Chicken White Bean Soup

Our Chicken White Bean Soup is bursting with wholesome goodness. This recipe combines chicken, cannellini beans, and a medley of vegetables. Sautéed onions, poblano peppers, and celery create a fragrant base, while fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, and chipotles in adobo sauce infuse layers of flavor. Get ready to indulge in a bowl of chicken and bean soup that’s perfect for weekday meals.

This Chipotle Chicken & White Bean Soup is so warm and delicious, it’s perfect for a cool fall evening. With plenty of fresh, flavorful ingredients, it’s also a lovely soup to enjoy in the summertime. Just like this Ground Turkey Soup or Thai Coconut Soup, your family will devour every drop! Serve with bruschetta or a side salad to complete the meal.

What You’ll Love About This Chipotle Chicken & White Bean Soup

Flavorful base: The combination of poblano peppers, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, and chipotles in adobo creates a complex but delicious flavor. It’s unique in flavor, but still family-friendly.

Healthy ingredients: The recipe uses wholesome, filling ingredients like cannellini beans, chicken breasts, and plenty of vegetables and flavorful peppers.

Customizable spice level: The chipotles in adobo allow you to adjust the heat to your preference, so you can turn the spice level way down to make the soup kid-friendly, or add even more for a spicy soup!

Simple to make: Sometimes, making homemade soup can feel complicated, but this recipe follows a clear and straightforward process.

Key Ingredients

This recipe uses a few ingredients you may never have used before.

Cannellini Beans – Cannellini beans are white kidney beans, and they’re sold in a can. They’re already cooked and ready to use, so they are very convenient beans to keep in your pantry. Cannellini beans are affordable and filling, and have a long shelf life, so they’re a great staple to add bulk to vegetarian dishes, or to strech soups and stews even further.

Chipotles in Adobo – Chipotles are smoked, dried jalapeno peppers that are used to season food. Chipotles have a rich, smoky, spicy flavor, but in small amounts, are quite tolerable and don’t make food overly hot. Adobo sauce is a mixture of vinegar, tomatoes, garlic, and other spices.

Chipotles are typically sold in small jars or cans. So, when you buy chipotles in adobo, you’re getting both the smoky chipotle peppers and the flavorful adobo sauce they are packed in.You only need a few chipotles to give your soup a beautifully rich flavor.

Ingredients

• Olive oil – Any good quality cooking oil will do
• Diced onion – I used a white onion. Any sweet onion will
• Diced poblano pepper – Poblanos add an earthy flavor, but they aren’t spicy and won’t make the dish too hot.
• Diced celery stalks
• Fennel seeds
• Italian seasoning
• Salt & black pepper
• Minced garlic – Fresh or jarred garlic will work in this recipe.
• Tomato paste
• Chipotles in adobo sauce – You’ll only need two chipotles. Dice them up fine.
• Chicken broth
• Stewed tomatoes
• Fire-roasted diced tomatoes – Find these in the canned tomato section of the grocery store.
• Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Fresh parsley (optional garnish)

How to Make

STEP ONE: Sautee the vegetables.  Heat a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. Add the onions, poblanos, and celery, and cook for 5 minutes.

STEP TWO: Incorporate the seasonings: Add the salt, pepper, fennel seeds, and Italian seasoning. Then, add the minced garlic and cook for an additional minute. Add the tomato paste and chipotles in adobo sauce. Stir.

STEP THREE: Cook the chicken. Pour in the chicken broth, both cans of tomatoes, and beans. Bring the soup to a boil, then add the chicken breasts.

STEP FOUR: Cook the soup. Cover the pot and let it simmer for 25-30 minutes, or until the chicken has cooked through.

STEP FIVE: Chop the chicken. Remove the cooked chicken and cut it into bite-sized pieces or shred it with two forks.

STEP SIX: Serve. Return the shredded chicken back into the soup. Taste and season as needed with salt and black pepper. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh parsley, toasted crostini and butter.

Tips and Recipe Notes:

• You can substitute the chicken pieces with boneless, skinless chicken thighs if you prefer. You can also add pre-cooked rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken in near the end of the cook time instead of the chicken breasts.
• Don’t rush the process of cooking your vegetables. The process of cooking your vegetables is what will add flavor to your soup, so give them time.
• If you’d like a thicker soup, reserve about 1/2 cup of cooked cannellini beans and mash them with a fork. Then, stir them into the soup near the end of the cook time. This will add thickness and creaminess.
• You can make this soup vegetarian by simply removing the chicken. You can add extra cannellini beans if you’d like.

How To Store Leftover Soup

This chipotle chicken and white bean soup is perfect for meal prepping or enjoying leftovers throughout the week. Here’s how to store it safely:

Make Ahead and Fridge Storage: This soup is great for making ahead! Cook it according to the recipe, then allow it to cool completely.

Once cool, transfer the soup to an airtight container. Store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

In the Freezer: Let the soup cool completely after cooking. I recommend you store this soup in small containers so you can thaw just one to two portions at a time.

Transfer the cooled soup to freezer-safe containers and freezer for up to three months.

Reheating: If your soup was frozen, allow it to thaw overnight in the fridge. Transfer your leftover soup to a pot on the stovetop and heat over medium heat until simmering. You may need to add a splash of chicken broth or water to thin it out as it reheats.

Is this soup gluten-free? Dairy Free?

Yes, this chipotle chicken and white bean soup is both gluten-free and dairy-free as long as you choose a gluten-free chicken broth. Always check your own ingredient labels to be sure they are free of any allergens or additives you want to avoid.

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