Vibrant Green Soup, plus Pesto, Greens & Beans

This vibrant green soup is made with simple, healthy ingredients and has so many good flavours. It's light and easy to make, making it a great weeknight dinner option or a lazy weekend lunch. Get cozy and curl up with a big bowl of green soup and a side of crusty bread!

It's definitely time for a good soup recipe.

We've posted (and eaten) our fair share of pasta recipes over the last week or two butternut squash lasagnapasta with pancetta, ricotta and tomato and sun-dried tomato pasta with roasted red pepper.

Oh yeah, a lot of pasta. So for abid of something on the lighter side, we made this beautiful, vibrant green soup aaaand it so happens to contain one of our favourite things ever pesto! Devour it with a side of crusty bread or all on its own. It makes a great light dinner or lunch and can be made in under 30 minutes.

It's made with a soffritto base (<< find a full explanation here) which is finely chopped carrot, celery and onion. We use good quality chicken stock but also vegetable stock would work great and our green of choice was brassica rapa also know as bok choy.

We've seen brassica rapa a lot recently in the supermarkets and decided it would be great in this green soup. You could also use, cabbage, spinach or kale. The next green that gives this soup its vibrant colour is homemade pesto (<< full recipe here). Please use homemade pesto it makes a HUGE difference. We cannot say this enough, please, please, please use homemade pesto.

How To Make Green Soup With Pesto, Greens & Beans – Step By Step

First, finely chop carrot, celery and onion and add it to a large pot with a little olive oil. Saute for 6-7 minutes until soft.

Add chicken or vegetable stock and bring to a boil (photos 1-2).

Once boiling, add the greens and simmer for 10 minutes (photos 3-4).

Add pre-cooked cannellini beans and homemade pesto, stir the pesto into the stock. Simmer for another 10 minutes and serve (photos 5-6).

So simple, easy and dee-licious! We hope you'll enjoy this simple green soup as much as we do, check out more easy soup recipes below.

More Simple Soup Recipes To Try

• Tuscan farro soup with beans
• Chickpea soup
• Comforting zucchini potato soup
• Pappa al pomodoro – tomato bread soup
• Roasted vegetable soup

Ingredients

Makes 6 people

• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 onion (, yellow/white)
• 1 1/4 cup (280g) cannellini beans (, pre-cooked canned)
• 1/2 cup homemade pesto (, see recipe link below)
• 8 cup (4 litres) chicken stock/broth
• 1 brassica rapa (bok choy) (, cut into thin strips)
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• parmesan for topping ((optional))

Method

1. Finely chop the carrot, celery and onion. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and saute the chopped veg until soft but not browned (6-7 minutes).

2. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

3. Once boiling, add the bok choy (or greens of your choice) and simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add pre-cooked cannellini beans and homemade pesto stir the pesto into the stock, season with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve with an extra sprinkling of pepper and a little parmesan if desired.

Kitchen notes

• Homemade Pesto Recipe Here.
• Brassica rapa or bok choy can be replaced with spinach, kale or any greens of your choice.
• If substituting brassica rapa for spinach, kale or a green without thick stalks then add it at the same time as the beans and pesto (simmer the soup for 10 minutes before proceeding to this step). If replacing with cabbage, follow directions as normal.
• Substitute the brassica rapa for roughly, 80g (2.8oz) chopped spinach, kale, cabbage.