30 Minute White Bean + Chicken Soup.
Around this time last year, I made my first batch of chickpea chicken soup and fell in love. I don’t know what it about throwing a boatload of ingredients into a pot of simmering broth, but it ignites an itsy bitsy fire in my soul.
Well. That sort of sounds annoying, huh?
Whatev. All I’m trying to say is that I really like soup.
Wanna hear something funny?
Okay. It’s really not funny.
Mr. How Sweet has been gone for almost two whole weeks. TWO.
You know how much I love that. I crave my single lady time and get to do whatever the heck I want. I get to hog the bed to myself, don’t have to listen to any snoring, get to watch all those Friends’ episodes that I seriously (seriously!) have not shut up about, not pick up after myself, and perhaps most importantly: eat whatever, whenever I want. Things that he won’t even dreeeeeam of touching. Things without chicken and steak. Things like wine and cheese and crackers every night.
That’s not the nonfunny part. The nonfunny part is that I developed my sickness the day he left. The sickness that robbed me of my sense of smell, appetite and general motivation to do anything at all. The sickness that made me not want to eat anything fun. The sickness that only allowed me to consume about 6 full meals in 11 days. The sickness that caused me to LISTEN TO MY OWN SNORING every single night. The sickness that made me ingest more Nyquil that humanly possible, disallowing me any wine. The sickness that rendered me useless and made it physically impossible for me to steam clean our carpets and deep clean our family room like I had fully intended on doing.
Oh wait. We all know I could care less about those last two.
But really. This lack of appetite has been so intense that I let that entire pan of baklava sit on my counter without touching it for THREE days. I let the mocha coconut fudge sit right under my nose for THREE more days without so much of a bite. Well, except for yesterday when I took a bite of fudge, then a bite of pretzel, then a bite of fudge, then a bite of pretzel, then a bite of… yeah. It has just been totally loopy.
I have pretty much lived on green things that I thought would cure me and slurps of soup, this being one variety. It’s packed with tons of flava flav, thanks to the bacon that starts everything off. Don’t you dare leave it out! I’ll know it if you do.
So now… Mr. How Sweet is on his way home and I guess that means I have to come up with something really meaty for tonight. Hope he doesn’t mind eating dinner at midnight in bed while watching Friends.
White Bean Chicken Soup
serves 4
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
2 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
1 small sweet onion, chopped
1 cleaned and trimmed leek, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (6 oz) bag fresh spinach
1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 cups water
1/4 cup freshly grated fontina cheese + more for garnish
Heat a large pot over medium heat and add chopped bacon. Cook until crispy and fat is rendered, then remove and let drain on a paper towel. Turn heat down to medium-low and add onions and leeks. Stir thoroughly to coat in bacon fat, then cook for 3 minutes. Add in mushrooms, stirring to coat and cook for 3 minutes more. Stir in pepper and paprika, then add in garlic and spinach. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until spinach wilts.
Add in chicken and toss with ingredients to coat. Add in beans, stock and water, then simmer for 10-15 minutes. Stir in fontina and bacon. Season with salt if desired (I really didn’t feel that mine needed any with the bacon + stock + fontina.) Serve with additional grated fontina and crackers.
Note: as long as you have some cooked chicken on hand, this soup will take you under 30 minutes. If you have to cook the chicken, you’re looking at about 45 minutes.
P.S. Those little crackers up there are these crispy multigrain flax pita things from Trader Joe’s. They are currently rocking my world. sooooo.much.freaking.crunch.
100 Comments on “30 Minute White Bean + Chicken Soup.”
The soup sounds amazing! I love soup too! I hope your feeling a little better. I have never been sick enough not to eat, I wish I would! My appetite is always there, and I mean always!!!! By the way I wish my Husband would go a way for a little while, it would be nice to be able to do what I want. Shop, eat Sweet Potatoes, watch HGTV and Food Network 24 hours and bake, bake, bake! Have a great day!!
looks delicious! I hope you feel better!
a) I’m about ready to suit up and do a cannonball into that soup.
b) Are you feeling ANY better at all? This sickness can SUCK. IT.
c) I know you know this, but I’m obsessed with Friends too. And right now I’m trying to figure out EXACTLY when Rachel’s voice changed from the “innocent” girlie high voice to the lower “not so innocent” (that didn’t work, did it?) voice that she had later in the series.
d) Do you know?
Your soup looks delish! I wish my husband would go away for two weeks so I can do all those fun things. Oh wait, crap. Can he take the kids with him :) Hope you are on the mend!
Yum! Those are all ingredients I have on hand, too! Perfect!
I just made a soup like this last week, only it was called Spezzatino and I made it with cubed pieces of Pancetta (because I’m Italian and apparently a snob about my bacon). This is a fantastic take on it and I will be making it very, very soon.
This looks so comforting! Need some. I am dying to make more soups…
Definitely a recipe I can make for my Mr. He doesn’t love my vegetarian soup recipes.
I am all over this soup!
Being sick just sucks and it totally narrows your world into a bubble of symptoms and snot, where you start making promises with the universe that you’ll cut your Sephora orders down to just once a week if only you could start feeling better sooner. Er, at least in my little corner of the world.
The bright side of the hubby being gone the whole time is that you DIDN’T have to cater to anyone else. Or worse, you could have gotten him sick, too. You know those boys don’t do well with a few sniffles.
Aww I hope you’re feeling better! I was sick for 3 weeks and although I wasn’t taking Nyquil, I did manage to get through 3 bottles of cough syrup in that time. Then I decided that it probably wasn’t doing anything at all to help so I stopped and just toughed it out. Wish I’d had this soup recipe at the time though, because it sounds so soothing and delicious!
This looks delicious, and for the record—love those crackers too! Yum!
Hope you’re feeling better!
Hope you feel better!!! Thtat soup looks fabulous!
I love all the ingredients in this soup! I can be picky with soups, but this sounds like something that I definitely would want to make. Hope you get better soon!
Hope you feel better soon! Tis the season to feel crappy, I guess.
I made the husband soup for dinner last night- he was NOT impressed. He says “I’m sorry, I’m just used to eating ‘something'” “umm, hello husband, soup is SOMETHING!” ……I think I’ll make this soup for ME!
Ha! I know exactly what that is like.
I’ve bean a soup maniac lately. Honestly, if my husband was cool with it, I would eat soup, stew or chili every night from Novemberr to February :). I just love me some soup. Yours looks especially divine- and a great way to cure this craziness you’ve come down with. I totally feel for you on the single lady front. My man was traveling quite a bit too. So Kay and I have been rocking it out together :)
i could probably eat soup for every.single.meal these days. is it too much to ask you to fedex me some? :)
It’s soup season for sure. I hope it helps you feel better.
I’m so picking up those crackers!
I LOVE soup, but for some reason i’m always a teensy bit scared to just throw stuff into a pot and wing it.. I need recipes. Any suggestion for something to sub in for beans (a traumatic experience of being forced to eat pasta + white beans as a kid has totally ruined me from them ;-) )??
I would just leave them out, or maybe pasta?
Totally making this TONIGHT!!!!! I hope you feel better soon. :)
I made it and it was AMAZING. Thanks again for the great recipe.
The soup looks just like what the doctor ordered to help make you feel better. Yum!
Oh, it sucks to be sick, especially when you’re going to be having some “me” time and want to accomplish a lot.
I think it’s my turn now. My son’s been sick the past few days and now I’m feeling that wonderful tickle in my nose and a slightly scratchy throat.
Soup it is!
I’ll take being sick now as long as it’s not over Christmas when we have company!
Ugh, hope you don’t get it, but agreed – better now than in a few weeks!
I love everything in this soup….. yum! Simple, easy to make, easily adaptable with other veggies and beans. I would NEVER skip the bacon! Are you crazy?
This looks wonderful, I want to make this tonight! This is what I would call the perfect cold weather soup!
I eat so much soup in the cold months it’s ridiculous. But like good ridiculous, not like toddlers in tiaras with freakishly white teeth ridiculous.. just wanted to clear that up.
The husband currently seems to have the same illness you do… except I have to listen to his snoring. Its horrible. And men, when sick, regress to being about 5 years old.
The soup looks phenomenal and comforting. I’ll be trying it soon, i’m sure! Feel better!
Thanks girl!
Great post! Oh my gosh…this soup looks so freaking amazing! I am craving soup like crazy, especially because our temp is something like 25 degrees colder than it was yesterday!
Good tip on the TJs crackers, will pick some of those up when we’re back home to try out.
Your photography with what I am presuming to be one hand is amazing. The handheld spoon shot, right above the recipe section, amazing!
And you being sick….ugh! Awful! So sorry but glad you are on the mend. The only time I would ever have been too sick to eat baklava on the counter was when I was pregnant. I had 30 weeks of it. Get well soon!!!
This is happening very soon on my stove!
This time of year, all I want to eat is soup, chili, cookies, and anything savory or sweet that warms my soul :) Those little soup bowls are adorable! Where did you find them?
Sur La Table – they are a few years old but I’m pretty sure they still have them and that they go on sale often.
Just FYI – I was gonna hurt you if you didn’t mention where the heck you got those wonderful little crackers!!
I’m very sorry you haven’t been able to drink any wine. And for being sick too….that does suck.
Last year I made your chickpea soup…so I will definitely try this one too. Sounds like a winner to me.
Or, you know, soup in a really freaking adorable ceramic bowl/pot/cauldron.
This is the perfect thing to warm me up in this mean winter weather! Looks pretty healthy, too. Win-win.
Quick question – how would you cook the chicken? When a recipe calls for already cooked chicken, I never know what to do! Just saute it? Broil it? Poach it? Thanks!
I say do what’s easiest for you at the time! In most cases, the easiest for me is boiling it. However if I have a bunch of stuff going on atop my stove I may grill it or broil it!
Omg, aren’t those crackers friggin amazing?! My mom had them at Thanksgiving and I’m pretty sure I ate 85% of the box. They make an excellent vehicle for baked brie, cheddar cheese, goat cheese….anything.
Feel better!
So good!
Chris loves those TJ pita chips. I get them every time I’m home! The texture of this soup looks perfect. I’ll have to make this when Chris isn’t around, or make + freeze it for myself! Seriously sounds so good. I also love that we posted about soup on the same day. And that 2nd to last photo, holding the spoon, you must have the steadiest hands because it’s crystal clear. I am horrible at those shots!
Forget dinner I want this for lunch. Like right now. Even though it’s only 10:30. This looks seriously good.
when I saw this pic yesterday on instagr.am I thought it was french onion soup. This is way better.
Hahaha! It did look extra cheesy on Instagram.
this is terrible. im TRYING to study for my next final in the library and ALL i can think about is how this would be sooooo good for lunch. and im thinking about what kind of goodies i can make to take on our “griswald christmas vacation” to the mountains next week. and i cant stop listening to snow patrol. your creations are such a wonderful distraction if only i had a morsel of them right in front of me right now!!
I KNEW I could count on you! Was just needing something to do with leftover chicken, and soup was sounding tasty in this frigid weather. Thanks!
Booo for being sick! I can’t believe you eat green things when you don’t feel good. I eat ice cream and cookies non-stop when I feel under the weather. I think they have magical powers. I hope you feel 100% soon!
Well… I do a little of both. Just came home with a pint of ice cream.
I don’t see how this recipe could be anything but amazing with bacon, garlic, and cheese. I’m sold.
This looks soooo delicious. Holy geez. And it looks healthy? Glad you’re feeling better. That sickness sucked.
Sadness…I love my single lady time too; I know how important it is to feel fully up to par for wine drinking and potato chip consuming!! I hope you feel better soon and kick Mr. How Sweet out of the house for a night. :)
I’m sorry you’re been feeling sick! Although honestly, any excuse to watch Friends marathons is time well spent.
PS: I made your peanut butter blossoms recipe and they are AMAZING! Thanks so much!
So glad you like them!
That soup looks delicious and I hope you start feeling better soon!
I hope you’re feeling better soon! It stinks being sick :(
This will be great for those Winter colds. Great recipe and get better!
I feel your pain. I finally feel better today…I hope you do soon too!
mmm i love soup season & i am definitely going to try this one… it looks so good!
really hope you’re feeling better now & sorry that your girl time got ruined by your sickness! i really love my girl time too but my hubby doesn’t travel anymore so i say we take a girl get-away and do nothing but eat, make messes, watch tv & not clean. you down?
For sure!