Hearty Kidney Bean Soup Recipe

This delicious kidney bean soup recipe is one of my daughter's favorite meals. The combination of the brown rice and kidney beans make this meal a complete protein (which means it contains all nine essential amino acids necessary for your body to grow and stay healthy). And the greens in this healthy soup add that extra boost of nutrition that I love giving my family.

This is a very thick soup, almost like a bean stew. If you prefer it to be thinner, just add more water or vegetable broth in the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Kidney Bean Soup

2 cups chopped onions
3 tablespoons olive oil
7 cups water or vegetable broth
1 ½ cups kidney beans, soaked overnight
1 ½ cups brown rice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cups chopped chard, spinach, or beet greens
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons minced basil or 2 teaspoons dried
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft. Add the water and bring to a boil. Drain the beans, discard the water, and rinse well. Add to the water-onion mixture. Stir in the rice and mustard. Cover and cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the beans are tender. Add the greens, garlic, salt, basil, and oregano during the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

Side note: This soup freezes really well. If you do plan on freezing some, remove it from the soup pot before adding the greens. Then, just add fresh greens once you have defrosted the soup. This way you don’t lose a lot of the greens nutrients in the freezing process.

This great bean soup recipe is just one of many healthy dishes you can add to your meal plan. Return to the healthy dinners section to find more.

Looking for more healthy soup recipes? Try the Smokey Tortilla Soup.