Sweet Potato White Bean Quinoa Soup
on Nov 30, 2024
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With sweet potatoes, white beans and tomatoes, this easy quinoa soup is a tasty and satisfying recipe that’s a wonderful fall-winter vegetable soup. After the sweet potatoes, cannellini beans and quinoa finish simmering, I add chopped kale for greens. This soup is freezes well and is a good choice for meal prep for lunch or dinner.
If you’re looking for another quinoa vegetable soup recipe, try this quinoa chili with black beans and corn.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This is a hearty vegan soup that’s worthy of a meal on its own with quinoa, sweet potatoes and beans. I have a rotation of vegetable soups that I go through during the fall and winter months. They may start with a similar base of ingredients, but the spices and veggie combinations make them unique.
This quinoa soup is freezer-friendly. I like to freeze at least 2 bowls whenever I make a batch, so then I have healthy back-up meals. I like being set for busy days when I want something homemade, but I don’t have time in the moment to make it. That can be for lunch or dinner.
The core ingredients of this soup are straight from the pantry. Canned tomatoes and beans and vegetable broth are soup season must-haves on my shelves for countless reasons. They can be used in lots of simple recipes.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Quinoa: You can use any color quinoa you want— white quinoa, red, black or tricolored. Make sure to rinse it before you add it to the soup. This will get rid of any bitterness from the natural coating on the grains.
- Sweet potatoes: The recipe calls for 1 medium sweet potato, about 1/2 – 3/4 pound. Peel it before you dice it. You can substitute with butternut squash.
- White beans: I like plump cannellini beans, which are white kidney beans, but you can also use great northern beans or navy beans. They are smaller.
- Tomatoes: Because the soup has a can of diced tomatoes, you end up with these nice chunky bites with the rest of the ingredients.
- Kale: At the end of cook time, I add chopped kale leaves, either lacinato kale or curly kale. The heat from the soup gently softens the greens. You can substitute with baby spinach. Because the leaves are more delicate, they will wilt in the broth faster than kale.
- Onions, chopped, are the base of the soup. You can use a yellow onion, white onion or red onion.
- Garlic: I include 2 minced garlic cloves.
- Vegetable broth: I always go with low-sodium vegetable broth, so then I can control the seasonings in the soup, especially the salt. You will also see water on the ingredient list. Because veggie broth comes in 4 cup containers, you need another cup of liquid for this recipe, so I do that with water.
- Red pepper flakes, kosher salt and black pepper season the soup with just a touch of heat.
- Parsley: I finish the soup with chopped fresh herbs.
- Olive oil: You need a little oil to sauté the onions at the beginning of the recipe.
How To Make This Quinoa Soup Recipe
1. Sauté the onions. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Give them 4-5 minutes to start to soften.
2. Add the aromatics: minced garlic, red pepper flakes, kosher salt and black pepper. Keep sautéing for 30 seconds to 1 minute, letting the onions become fragrant.
3. Pour in the tomatoes, vegetable broth, water, sweet potatoes and white beans. Bring everything a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Stir in the quinoa. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
5. Add the chopped kale followed by the parsley. The kale leaves will take a few minutes to soften.
Serving
You can keep things easy and serve the soup with a piece of bread with a good crust. I also love it with homemade cornbread. Of course, this is a great recipe to pair with a salad. Try this lemon arugula salad, Italian chopped salad, or a better-than-a-restaurant house salad.
Leftovers & Storage
Let the soup cool to room temperature. Then you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 days or in the freezer up to 1 month. When freezing any soup or chili, I like to portion it out into serving sizes, so it easier to thaw. You can reheat it on the stove or in the microwave.
Recipe Tips
- Check the seasonings. Taste the soup when it is just about finished simmering, so you can see if it needs more salt or pepper to boost its overall flavor.
- When you reheat leftovers, you may need to add more liquid. The quinoa has a tendency to absorb the broth the longer the leftovers sit. I just add some water before I reheat a bowl of soup. Then I taste it and add more seasonings as needed.
More Healthy Soup Recipes
Chickpea Soup with Carrots, Potatoes and Parmesan Cheese
Roasted Tomato Soup
Wild Rice Soup
Hearty Vegetable Soup with Broccoli and Cauliflower
Slow-Cooker Moroccan Chickpea Stew
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Vegetable Barley Soup
Italian White Bean Soup
Sweet Potato White Bean Quinoa Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 14.5 ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced (about 1/2 – 3/4 pound)
- 15.5 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 2 cups chopped kale
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Sauté the onions until they start to soften, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and continue cooking until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Stir in the tomatoes, vegetable broth, water, sweet potatoes and beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the quinoa and continue simmering for 10 minutes.
- Stir in the kale and give it a few minutes to soften. Then add the chopped parsley.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Super easy to make (minimal chopping required!) so perfect for a week night. Really good flavor – I doubled the recipe and added a litttttle more red pepper because I like the spice. Great fall / winter soup – bookmarking this one 🙂
I like that you added more red pepper flakes!
I really wanted a soup and had previously printed out this recipe… I thought it looked good and today I happened to have all the ingredients! So, I made it. It was delicious. Thank you!!
I added a can of butter beans, swapped the kale for spinach and finished it with some lemon juice. Sublime!