COOK: Fasolada – Greek Lenten Bean Soup

• Fasolada Soup Ingredients
• Kitchen Equipment Needed
• How to Make Fasolada (Greek Bean Soup)
• Storage & Serving Ideas
• Fasolada – Greek Lenten Bean Soup

This traditional Greek soup is vegetarian, and perfect for the Lent season (or really, any time of year). Fasolada is a hearty soup, with white beans for protein, and flavored with tomatoes, mirepoix, garlic, and dried herbs.

It’s a delicious budget-friendly lunch, dinner, or first course. This recipe uses dried white beans, making it even more affordable. The texture of beans cooked from scratch is better if you can plan ahead to soak them, but if you’re in a hurry, you can do a quick-soak or “cheat” with canned beans (see below for tips on how to do this).

Pair your fasolada soup with baked fish or roasted Greek chicken (or rotisserie chicken for an even easier meal), roasted lemon and herb potatoes, a Greek village salad (horiatiko), a platter of hummus, pita, dolmades, cheese, and olives, fresh dinner rolls or garlic bread. Or pack some in a wide-mouth mason jar for a quick healthy lunch on-the-go!

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Fasolada Soup Ingredients

White beans:

You can use a large white bean like cannelloni, great northern beans, white kidney beans, or baby limas, or you can substitute smaller navy beans for a faster cooking soup with a shorter soaking time. The cooking time will vary depending on which beans you use, with larger beans or ones with thicker hulls taking longer to soak and cook to tenderness, so make sure you take this into account.

Fresher dried beans will also cook faster than ones that have been stored in your pantry for a long time. If yours are tough, you can add a small pinch of baking soda to the cooking water, which will help them soften up faster (too much can make them bitter or mushy, so just use a tiny amount if any, and make sure you drain the cooking water before adding the beans to your soup).

This recipe uses soaked dried beans cooked from scratch, but you can substitute canned white beans for a quick and easy homemade fasolada soup. You’d need about 6 cups of cooked white beans or four 15 oz cans to roughly equal the one pound of dried beans in this recipe.

Onions:

Use two medium standard yellow or white onions, peeled and cut into small to medium dice. Substitute one jumbo onion, or three small ones.

Celery:

Two large, or three medium, stalks of celery, well-washed to remove any dirt or grit. Cut into medium dice.

Carrots:

You’ll need two large carrots (or about 2-3 medium or 3-4 small ones). Wash them, then peel and trim the ends before cutting into medium dice.

Tomato:

While you can use fresh, blanched and diced tomatoes when they’re in season, it’s easiest to use canned tomatoes.

You’ll also need tomato paste, which adds sweetness, body, and umami, which adds a depth of flavor to your Greek Lenten bean soup even if you’re making the strictly vegetarian version. I use about half of an 8 oz can, and freeze the rest to use later.

Chicken or vegetable broth:

I usually make this soup with chicken stock, which adds a lightly meaty flavor without adding any actual meat (insert, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” joke about lamb being vegetarian here). You can also use hot water and a good quality bouillon base if you don’t have any stock on hand, and still have a tasty homemade soup!

You can make it with vegetable or mushroom stock or vegetarian bouillon and your fasolada soup will be strictly vegan/vegetarian for Lent, or whatever your regular dietary preferences are any time of year. This is also a good idea if you’re bringing this to a potluck or throwing a dinner party and want to make sure all the guests can have some!

Since this soup is naturally gluten-free, it’s pretty ideal for serving to just about anyone (unless they have a nightshade-allergy)… just make sure if you use bouillon you check ingredients if gluten is a concern for you or your guests!

Olive oil:

A decent quality Greek olive oil is traditional for this soup, but you can also use butter or another flavorful oil to saute the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Obviously if you want the soup to be vegan, you should use olive oil or another vegetable-based oil.

You can also finish the soup by garnishing the bowls with a drizzle of bright green extra virgin oil for additional richness and flavor.

Seasonings:

This soup is flavored with dried oregano and bay leaves, freshly ground black pepper, salt, garlic, and garnished with fresh parsley. If you have fresh oregano or bay leaves, you can substitute those. Adjust quantities to taste (use less fresh bay and more fresh oregano by volume to start).

Some people like to use a bit of rosemary or thyme in their fasolada… feel free to experiment a bit with other Greek herbs if you like. A little rosemary goes a long way though, so make sure you taste as you go and remember less is more, especially when using dried herbs or potent fresh ones!

Kitchen Equipment Needed

dutch oven, large soup pot, or Instant Pot:

You need a non-reactive 6-8 quart enameled dutch oven or stainless pot for the chili. You can also use an 8 quart Instant Pot, using the saute setting for the mirepoix and then the soup setting or slow-cook function.

You’ll need another pot for soaking and cooking the beans, or you can use the same pot if you only have one, transferring the beans to another container after simmering while you saute the mirepoix for the soup.

How to Make Fasolada (Greek Bean Soup)

one: soak and cook the beans

• Soak the dried white beans overnight in cold water, or do a quick soak (follow the directions in our dry bean canning recipe), drain & rinse.
• Place in a medium saucepan and top up with just enough water to cover by about an inch.
• Simmer beans in water, until they just begin to soften (about 20-30 minutes, still quite firm).
• While the beans are simmering, you can wash, peel, and chop the vegetables and get out the other ingredients.

two: saute mirepoix

• Meanwhile, in a large soup pot over medium-high heat, saute the onions in the olive oil with the salt and pepper until they just begin to soften and take on a bit of color, about 5 minutes.
• Add the carrots, celery, and garlic, stir, and sweat for another 2-3 minutes.

three: simmer soup

• Add the drained simmered beans, chicken or vegetable stock, bay leaves, oregano, diced tomato, and tomato paste.
• Stir and simmer the soup until the beans are tender and the soup flavors come together, about 40-50 minutes.
• You can also put the soup in a crock pot at this point for several hours, or use the soup setting on your Instant Pot if you are using one instead of a dutch oven.

four: garnish & serve

• Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if needed, and garnish with the chopped fresh parsley.
• Serve the lemon wedges in a bowl on the side, if you like (they’re totally optional but a squeeze of lemon brightens up the flavor).
• Pair with fresh bread or garlic toast, dinner rolls, or a fresh green salad.

Storage & Serving Ideas

Serve your fasolada soup piping hot, or chill it promptly. Like many soups, I think this one is better the second day, after the flavors have had time to really come together!

You can refrigerate leftovers for 3-4 days, or portion and freeze them for up to six months. This is a large batch recipe, so it’s perfect for enjoying some now, and filling up a few deli containers to freeze for later.