Lima Bean Soup

This flavorful Lima Bean Soup is packed with plenty of vegetables, like buttery baby potatoes, corn, greens and fresh herbs. It's vegan, but easy to adapt with your favorite protein for a fuller meal. It's also quick and easy to make and ready in just over 30 minutes!

Why we love this recipe

• Quick and easy: this lima bean soup is perfect for a weeknight dinner with minimal prep and just about 30 minutes of cook time.
• Meal prep friendly: this soup also stores well as leftovers for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for several months.
• Vegan: this soup is naturally vegan, but you can customize in any way you'd like!
• Vegetable-heavy: great way to get in a few servings of vegetables, and surprisingly filling.

Ingredients

Here are the key ingredients you'll need for this vegan lima bean soup:

Ingredient Notes

• Lima beans: we use frozen baby lima beans in this recipe, which are very easy to find and available at pretty much any grocery store. If you want to use dried lima beans, you'll want to cook them before adding to this soup. Check out this post for a cooking tutorial.
• Potatoes: we love using baby red or yellow potatoes (aka new potatoes) in this soup. They're very small, so you only have to halve them for this soup. They also have a thin, delicate skin and a tender, creamy flesh, making them the perfect hearty addition to this soup.
  • If you can't find any baby potatoes, the next best substitute would be yukon gold potatoes – you'll just have to dice them a bit smaller. Fingerling potatoes would work, too.
• Corn: frozen is easiest to use, but feel free to use fresh corn if it's in season! You can also use fire roasted corn for more flavor.
• Greens: we used spinach in this lima bean soup, but you can sub with another leafy green of choice like kale or swiss chard.

Step-by-step instructions

(1) Melt 3 tbsp of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add 1 diced onion and sauté for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

(2) Stir in 3 tsp minced garlic and 1 ½ cups celery and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.

(3) Add 1 lb. halved baby potatoes, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper and stir well.

(4) Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring, until potatoes start to soften slightly.

(5 & 6) Add in 6 cups vegetable broth, 1 ½ tbsp lemon juice and 2 bay leaves. Bring soup to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes. 

(7 & 8) After 10 minutes, stir in 2 cups lima beans, 1 cup corn, 3 cups chopped spinach, ⅓ cup parsley, and 2 tbsp thyme.

Cook for an additional 20 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender. Stir in remaining tbsp of butter. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as desired. 

Expert Tips & FAQs

• If you or family members are not vegan, you can also consider adding shredded rotisserie chicken, spicy or sweet chicken sausage, or even ham (which is common with lima bean soup). If you want to keep it vegan but would like to add more protein, try this poultry-seasoned tofu "chicken"!
• Storage: let soup cool to room temperature, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for 5 days. Reheat in a small pot over medium heat.
• Freezer storage: Let the soup cool completely before transferring to an airtight, freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 6 months. To reheat, defrost in the refrigerator overnight, then heat over medium in a pot.

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