Navy Bean Soup with carrots – it’s so easy to make this simple and hearty meal to warm you on a chilly winter night.
If you have cooked beans on hand, you can sit down to enjoy this soup in about 30 min or so. I usually keep a stash of cooked beans in my freezer, just so I can whip up a soup like this on short notice. If perchance I’m out, canned beans work just as well.
Best of all, it needs very little hands-on time, and almost no “baby-sitting” while it cooks. Perfect for when you want something fast, but don’t have the energy to dish up a complicated recipe.
Made with common pantry staples, this soup a great one-dish meal for a busy weeknight. Just serve it with crusty bread and butter on the side, maybe along with some aged Cheddar cheese for a bit of delightfully sharp tang…… Yumm !
Navy beans – protein, fiber and micronutrients
The protein in Navy beans is considered an incomplete protein, because it does not provide all the essential amino acids we need. However, it is actually pretty easy to ‘fix’ this problem- the amino acids ‘missing‘ from beans can be obtained from wheat! So, just serve this soup with crusty bread on the side…. Delicious, and nutritionally sound too!
Veggies: Fiber, Carbs and Lots of Micronutrients
What veggies are in this soup? Oh, nothing super fancy… just carrots, tomatoes, onions and garlic. What gives it that extra “Oomph” ? Hmmm…. now you’re talking….. Just throw in a few select spices… fennel, bay leaves, black pepper, fiery hot red pepper. Get ready to inhale the wonderful aroma that wafts through your kitchen and makes you want to devour this flavorful soup as fast as you can!
How to make this soup? Toss everything in the pressure cooker!
Does this all sound a bit complicated?
Nah… Simply toss everything into the pressure cooker for a few min. While it does its thing, get the other stuff ready… Slice the bread, take out your favorite cheese, and maybe even relax a bit as you wait for the pressure to release from the pressure cooker. Once it does, transfer about 1/2 cup of the cooked solids to your blender jar and blitz it for a few seconds. Almost done!
Mix the puree back with the rest of the soup mixture and heat it to a gentle boil….. and…. get ready to banish the winter chills! Add your favorite garnishes and sit down to enjoy your dinner. Deliciously spicy, steaming hot navy bean soup with the tang of tomatoes and the sweetness of tender carrots… I’m salivating just thinking about it!
Veggies – What’s better Raw or Cooked?
Some often-asked questions that we all grapple with: are veggies better for you when raw or cooked? Well, it depends…. Cooking does destroy some nutrients, particularly certain vitamins such as vitamin C. However, several other nutrients are not easily absorbed by your body from raw (uncooked) vegetables. So, even if a vegetable is loaded with nutrients, if you cannot actually absorb these, what good is it?
I use carrots and tomatoes in this soup, and cooking dramatically improves the bioavailability of the powerful antioxidants they contain: beta-carotene from carrots and lycopene from tomatoes. How come? Cooking softens the cell wall structure in the vegetables, which “releases” the nutrients, meaning that your body can actually absorb them… and reap their many benefits.
Beans and Grains – complete protein
Likewise, several micronutrients and minerals in the beans might not be readily absorbed because of a completely different reason: the presence of substances described as “anti-nutrients”. One such anti-nutrient is Phytic acid, which binds to minerals such as zinc, iron, etc., and flushes them out of the body. Soaking the beans overnight and cooking them till tender, especially in a pressure cooker, largely destroys the Phytic acid.
Also, its label as an “anti-nutrient”, can be somewhat misleading: phytic acid has been shown to also exert some health benefits – lowers cholesterol, prevents sharp rises in blood sugar, etc. So, it is, in fact, not advisable to avoid it entirely.
So… here’s my general recommendation with any type of beans…. Soak them 10-12 hours before cooking – then use a pressure cooker to cook them until tender. Soaked whole beans get fully cooked in about 20-25 min!
Compare that with the roughly 2 hours (or more!) of cooking time you might need if you don’t use a pressure cooker! The shorter cooking time with the pressure cooker is a no-brainer…. Not only is it energy efficient, it also significantly decreases the nutrient-loss caused by prolonged heating of foods.
So.. Know that soaking beans before cooking is doubly smart: you destroy some anti-nutrients and also cook the beans much faster!
Spice up the soup – and support your gut too – Bay Leaf and Fennel
By the way…. The spices in this soup don’t just add a delightful aroma and sweet-spicy flavor… they also add significant nutritional value. The widely used crushed red pepper and black pepper need no introduction, of course. However, I do want to mention some of the health benefits of fennel, star anise and bay leaves.
All three spices are carminative, and fennel, in particular, also promotes the production of digestive enzymes. Adding these to bean recipes can be especially beneficial, since many folks find beans particularly hard to digest.
My friends from the Indian sub-continent are probably nodding, thinking “Yeah, I knew that!”…. Why do you think we often chew on fennel seeds after a meal, especially one that has perhaps enticed us to seriously over-eat…. Fiery rich curries, hot and fluffy Puris, delectable Oozing-with-Ghee sweet delights, … need I go on?
Your gut is probably already groaning at the prospect of digesting all this stuff… So, yeah, go ahead and chew on a spoonful of crunchy-toasted fennel seeds – your gut will surely thank you for your support!
Special Diets
This navy bean soup with carrots is vegetarian, gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free. To make it vegan, use olive oil instead of butter. For vegan accompaniments, omit the suggested Parmesan or aged Cheddar, and serve with your favorite vegan cheese.
A simple and hearty quick-fix dinner for a busy weeknight, you can also make it in advance. In that case, hold the garnish until you’re ready to serve the soup. Fresh garnish quickly elevates the eye-appeal, aroma and flavor of any food.
Are you a soup-lover like me? Maybe you would like to check out and try some of the other soup recipes I have posted on this blog. Here are some links….
tangy and spicy Carrot-Ginger Soup,
Moroccan-style Lentil-Vegetable Soup,
Vegan Cream of Mushroom soup.
I will be posting other soup recipes soon, so be on the lookout!
Hope you make this delicious navy bean soup soon. Do leave a review and star rating. Much appreciated.
Enjoy!
Navy Bean Soup with Carrots – Make a simple meal
Equipment
- Pressure cooker preferred If not available, soup can be made in a saucepan, but will take longer. See Recipe Notes for details.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cooked Navy beans soaked overnight and cooked with a few spices preferred (see Recipe Notes for details); canned beans OK
- 1 cup Baby carrots – sliced other types of carrots OK: if carrots are thick, slice in quarters lengthwise, then slice across,1/8 inch (1/4 cm) thick; see directions for easy-slicing tip
- 1 cup Onions – diced medium any variety OK
- 1 cup Tomatoes – diced medium any variety OK
- 1-2 leaves Bay leaves tear each into 2-3 pieces
- 1-2 whole Star Anise
- 1 tsp Fennel powder
- 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper spicy
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper – freshly crushed preferred
- 1/2 tsp Salt adjust as needed
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp olive oil / butter
- 1/2 tsp Paprika
Garnish
- 1/4 cup Fresh parsley (optional) – chopped if not available, use cilantro (fresh coriander leaves)
- 5-6 whole Fresh Basil leaves (optional) – roughly hand-torn if not available, use 2 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 cup Sliced green onions – green tops (optional) about 4-5 green onions
- 2 tbsp Shredded Parmesan (optional)
- 1 tbsp Chilli Oil (optional) See Recipe Notes for making a quick chilli oil
Instructions
- Place baby carrots in a ceramic/glass bowl, add 1/4 cup water and microwave for 1 min.
- Transfer the blanched carrots to a cutting board, saving the cooking water. When carrots have cooled a little, slice into 1/8 inch (1/4 cm) thick rounds.
- Dice the onions – medium
- Measure the cooked navy beans. I like to start from dried beans, which I soak and cook with some spices. See Recipe Notes for details. If you are in a time-crunch, canned navy beans are fine too.
- Place sliced carrots, diced onions and cooked navy beans in a pressure cooker insert container. Also add the saved cooking water from blanching the carrots.
- Add all the spices: bay leaf, star anise, black pepper, crushed red pepper and salt. Do not add butter/olive oil and paprika at this stage.
- Dice the tomatoes – small-medium
- Add the tomatoes to the bean-carrot mixture and stir to mix. Place a rack in the pressure cooker and add 2 cups of water. Place the container with the soup mixture on the rack and cook at full pressure for 8-10 min. While the mixture cooks, prep the garnish ingredients: rinse and chop parsley, green onions, basil, etc. Also prepare the Chilli oil, if you don't have some on hand.
- Allow pressure to release normally (about 10-12 min). If using Instant Pot, it's OK to release remaining pressure manually after about 10 min of natural pressure release.
- Remove the bay leaf pieces and the star anise. Transfer about 1/2 cup of the cooked mixture to a blender jar, add 1 cup of water and puree.
- Pureed mixture: I like to keep a little texture to the puree but you can blend it smooth if you prefer.
- Transfer this pureed mixture as well as the rest of the soup mixture to a heavy-bottom saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil (about 3-4 min).Add 1 tbsp butter/olive oil and 1/2 tsp paprika
- Stir to mix. Taste test – adjust salt if needed, up to 1/4 tsp more, as per your taste preference,
- Garnish with your choice of fresh herbs, etc. Serve, alongside fresh bread and butter, Chilli oil and cheese. Pair with a fresh greens salad if you like for a satisfying and hearty meal.Enjoy!
Notes
Cooking Navy beans from dried beans:
I prefer to use home-cooked beans. I soak dried beans, then pressure-cook them with a few spices for extra flavor. I often cook an extra batch or two and stash the cooked beans (in separate 1 cup portions) in the freezer. For this soup recipe, you will need about 1/3 (5-6 tbsp) cup dried beans:- Rinse 1/3 cup beans a few times, scrubbing a little to remove surface dirt; drain and soak overnight (8-10 hours) with 1/2 cup water in a stainless steel pressure cooker insert container.
- By morning, the beans will have soaked and swelled to more than double their size; almost all the water will have been absorbed.
- Add a little more fresh water – just enough to barely cover the beans- about 1/4 cup or so.
- Add a bay leaf, a small stick of cinnamon, 3-4 whole black peppercorns, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper.
- Place the rack inside the pressure cooker and add 2 cups water; position the container with the beans on the rack, close the lid and cook at full pressure for 20 min. Allow pressure to release normally –
- Do not force-release the pressure, since the beans continue to cook during the natural pressure-release process.
- Remove the cooked beans from the pressure cooker and use as directed in the recipe.
Cooking soup without pressure cooker:
If a pressure cooker is not available, you can make this soup in a saucepan. However, it will take a bit longer to cook the vegetables. Total cooking time about 30-35 min.- Heat 1 cup water in medium saucepan ( 2-3 quart/liter)
- Add bay leaf, star anise, black pepper, fennel seeds, onions and carrots and bring to a gentle boil.
- Cover and simmer on low-medium heat, about 10-12 min, stirring 3-4 times. Add 1/2 cup water if needed.
- Alternatively, to save some time, separately cook onions and carrots in the microwave (2-3 min each on Hi), before adding these semi-cooked veggies to the saucepan where the water is being simmered with the spices. Continue to simmer 2-3 min to blend flavors.
- Add tomatoes and 1/2 cup water. Continue to simmer 7-10 min, covered.
- Again, you can save a little time by first microwaving the tomatoes for 2-3 min on Hi, before adding to the carrot-onion broth.
- Add cooked beans and 1/2 cup water. Simmer 5-7 min.
- At this stage, proceed further as directed in the recipe, starting with transferring 1/2 cup of the mixture to a blender jar for pureeing.
Make a quick multi-purpose Chilli Oil:
- Add 1/2 tsp red chilli powder (cayenne) and 1 tsp paprika to a small bowl.
- Add 2 tbsp oil (any kind you like)
- Stir to mix
- Set aside for about 20-30 min or longer for the color and flavor to infuse into the oil.
- Use as a topping for soups, as a spicy dipping sauce, stir into dips, etc.
Storing leftovers:
In refrigerator: Store in glass/ceramic container. Reheat and consume within 2-3 days.- Add fresh garnish before serving.
- To thaw, remove cover and microwave on defrost setting (30% power) till softened.
- Stir and continue to heat (covered) on medium power till heated through, stirring occasionally.
- Add fresh garnish before serving.
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