Portabella mushrooms add a rich, savory flavor and wild rice adds texture to this delicious plant-based butter bean soup.
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!
Check out all of my oil-free, plant-based soups!
Butter Bean Soup with Portabellas and Wild Rice
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)
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.
Nutritional info is approximate.
Amy
October 23, 2010 at 4:02 pmDo you think canned cannelini bean or another canned white bean would work well in this soup? It looks delicious!
SusanV
October 23, 2010 at 4:18 pmI think they would be delicious. Please let me know how it comes out.
stephanie
January 15, 2011 at 5:36 pmgot this bubbling on the stove right now. can’t wait to try it!
janell
December 18, 2011 at 6:49 pmS0 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.
Emily
March 2, 2012 at 12:19 amThis 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?
Susan Voisin
March 2, 2012 at 12:27 amThe 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.
Joe Sampogne
August 5, 2012 at 10:34 pmYum 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
Joe Sampogne
August 5, 2012 at 10:56 pmWhoops Sorry didn’t notice it was a vegan recipe page. Will make again in a few weeks and just add kale for the color.
Nancy Sherman
November 2, 2012 at 6:16 pmI am wondering if you know of any fat free vegan recipies for Scarlet Runner Beans…???
Kelly
October 4, 2015 at 11:16 amHi Susan,
How do you make your broth so rich? Mine doesn’t have the same color and thickness.
Thank you!
Emily T
September 10, 2016 at 11:14 amHi — I was wondering if you thought this soup could be modified for the slow cooker by adding less water. Thanks in advance!
Susan Voisin
September 10, 2016 at 11:22 amI think it could do well in the slow cooker. I would do a search for similar crockpot recipes to determine the correct timing.
CYLIA LOWE
January 28, 2018 at 5:00 amCan’t wait to try this today!!! I recently tried the speckled butter beans and loved them! So glad to have another recipe!
Amy
August 5, 2022 at 12:10 pmThere 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.
Susan Voisin
August 5, 2022 at 3:40 pmThe mushrooms are the 6th ingredient and they’re added in step 2 along with the remaining ingredients.