook the tomatoes down before the broth goes in: Stir in the crushed tomatoes and let them bubble on their own for two or three minutes, until they darken a shade and start to catch on the bottom of the pot. Canned tomato has a raw, slightly tinny edge that fifteen minutes in six cups of broth will not cook away, and this short stretch in a hot pot is what takes it off. Scrape the bottom as you stir so the browned bits lift up into the soup rather than burning where they are.
- Broth, beans, and chicken, then a real simmer: Pour in the broth, add the drained beans and the shredded chicken, and bring it up until it is just bubbling around the edge of the pot. Hold it there for fifteen minutes rather than letting it roll, because a hard boil breaks the beans apart and dries out chicken that was already cooked once. This is the stretch where it turns into soup: the beans soften and release starch, and the broth thickens slightly without anything being added to it.
- Spinach at the end, salt after that: Stir the spinach in a handful at a time and let it wilt, which takes under a minute in hot broth, then pull the pot off the heat. Now taste it and add the salt and the pepper. Everything already in the pot brought salt with it, so what it needs at this point is almost always less than you would have added at the start, and one taste at the end tells you the truth about the whole pot.
- Give it five minutes off the heat before you ladle: Put the lid on and leave it alone for five minutes. Soup straight off the boil tastes flatter than the same soup a few minutes later, partly because it is too hot to taste much of anything and partly because the thyme and the tomato are still settling into the broth. It is also the point to decide about thickness, since it carries on thickening as it stands, and a splash of broth now is easier than fixing it in the bowl.
Variations
- Add more protein: A second can of white beans thickens the broth as well as adding protein. Extra shredded chicken does the same job without changing the texture.
- Add more vegetables: Diced zucchini and green beans need only the last few minutes. Kale needs longer, so put it in when the broth comes up to a simmer.
- Make it spicy: Add red pepper flakes with the garlic so they bloom in the oil. A little heat suits the beans better than it suits most soups.
- Make it creamy without cream: Blend a cup of the beans with a cup of the broth and stir it back in. The soup thickens and nothing dairy goes near it.
- Make it meatless: Leave the chicken out, use vegetable broth, and add a third can of beans. It still eats like a full meal.
Storage & Leftovers
Cool it before it goes into the refrigerator, and cool it in a shallow container rather than in the pot, so it drops through the warm range quickly instead of sitting there for a couple of hours. It keeps four to five days, and it honestly does improve overnight: the thyme spreads through the broth, the beans take up liquid, and by the next day it tastes like one dish rather than a list of ingredients.
Reheat it gently on the stovetop over medium heat, adding a splash of broth or water as you go, because the beans keep drinking while it sits and what was soup on Monday is close to a stew by Wednesday. Stir now and then so the beans on the bottom do not catch and scorch. For a single bowl the microwave is fine, as long as you stop and stir halfway through rather than serving something hot at the edges and cold in the middle.
It freezes well for up to three months with one change: leave the spinach out of whatever you plan to freeze and stir it in fresh at reheating, since thawed spinach goes dark and stringy and takes the brightness out of the bowl. Cool it completely first, freeze it in single portions so you are never thawing the whole pot for one lunch, and move a container to the refrigerator the night before you want it.
Notes & Tips
- Rinse canned beans: Drain and rinse canned beans well to cut sodium and give them a cleaner taste and better texture.
- Use chicken you already have: A rotisserie bird or leftover roast chicken shreds in a couple of minutes, which is what turns this into a weeknight soup rather than a project.
- Add the spinach at the end: Stir it in during the last minute. It wilts almost instantly and keeps its color.
- The broth is the sodium: Broth carries far more sodium than anything else in the pot. Low-sodium is not a suggestion here, it is the whole reason this stays moderate.
- It thickens overnight: The beans keep drinking up broth in the fridge. Loosen leftovers with a splash of broth or water when you reheat them.
- Flexible swap: No onion? You can leave it out, or swap in a little chopped celery or chives.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Chicken and white beans carry this soup together. The chicken gives it substance and protein, the beans add protein of their own along with a soft fiber that thickens the pot as they break down, and the tomato ties both to something bright.
- Cannellini beans turn creamy at the edges while holding their shape in the middle, and a few crushed against the side of the pot will thicken everything around them. They bring soluble fiber and plant protein along for the ride.
- Baby spinach goes in at the end, where it wilts in under a minute and stays tender and dark green. It carries folate, plant iron and vitamins A and C, and the tomato sitting beside it helps that iron get taken up.
- Onion and garlic cooked slowly in olive oil are the base every spoonful sits on. They lose their sharpness and turn sweet and round, and black pepper stirred in at the finish gives the bowl a small warm bite.
- A bowl of this eats like a full meal rather than a starter. Protein arriving from two directions and fiber from the beans and greens is what makes it hold, and the warm volume of a soup is a real part of the satisfaction.
- As you eat, let the steam and the smell of garlic reach you before the first spoonful, then work down through the bowl slowly enough to feel the warmth do its job.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are beans good for diabetes?
Yes, beans are high in fiber and protein and low-glycemic, so they have a gentle, steady effect on blood sugar.
Can I make it vegetarian?
Yes, skip the chicken, use vegetable broth, and add an extra can of beans.
How long does it keep?
Four to five days in the refrigerator, and it is better on day two than on day one. It also freezes for three months, though it is worth leaving the spinach out of anything headed for the freezer and stirring it in fresh at reheating. Add a splash of broth when you warm it, since the beans thicken it as it sits.
Is this gluten-free?
Yes, this recipe is made without gluten-containing ingredients. As always, check that any packaged items you use are certified gluten-free if you are highly sensitive.