Recipes › Rosemary › Rosemary White Bean Soup with Crispy Breadcrumbs
Rosemary White Bean Soup with Crispy Breadcrumbs
A deeply savoury, velvety Italian-style soup where rosemary is the central flavouring, cooked slowly in olive oil until it perfumes the whole pot. The butter beans give a creamy, luxurious body without any cream, and the garlicky fried breadcrumbs on top provide a satisfying crunch against every spoonful. This is genuinely one of the best things you can make with a tin of beans.
Rosemary is in season now. More rosemary recipes, or see what to sow this month where you are.
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 20 g fresh rosemary, leaves stripped from stems, finely chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, 4 thinly sliced, 1 finely chopped for breadcrumbs
- 2 celery stalks, finely diced
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 800 g tinned butter beans, drained and rinsed (two 400g tins)or cannellini beans
- 900 ml vegetable stock
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 80 stale sourdough or ciabatta, torn into rough crumbsany stale white bread works
- 1 lemon, juice only
Contains: celery, milk.
Method
- Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the rosemary and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes — it should sizzle gently and become very fragrant. Add the 4 sliced garlic cloves, the onion and celery with a good pinch of salt and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are completely soft and just beginning to turn golden.About 12 min
- Add the drained butter beans and the vegetable stock. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. The beans should be very tender and starting to break down slightly at the edges.About 17 min
- While the soup simmers, make the breadcrumbs. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the torn bread and fry, tossing frequently, for 3 minutes until golden and crisp. Add the finely chopped garlic clove and fry for a further 1 minute, watching carefully so it does not burn. Tip onto a plate lined with kitchen paper and season with a pinch of salt.About 5 min
- Use a stick blender to blend roughly half the soup directly in the pan, or transfer half to a blender and return it — the aim is a creamy base with plenty of whole beans still visible. Stir in the lemon juice and taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as needed.About 3 min
- Ladle into warm bowls, top generously with the crispy breadcrumbs and finish with a small drizzle of good olive oil.
Tips
- Frying the rosemary in oil first — before adding anything else — is the technique that makes this soup taste so much more complex than its ingredients suggest. Do not rush that step.
- If your soup feels too thick, loosen it with a splash of hot water or extra stock. It will thicken further on standing.
- Make the breadcrumbs just before serving. They go soft quickly and the whole point of them is the contrast with the creamy soup.
Ring the changes
- Stir through 80g of baby spinach at the end of cooking for extra greenery.
- Add a Parmesan rind (if not keeping it vegan) to the stock as it simmers — it adds a deep umami richness to the base.
Keeping it
The soup keeps in the fridge for up to 4 days and improves overnight. Store the breadcrumbs separately in an airtight container and they will stay crisp for up to 2 days. The soup also freezes well for up to 3 months — freeze without the breadcrumbs.
In the app this recipe finds you
Log what you've picked and GrowMore CookMore matches it to 1,918 more recipes like this one, tells you what's ready before the frost gets it, and keeps the freezer honest. Free to start.
More from the same crop
A one-tin weeknight roast that punches well above its effort level. Chicken thighs are rubbed with a rosemary, garlic and lemon paste that crisps beautifully in the oven, while the potatoes roast underneath, soaking up all the herby dripping. This is the kind of supper that becomes a household regular.
1 h 5 min · easy · RosemaryThe definitive rosemary roast potato — properly parboiled, roughed up in the colander to create craggy edges, then roasted in very hot goose fat or oil with whole rosemary sprigs until shatteringly crispy outside and fluffy within. The rosemary perfumes the fat and coats every craggy surface of the potatoes. These are the roast potatoes everyone fights over.
1 h 15 min · easy · RosemaryMeaty beef short ribs braised low and slow with a generous bunch of rosemary that infuses the whole cooking liquid with its piney, resinous fragrance. After four hours in the oven the meat pulls away from the bone in thick, silky shreds and the braising liquid has reduced to a glossy, herb-scented sauce. This is a showstopping dinner that needs minimal attention once it is in the oven.
4 h 30 min · medium · Rosemary
Allotment keeper in the North East of England, the voice behind the Tony C Smith YouTube channel, and the gardener who built GrowMore CookMore. Club numbers on this page update as members log their plots. Last updated 4 April 2026.