chard and white bean soup.
tender, leafy swiss chard, creamy white beans, nutty tahini, and spicy italian sausage meatballs make for a flavorful, creamy spin on italian wedding soup.
Makes: 4 servings Prep time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes jump to recipe.
I recently developed a Swiss chard curry recipe for Food Republic that called for a large bunch of regular swiss chard. Foolishly, I grabbed a bunch I thought was Swiss chard, not noticing until I got home that it was rainbow chard. Actually, more embarrassingly, I didn’t notice until I went to cook with it several days later.
To be fair, rainbow chard is the same thing, but with colorful stalks instead of just white (and to my credit, some stalks are just white, and if those are the only stalks you see, it’s easy to confuse). Because it was a recipe for a website and specifically called for Swiss chard, I had to run to the store for plain old white stalks.
So, thus, I was left with wilty rainbow chard. Beautiful, still, but with unplanned usage. Should I just throw it in a skillet for a sautéed side? Should I tear it into pieces for a salad? It was too wilty to eat raw.
Soup. Of course. It’s the best thing for dying greens and beans and is perfect year round, even during this abnormally hot week. I wanted something brothy, bright, but down-to-earth. Rustic.
I thought about naming this “trust-the-process” soup because I truly didn’t think the elements were working together until… they did. At the very end. It was like magic. All of a sudden, this gray, nutty mess became a magical soup with flavor and balance. So trust the process on this one — it’s worth it.
Tahini
Tahini is kind of like peanut butter without the sweetness, if that makes sense. It’s excellent in noodles and in dressings that you want just a touch of nuttiness for. It’s also excellent in desserts that need earthiness to balance the sweetness, or paired with sesame seeds. It’s versatile and reminds me a lot of miso.
If you’d rather use miso, it will work absolutely perfectly here instead of tahini. Don’t change a thing otherwise. It will be less nutty and more “umami”.
You can also omit the tahini and have a brothy, lemon-forward soup. That is totally fine. The tahini is there for the tahini-lovers.
But don’t go overboard. It is very powerful and will make your soup a nutty mess if you use more than I suggested. Start small, especially if you’re not sure, then stir in a little more if you’re left unsatisfied.
Making this vegetarian and vegan
This is absurdly easy to make vegetarian and vegan; I actually designed it without the meatballs first, and added them in on a whim (if you do eat meat, I highly recommend adding them in).
The mushrooms give umami, the tahini does the flavor heavy lifting, the beans add protein. No need for meat if you don’t want it. To make vegetarian-vegan, just omit the meatballs and use vegetable stock. That’s it. Right?
So, at the end of the day, this soup is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and vegetarian, if you make it meatless. That’s a good soup.
mini meatballs mostly cooked on a sheet tray
chard and white bean soup ingredients
chard: So, I used the term “Swiss chard” quite a bit above, but clearly I used rainbow. They’re the same thing with different stalks. The red and orange stalks are very pretty in the soup, but if you’re not into it (or simply don’t have it in store), just use Swiss. And if you can’t find either chard? Just swap for spinach or kale. Don’t swap for mustard, collard, or turnip greens; these will be gritty, taste bitter, and be very stringy if prepped and cooked this way. If using chard, you’ll be good with one healthy bunch (about 4-5 leaves).
mushrooms: Any mushroom will work here, but I’d actually recommend keeping it simple and using either white or cremini mushrooms. The mushrooms really are there to add a deep umami, they aren’t a focal point. My next recommendation would be shiitake. And if you want to skip the shrooms, feel free.
garlic: I didn’t use onion, though you could — I just used a bunch of garlic, that’s all. Use a few healthy cloves and try not to skip this. Adds a necessary “spicy” flavor (not hot - you get what I mean).
tahini: You can find this in the store in the international aisle where the Mediterranean/Middle Eastern foods are, or, possibly, in the condiment aisle. It looks like peanut butter and comes in fairly large jars or bottles. You don’t need very much, so you can buy a small jar.
mirin: This, like white wine, adds flavor to the vegetables and broth. I like mirin with tahini. You can swap for a very dry white wine like sauvignon blanc or chardonnay if you don’t have mirin. You can also use saké if that’s something you keep on hand! (Saké is also a bit easier to find in commercial stores — use the cheap kind).
vegetable or chicken broth: I actually used chicken because it was cheaper that day and I prefer the flavor. I recommend it here unless you are veg.
white beans: I used cannellini, which I think are the best for soups and stews because they break down into a creamy texture. You could opt for great northerns or even chickpeas for a firmer bean.
italian sausage: I’d actually recommend using mild or the soup will end up as a really bizarre color with probably too much heat - however, the world is your oyster. Use hot sausage if you love it. Mild will add a perfectly subtle heat. You could also use ground beef or pork like an italian wedding soup, but the italian sausage pairs better with the mild flavors in the soup.
lemon: This ended up being a non-negotiable in the soup. It brightens the earthy tahini a lot, and in my opinion, is necessary. Use fresh lemon and add towards the end for brighter flavor.
simmering the soup with vegetables - the tahini clouds the soup
like spinach, it will look like a lot of greens but will wilt down to about half its size.
chard and white bean soup pairing options
This soup makes an excellent main course, but as always, I recommend having it alongside a sandwich or hearty salad. Here are some ideas:
BLT, especially with mozzarella and pesto
ham and melty swiss cheese sandwich
crusty bread or garlic bread
focaccia, especially with onions and herbs
caesar salad, especially with chicken
as the soup cooks, the cloudiness turns into creaminess and the bitterness of the chard calms the nutty tahini.