• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Simply delicious oil-free vegan recipes

  • Recipe Index
    • Recipes by Category
    • Recipes by Tag
    • Recipe Box
  • About Me
    • Press
  • NewsBites
  • Shop!
  • Website

Butter Bean Soup with Portabellas and Wild Rice

December 20, 2008 By Susan Voisin 15 Comments
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy Policy.

Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe Share on Facebook

Portabella mushrooms add a rich, savory flavor and wild rice adds texture to this delicious plant-based butter bean soup. 

Butter Bean Soup with Portabellas and Wild Rice

In the depths of winter weather–or as deep as it gets in these parts–often the only thing standing between me and acute culinary boredom is the freezer. Sure, pumpkins and winter squash are exciting at first, but it doesn’t take long before summer produce envy sets in and I start pining for the juicy tomatoes and fresh field peas of a few months ago.

There’s not much I can do about the tomatoes–canned and frozen are okay for cooked dishes, but they’re never going to make it into one of my salads–but peas and beans that have been frozen when they’re fresh lose only a little of their taste and nutrition and make a decent substitute for the fresh thing.

I have friends and neighbors who buy enough butter beans and lady cream peas to eat their summertime fill and have enough left over to blanch and freeze for the winter. In my next life, I hope to be one of these people. For now, I have to settle for store-bought frozen peas, which I’m able to find in several varieties.

For this delicious, savory soup, I used Pictsweet brand speckled butter beans. They’re about the same size as Fordhook lima beans, but they’re dark and a little less starchy. If they’re not available in your area, feel free to substitute frozen lima beans or black-eyed peas. Just avoid anything canned; I find that canned butter beans can ruin the flavor of just about anything!

Butter Bean Soup with Portobellos and Wild Rice

 

Check out all of my oil-free, plant-based soups!

Butter Bean Soup with Portobellos and Wild Rice
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin SaveSaved! Add to Recipe BoxGo to Recipe Box

Butter Bean Soup with Portabellas and Wild Rice

Gluten Free
Nut Free
Soy Free
Sugar Free
If you don’t have wild rice, pearled barley or another grain can be used instead; just be sure to pick one that cooks in less than an hour.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Servings 6
Author Susan Voisin

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onions diced
  • 2 ribs celery diced
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 6 cups water
  • 1 pound speckled butter beans or Fordhook lima beans fresh or frozen
  • 6 ounces baby portobello mushrooms sliced
  • 1/4 cup wild rice uncooked
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary crushed, or 2 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
  • 1/2 teaspoon sage
  • 1-2 teaspoons salt to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce or coconut aminos (soy-free and gluten-free)
Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

  • Heat a large non-stick pot. Add the onions, and saute until they begin to brown, about 6 minutes. (Add a tablespoon or two of water to prevent sticking, if necessary.) Add the celery and garlic, and cook for another two minutes.
  • Add the water and butter beans and bring to a boil. Add all remaining ingredients, bring back to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the beans and wild rice are both done, 45-55 minutes.
  • If necessary, thin soup with water as it is cooking, according to taste. Just before serving, about 1/2 cup of the beans may be mashed or blended to make the broth thicker.
Nutrition Facts
Butter Bean Soup with Portabellas and Wild Rice
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 151
% Daily Value*
Fat 0g0%
Sodium 849mg37%
Carbohydrates 29g10%
Fiber 6g25%
Protein 7g14%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional info is approximate.

Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Southern
Keyword lima beans, mushrooms, vegan
Have you made this recipe?Mention @SusanFFVK and tag #fatfreevegankitchen in your photos on Instagram.
Share on Facebook Pin This Recipe Share by Email

Butter Bean Soup with Portabellas and Wild Rice: Portobello mushrooms add a rich, savory flavor to this delicious plant-based soup. #vegan #oilfree

Filed Under: Recipes, Soups Tagged With: Eat-to-Live, Gluten-free, Nut-Free, Southern cooking, Soy-free

Get NewsBites!

Sign up for our newsletter to receive new recipes & tips by email!

Privacy Policy
Previous Post: « Fall Harvest Fruit Cake (Persimmon-Apple Cake)
Next Post: Lower-Fat Peanut Butter Banana Cookies »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Amy

    October 23, 2010 at 4:02 pm

    Do you think canned cannelini bean or another canned white bean would work well in this soup? It looks delicious!

    Reply
    • SusanV

      October 23, 2010 at 4:18 pm

      I think they would be delicious. Please let me know how it comes out.

      Reply
  2. stephanie

    January 15, 2011 at 5:36 pm

    got this bubbling on the stove right now. can’t wait to try it!

    Reply
  3. janell

    December 18, 2011 at 6:49 pm

    S0 excited to try this recipe! I love my butter beans and have been looking for a recipe to share with my boys. This one looks like a winner.

    Reply
  4. Emily

    March 2, 2012 at 12:19 am

    This looks great. I’m a bean fanatic but I live on the west coast and am unfamiliar with these…are butter beans or fordhook limas a dried type of bean? Would something like dried Scarlet Runners work better, or would regular old grocery store frozen limas work better?

    Reply
    • Susan Voisin

      March 2, 2012 at 12:27 am

      The frozen Limas would work better for this recipe because I used frozen butter beans. They’re like large limas, but fresh (or frozen), not dried.

      Reply
  5. Joe Sampogne

    August 5, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    Yum I doubled the garlic,and used half a large onion. I also used 2 cups of chicken stock and substituted 3 cubes of chicken bouillon for the salt,and 1/2 butter beans,half cannellini beans and stick blended the butter beans to thicken because I always find them chalky for my taste. used pearl barley because it was on hand and it was awesome!!! I would have made it as written if I had someone craving butter beans. Thank you for Your awesome inspiration to make soup in august! lol

    Reply
  6. Joe Sampogne

    August 5, 2012 at 10:56 pm

    Whoops Sorry didn’t notice it was a vegan recipe page. Will make again in a few weeks and just add kale for the color.

    Reply
  7. Nancy Sherman

    November 2, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    I am wondering if you know of any fat free vegan recipies for Scarlet Runner Beans…???

    Reply
  8. Kelly

    October 4, 2015 at 11:16 am

    Hi Susan,

    How do you make your broth so rich? Mine doesn’t have the same color and thickness.

    Thank you!

    Reply
  9. Emily T

    September 10, 2016 at 11:14 am

    Hi — I was wondering if you thought this soup could be modified for the slow cooker by adding less water. Thanks in advance!

    Reply
    • Susan Voisin

      September 10, 2016 at 11:22 am

      I think it could do well in the slow cooker. I would do a search for similar crockpot recipes to determine the correct timing.

      Reply
  10. CYLIA LOWE

    January 28, 2018 at 5:00 am

    Can’t wait to try this today!!! I recently tried the speckled butter beans and loved them! So glad to have another recipe!

    Reply
  11. Amy

    August 5, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    There is no mention of mushrooms in this recipe. I threw them in with the onions and browned them. Also wondering how it is going to do with brown rice, as the store had no wild rice. We will see. But I did want to mention the missing mushrooms.

    Reply
    • Susan Voisin

      August 5, 2022 at 3:40 pm

      The mushrooms are the 6th ingredient and they’re added in step 2 along with the remaining ingredients.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to My Kitchen!

Susan VoisinI'm Susan Voisin, and I love creating delicious whole foods plant-based dishes with no added oil. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram.
  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Find It Fast

  • Instant Pot Recipes
  • Ridiculously Easy Recipes
  • Weight Watchers Recipes
  • Recipes by Tag (ingredient, gluten-free, etc.)
  • Complete Recipe Index

Find a Recipe

Allergens

All of my recipes are vegan, dairy-free, and fish free. To find recipes free of other allergens, click on an icon below.

Gluten FreeNut FreeSugar FreeSoy Free

Footer

Fall Favorites

Pasta Fagioli with Cranberry Beans and Kale

Pasta Fagioli with Cranberry Beans and Kale

Vegan Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Vegan Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Spaghetti Squash Pesto Lasagna

Spaghetti Squash Pesto Lasagna

Lentil Soup with Coriander and Cumin from FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Lentil Soup with Coriander and Cumin

See More Fall Favorites

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Photos, original recipes, and text © Susan Voisin. All rights reserved. Do not republish content without permission.

Nutritional information is approximate and is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate. This site has no affiliation with Weight Watchers™️ and cannot guarantee accuracy of Points™️.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Copyright © 2023 · Susan Voisin · Privacy Policy· Log in