This soup is great for dinner, and also lunch the next day!
There’s nothing better than coming home after a long day at work and dinner is waiting in the slow cooker! That’s why we love this Slow Cooker Hearty Vegetable and Bean Soup recipe. It’s super simple to make: It’s as easy as dumping the ingredients in the slow cooker before you go to work. When you get home, it’ll be ready to eat. It has such an incredibly robust flavor, too. You won’t believe all the ingredients are plant-based and vegan-friendly!
It’s so easy to prepare, and most of the ingredients can be substituted with whatever you have on hand. Feel free to swap in black, navy, or pinto beans for the cannellini beans. Similarly, the vegetables can be customized based on what’s in season. And while this is a fully vegan dish filled with delicious plant-based ingredients, you can also customize it to amp up the protein.
If you’re a meat-eater, you can add 1 pound of chicken fillets (cut into 1″ cubes) to the slow cooker along with the other ingredients. Once it simmers on low for 8 to 10 hours, the chicken will be melt-in-your-mouth tender. You could also add a package of extra-firm tofu (cut into 1/2-inch cubes and pressed to remove excess moisture) to keep things vegetarian.
A Quick Note about the Slow Cooker Settings
We created this recipe to cook while you’re at work. That means it takes 8 to 10 hours on the low setting on your slow cooker. If you’re in a rush, you could also cook it for 4 to 6 hours on high. Similarly, you could cook it over low heat on the stovetop and finish the soup in a matter of hours. Basically, you’re looking for the carrots to be tender, so use that as an indicator as to whether the soup is ready to eat.
Check out the video for how to make this delicious Slow Cooker Hearty Vegetable and Bean Soup!
Slow Cooker Hearty Vegetable and Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 sweet onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 sweet potato medium, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (white or red potato optional)
- 2 carrots peeled and sliced into 1 inch pieces
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 1 cup whole kernel corn optional
- kosher or sea salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes more or less to taste (can be substituted with cayenne pepper)
- 2 cups green beans frozen or fresh
- 4 cups vegetable broth low sodium (chicken broth can be substituted)
- 1/4 cup parsley freshly chopped
- 14 1/2 ounce  diced tomatoes can
- 31 ounce cannellini beans cans - drained (navy, black, or pinto can be substituted)
Instructions
- Add all the above ingredients to the slow cooker, stir to combine, cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or until carrots are tender.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Have you made this recipe?
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Where does this, Cholesterol: 47 mg, come from in the soup recipe?
Vickie, I recalculated the #'s and it comes out the same. The cholesterol comes from the chicken. For example, 1 cup of diced, roasted, skinless chicken breasts has over 100 mg of cholesterol. This does not distinguish between HDL(Good) and LDL(Bad) choleserol. Hope this helps!
So are the nutritional stats with chicken or without? Because the recipe doesn't call for chicken, but the nutritional facts seem to include it.
We loved this soup!
I have made this a few times and love it! I love coming home to something that smells and tastes so great and is so great for you too!
Melissa,
Have you ever done it on the stove and not in the slow-cooker? It's 2pm and would love to have this done for 3:30 4pmish??
Yes, will work well on the stovetop.
I made mine this morning on the stove. I put it in my Dutch oven, brought it to a boil, put on the lid and turned it down to simmer. After about an hour the vegetables were done.
We hope you enjoyed the recipe, Teena!
has anyone made this stovetop? and not in the slow-cooker?
Just made it this morning…delicious and did not use any chicken
How long did you keep it on the stove top and at what temperature?
I brought it to a boil, put the lid on my dutch oven, and turned it down too low and simmered it for an hour. The vegetables were done at that time.
Thanks for the tips on how to make this recipe via stove top/dutch oven!
For an extra kick I used canned diced fire roasted salsa style tomatoes that have a bit of chili peppers in it.
I'm about to try making this, but I just wanted to say that it's great that you have substitution possibilities listed! I wish more people did that. I just started cooking recently, so a lot of these are things I don't know.
Hi,
Sounds delish! Only wish the amounts were given in oz. or grams since I weigh all my ingredient on a kitchen scale. Great Recipe Thanks
Thanks for the feedback, granpappy0! If you Google "online food calculator", you should see several websites that will help you convert our measurements to weights.
Can you cook this on high setting to shorten the time and if so how long I will be adding the chicken.
If you plan to add chicken, here’s my recommendation for cooking on high:
Cube raw chicken breast filets, about 1″ cubes, add to the slow cooker at the beginning.
Cook as instructed but on high for 4-6 hours, or until chicken and carrots are done. 🙂
Can cook this on high setting to shorten the cook time I will be adding chicken. And if so what is the recommended time?
Sharon, Yes, you can cook this recipe in the slow cooker on high for 4-6 hours or until the carrots are tender. 🙂
Hello: How many oz in the 2 cans cannellini beans?
Thank you
Jessa, Around 30 ounces.
Thank you very much Gale Hate to buy extra.
Absolutely delicious! Made this last night in a normal pot and it worked wonderfully. Will definitely be making this again. mmmmmmm
can I use fresh beans instead of canned?
Tamra, Yes just be sure to follow the cooking directions on the bag. 🙂
What do you mean – not let the flour mixture “spin out”?
Meaning on your skin…it’s very hot.
What flour? There is no flour listed in this recipe nor is there chicken listed. Yet the stats imply there are. Confused here.
Hi Debbie, in the recipe directions there is a note for those you might want to add chicken or prefer a thicker soup (thickened with flour). They are both an optional addition, therefore not in the recipe ingredients. Sorry for the confusion!
When you say two cans of beans what volume do you recommend? Two cups or four?
Jay, 15 ounce cans, which equals about 2 cups per can. 🙂
Hi, how many grams or ounces are in a cup? Or what size cup do you mean?
Sarah, 8 ounces in one cup. That’s the measurements used in our recipes. 🙂
This looks so good I can’t wait to try it! Do you think canned kidney beans could be used fine in this recipe? Thanks!
Georgia, Definitely! 🙂
I LOVE this soup and am so happy I found this recipe. I make it most weeks in my slow cooker and eat it for my lunch throughout the week. I tend to reduce to the red pepper flakes otherwise it’s too hot for my kids to enjoy, and I also add a few tablespoons of tomato puree to it which makes it a bit thicker with a fuller tomato flavor. It also works great if you had some elbow macaroni (cooked separately) to make it into a minestrone. There’s so many ways to switch it up so you can just eat it on repeat! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
Yay! We’re so happy to hear that, Victoria!
I just made this last week!! so stinking good!! I did add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, extra broth, and 1 cup of red lentils. We also froze left overs in individual bags and those have turned out super convenient and tasty!!
We’re so glad you loved the recipe, Alicia! Sounds like you added some delicious ingredients, too! Yum!
how much water should I add into the slow cooker?
Hi Cynthia, there is no need to add water to this recipe. The vegetable broth listed will be plenty of liquid!
how much water to add?
There is no need to add water to this recipe. The vegetable broth listed will be plenty of liquid!
How long to cook and at what temperature on a stovetop? Crockpot is maybe on the fritz.
Trevor, Cook until the veggies are tender, about 1 hour at a low-boil. 🙂
Any suggestions on using dried beans? I bought a bag of a dried beans mix but would like to try your recipe.
Hi Mary. To use dried beans you will need to rinse them and then soak the beans in water overnight. Drain the beans and rinse them again. Last, lightly simmer the beans on medium eat until tender before adding them to this recipe. You will need about 1 cup of dried beans for this recipe.
How did u figure out the calories ? Are they accurate?
Hi Mandy, we use a trusted nutrition calculator for calculate the nutritional information for all our recipes. To the best of our knowledge they are accurate.
Can’t wait to try