Tomato and White Bean Soup With Lots of Garlic

By Ali Slagle

Tomato and White Bean Soup With Lots of Garlic
Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(5,593)
Comments
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This recipe makes the most out of just a handful of pantry ingredients, like canned white beans, a can of tomatoes and a full head of garlic. The soup owes its surprisingly rich and complex flavor to how the garlic is cooked: By smashing the cloves, you end up with different sizes and pieces of garlic. These cook irregularly, which means you’ll taste the full range of garlic’s flavors, from sweet and nutty to almost a little spicy. Simmer the lightly browned garlic with white beans and tomatoes, then blend, and you have a creamy, cozy soup that’s endlessly adaptable: Add aromatics to the simmering pot, or make it spicy with harissa, smoked paprika or chipotle. Top with pesto, croutons, cheese, cooked grains, greens or a fried egg.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 10garlic cloves
  • ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2(14-ounce) cans white beans, such as cannellini or great Northern, including their liquid
  • 1(28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1cup stock or water, plus more as needed
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • Heavy cream, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

471 calories; 18 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 11 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 62 grams carbohydrates; 14 grams dietary fiber; 11 grams sugars; 20 grams protein; 1133 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Peel the garlic, then smash the cloves using a meat pounder or the bottom of a heavy skillet until wispy and flat.

  2. Step 2

    In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, heat the olive oil, then add the crushed garlic, and cook, smashing with the back of a wooden spoon and stirring occasionally, until golden brown and beginning to stick to the bottom of the pan, 3 to 5 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Add the white beans and their liquid, crushed tomatoes, stock or water, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then partly cover, reduce heat, and let simmer until thickened and fragrant, 15 to 20 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Using an immersion or regular blender, purée the soup until smooth. Add cream or stock or water to thin as desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle with heavy cream before serving.

Ratings

4 out of 5
5,593 user ratings
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Comments

seattlegardener

Here’s how you can take this soup from so-so to delicious: To your garlic and oil mixture add your favorite blend of warm spices. I used approximately 1/4 of each of the following: ground coriander, ground fennel, chili flakes and ground sumac, plus lots of black pepper. After the step with the immersion blender, I added about 2Tbs of pepper jelly, 2 Tbs of tomato paste and about a half cup coconut milk (use the rest of the can to drizzle over when serving, in place of cream). Yum!

Thaisa

I used a dash of cinnamon, cayenne, herbes de Provence, oregano, and blended parmesan cheese. Next time I'll cook it with a carrot to balance the tartness (an Italian trick). This time I added some sugar.

Christopher Scott

In a hurry I dumped two cans of white beans into the tomato depths and followed the recipe exactly (including a massive amount of irregular garlic). When I put the cans in recycling I noticed they were garbanzos, not cannellini (Progresso labels look alike). I enjoyed my hummus-tomato soup immensely.

Eleanor Cruise

I love this recipe and have made it many times. The first time, I found the beans a bit flat but a jot of lemon juice fixed that. Since then I’ve also been adding an onion and a stick of celery into the fry up and then adding basil (“a must with tomatoes,” per my vegetarian chef mentor) and marjoram. It’s great served with cream as Ali indicates, but Parmesan and/or croutons work just fine.

Paola

This soup is so comforting. The tanginess works so well with the flavor of the beans.

Rachel

Made this exactly as the recipe dictates but used plain Greek yogurt as a finisher instead of heavy cream. Served with grilled cheese… perfect!

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