Are you ready for a delicious vegan and WFPB one-pot wonder? Look no further, because I'm here to show you how to make this easy, flavorful and satisfying Serbian White Bean Soup recipe!
This traditional Balkan dish is made with white beans as the main star of the meal, but it also packs in plenty of nourishing vegetables like onions, carrots and celery.
Plus, I've lightened it up even more by making it oil free too! Serve this soup as a hearty lunch or dinner - either way, your family will love every bite.
So let's dig in and get cooking with this amazing Vegan Serbian White Bean Soup Recipe that's perfect for batch cooking meal preps!
Try some of my other bean recipes like white chili recipe, bean chili, creamy White Bean Lemon Spaghetti.
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Ingredients
A quick overview of what ingredients we use for this soup.
You can find the ingredients with quantities and the recipe to print out on the recipe card below.
- Onions
- Garlic Cloves
- Leeks
- Carrots
- Celery root
- Paprika powder, sweet
- Cooked White beans
- Marjoram, dried
- Oregano, dried
- Parsley
- Freekeh or TVP
- Tomato paste
- Celery salt
- Onion powder
- Chunky tomatoes
- Vegetable stock
- Smoked salt
Instruction
We start by grounding the Freekeh. To do this, I use my food processor with the pulse function.
Soak the cracked freekeh in vegetable broth. If you use TVP, then submerge this in enough vegetable broth to cover it. I let both soak overnight.
The next day you can finely dice the onions, mince the garlic, and sauté in a sufficiently large pot.
For this purpose, I always add a splash of water, so that nothing burns or stick to the bottom.
Now chop leeks, carrots, and celery root finely. I like to use a food processor for this as well. Add the vegetables to the onions and let them sauté briefly.
Now you can add all the other ingredients and let the soup simmer for about 20 min on medium heat.
When the freekeh is soft, the soup is ready, and you can season the soup again just to your own taste.
Garnish the soup with some freshly chopped parsley.
Slow Cooker and Instant Pot Instructions
- Slow Cooker: You can cook this soup in a slow cooker for about 6 hours. Start in the morning and for lunch or dinner your soup is ready to be served.
- Pressure Cooker: You do not have time to cook the soup that long? Use an Instant Pot or a Stove Top Pressure Cooker (brand I use). You add all the ingredients and let it cook under pressure for about 15 minutes.
Substitution
- Ground Meat Alternative: As is often the case, the original recipe is prepared with ground meat. But I found a great alternative for that. Just take freekeh, and you'll get a super delicious Serbian white bean soup. I use whole freekeh kernels and blend them quickly with the food processor until coarse. Freekeh tastes slightly nutty and gives the vegan soup a delicious note. Of course, you can also use TVP or other ground meat alternatives. Try the soup with pearl barley, bulgur.
- Beans: You can use any white beans like navy beans, cannellini beans, Lima beans, great northern beans. I love to use a mix of those.
- Leeks: You can substitute leeks with green onions.
- Celeriac: Celery Root, easy replaced by some celery.
- Smoked Salt: Instead of Smoked Salt, you can also use liquid smoke or smoked paprika to add some smoke flavor to your vegan white bean soup.
- Spicy: This recipe has already some kick. But for a quick spicy recipe, you can add some chili flakes.
Variation
- Vegetables: Add some Soup greens / vegetables like green beans, brussels sprouts to add some extra nutrition to your soup.
- Creamy: You want a creamy bean soup, add some coconut milk or cashew cream.
- White Wine: You want to add some extra flavor, add some white wine while you sauté the onions. You can also use white wine vinegar instead of wine.
Equipment
To make this party soup, you will need a soup pot like 4qt pot or pressure cooker. You also will need a chef knife and a cutting board.
Storage
The Serbian bean soup lasts in the fridge for up to a week. Please make sure you put the meatless soup in an airtight container.
Freezing
This vegan Serbian white bean soup can even be frozen very well, so it is great for making this as a meal prep in larger quantities.
Serving Suggestions
We serve classic rolls to vegan Serbian bean soup. I just love to dip bread in soups.
You can also top the soup with croutons.
A rustic sourdough bread goes well with such a soup, as well.
Garlic baguette as a side dish would be a real eye-catcher.
Or have it fancy, and serve this vegan Serbian bean soup in a bread bowl. Simply cut the lid off the bread and remove the inner.
Tips
Soften the freekeh first, so that it will cook faster.
Use TVP if you need it faster. You only need to soak these for about 10 minutes.
If you use dried white beans, they fill up about 3 times the volume of their dry volume.
Soak the white beans for at least 12 hours (overnight) and cook the white beans in the soaking water for about 1 hour.
Only salt the beans when they are softened. Otherwise, the shell will not soften.
Season the soup with paprika powder.
If the soup is not spicy enough, you can add Tabasco or another hot sauce. Or season with red pepper flakes powder.
FAQ
At first glance, on the list of ingredients, it doesn’t look like the vegan Serbian bean soup would taste slightly spicy.
We use paprika powder, and not just a little; 4 teaspoons.
So the vegetarian bean soup gets a great full taste, which is a little spicy.
Serbian bean soup, or Pasulj as it is called, is a good spiced Serbian or Slovak soup and is often served as a starter or side dish.
White beans are not just healthy, but also filling thanks to the fiber.
These are a good source of protein and contain, among other things, magnesium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus. White beans are supposed to lower cholesterol.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Serbian White Bean Soup (Pasulj)
Ingredients
- 4 onions finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 leeks
- 2 carrots
- 3 slices celery root/ celeriac about finger thick
- 2 cans white beans
- 2 cans diced tomatoes
- 8 cups 2 liters vegetable stock
- 200 g freekeh cracked
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoon marjoram
- 2 teaspoon oregano
- 2 bunch parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 2 teaspoon onion powder
- 4 teaspoon paprika powder sweet
- 1 teaspoon smoked salt optional
Equipment
Instructions
- We start by grounding the Freekeh. To do this I use my high speed blender with the pulse function. Pour the cracked freekeh in vegetable broth. If you use TVP, then submerge this in enough vegetable broth to cover it. I let both soak overnight.
- The next day you can finely dice the onions, mince the garlic, and saute in a sufficiently large pot. For this purpose, I always add a splash of water, so that nothing burns.
- Now chop leeks, carrots, and celery root finely. I like to use my chopper. Add the vegetables to the onions and let them sautee briefly.
- Now you can add all the other ingredients and let the soup simmer for about 20 min on medium heat.
- When the freekeh is soft, the soup is ready and you can season the soup again just to your own taste.
- Garnish the soup with some freshly chopped parsley
Crystal says
Does not mention what size canned beans or tomatoes??
Kerstin says
Jasmin , this soup is freely good, but have a question. I rinsed my beans , do you do that?
Thanks, kerstin
Jasmin says
Hi Kerstin, I do that sometimes. Not every time. Both ways work just fine. Happy you like the soup 🙂
R. says
I would also like to know the can sizes in net grams contents. There are smaller cans of beans and tomatoes and cans that are twice as large. So which ones?
Jasmin Hackmann says
Kerstin, the cans are the size of 15.5 oz (440g).
Susan says
Can you make without the freekah? I can do gluten
Jasmin says
You can use buckwheat or TVP if you want to. Or leave it out.
Kim says
How many cups is a serving?
Jasmin says
Hi Kim, I used a soup spoon to make the servings. And you get around 2 spoons for one serving.
Jovana says
Bulgarians put menta or "nana" in serbian and it gives this dish great flavour 🙂 greetings!
Jasmin says
I will check this out. Thank you so much. I actually never heard of it.
Ann says
I’ve never used smoked salt before, so I’m wondering if between the broth and the smoked salt if the dish would be really salty? I use Better Than Bouillon vegetable when I need broth so it tends to be salty enough. Should I cut back on that to save on the saltiness so I can add the smoked salt?
Jasmin says
Hi Ann, I would use liquid smoke if you want to get a smoky flavor or just omit it. Bouillon is mostly salty enough. Or add the smoked salt later, when you tried the soup and think it is enough salt, omit it. If not you can add it.
Leah M says
This sounds incredible! Please, what does the ‘tk’ mean in “parsley, tk”? Thank you!
Jasmin says
That means chopped. I changed it, you can just buy 2 bunches parsley and chop in very fine.
Sara says
This soup is seriously overflowing with goodness Jasmin! I bet it's so filling and extra delicious. I need some - would be super warming and help to fight the winter chill! Yum ?
Jasmin says
Thank you so much Sara. It tastes so good. It is super warming and just awesome with the cold temperatures.
Nina says
This looks so good! I have to try it. It sounds perfect for the colder months, but even now in the warmer season, I'm sure it would be really delicious.
veeatcookbake says
thank you Nina