Slow Cooker Garbanzo Bean Soup

Slow Cooker Garbanzo Bean Soup

April 2, 2020

Servings: 6

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A vibrant and flavorful Mediterranean vegetable soup that can be made vegetarian or not, depending on your preference! It's warm, comforting and the recipe is easier than you'd ever think!

By: A Wholesome New World

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, chopped (around 1 cup)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 1 cup garbanzo beans (if using canned, rinse thoroughly)
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Parmesan cheese and basil pesto (for garnish)
• Optional:
• 1 lb pork tenderloin
• 1/2 lb of cooked pasta (I used 4 sheets of lasagna noodles)

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic and carrots to the pan and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Step 2 Season your pork (if including) generously and place in the bottom of a slow cooker. Transfer the sautéed vegetables to the slow cooker. Add green beans (and additional veggies of your choosing), tomatoes, chicken stock beans, basil, oregano, rosemary, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine ingredients and then cover your slow cooker. Turn on low and cook all day, or at least for 4-6 hours.
• Step 3 Remove your pork in the last 30 minutes of cooking, shred, and return to the pot -with the cooked pasta, if using.
• Step 4 When cook time is completed, ladle into soup bowls, garnish with a dollop of pesto, Parmesan cheese and fresh herbs, and serve immediately.

As I mentioned in my last post (One Pan Maple Dijon Pork Chops), a big goal for this week was trying to simplify my recipes. Partially because I hit a wall this week and am struggling to keep my head on straight, but mainly because I know you are too. We are all in this together and I want to share my “strength” – my love and passion for cooking – with you in the hopes that it will not only inspire you but make your lives easier too (especially right now).

Starting the fall, people are constantly asking me for slow cooker recipes and I honestly wish I had more up my sleeve. But I always find it hard while I’m working to get a recipe together in the slow cooker and get out the door in one piece. We are NOT morning people in my house (and I don’t think we ever will be). However, now that we are home all day every day, for the foreseeable future, I realized it was a good time to start putting it to use, at least once a week. It makes my life a thousand times easier and hopefully it will make yours easier too!

I’ve also been getting a lot of recipes for vegetarian recipes, so this has the option of being BOTH vegetarian or not, depending on your preference! Add the pork, or don’t, whatever floats your boat. I promise you’ll be happy with the finished product either way!

This is SUCH a pantry friendly recipe and you can totally adjust the ingredients based on what you have in your pantry. I used garbanzo beans because it’s what I had. (True story, I started this out as a Tuscan Bean soup but didn’t have white beans so changed things up midstream!) So what do you really “need” to make this recipe a success? Not much!

Essential Ingredients:

• A can of tomatoes (crushed, diced, whole, whatever you have!)
• A variety of fresh or canned veggies (green beans, asparagus, carrots)
• A can of beans – ideally garbanzo, but cannellini or white beans work too!

Optional Ingredients:

• Pasta/noodles (I used lasagna noodles that I cut into bite-size pieces!)
• Pork or Chicken *optional if you’d like to add meat