Hearty Quinoa and White Bean Soup

I made this last night, and it was very tasty. This recipe definitely lends itself to improvisation. I added frozen chopped spinach, more beans (2 1/2 cans total), 1/3 cup more quinoa and about a cup of ditalini pasta. I also had a sad little Parm rind in my cheese drawer, so I tossed that in, too. It's the perfect clean-out-your-vegetable-drawer soup.

Just adding something about the remark that fresh beans should have been used. Normally I would agree. I almost never use cans. But this time it did not matter. It came out very tasty with almost no effort. So unless Obama is coming to dinner, cans seem fine to me. From someone who hates cans.

So I just subscribed to the NYT-All Access package about a week ago, which includes NYT Cooking. I decided to finally go ahead and give cooking a try. This Hearty Quinoa and White Bean Soup is the first dish that I've seriously cooked in my life and it was fun to prepare the ingredients, instructions were easy to follow, and it came out delicious! The clarity of the instructions, ingredients, specificity- all top notch. I look forward to continuing to use NYT Cooking. Thank you NYT!

Ok, a good start for a vegetable soup. I added a can of corn, cut-up green beans, diced bell pepper, and orzo. To make it flavorful I added: liquid aminos, Worcestershire sauce, nutritional yeast, a little sugar, and some white wine vinegar. Taste and adjust, taste and adjust until it is yummy.

Don't forget to rinse the quinoa before adding, otherwise it can be bitter.

Delicious. Make it your own. Quinoa adds to appearance and density. Lasts for a few days if not eaten first. I used a can of white kidney beans, half chicken and vegetable stock, and the vegetables I had in the refrigerator at that moment, and rosemary and thyme. Flavors are very nice.

Be sure to rinse the quinoa for at least two minutes before adding it to the soup.

Note to the recipe's author: "light" olive oil is not extra-virgin olive oil and not fit for cooking. Check it out on line. As a producer of EVOO myself, my advice would be to write instead that the recipe calls for "mild tasting extra-virgin olive oil," produced from French olive varieties, for instance Only EVOO can be heated up to 200 F. Thanks for the delicious recipe, which I'll try this week!

Delish, but I made a few changes: double the beans and the quinoa, add a parm rind when the liquids go in, double the crushed tomatoes, add 1 Tbsp. Paprika and a dash of cayenne. When it’s finished cooking, stir in about 3 Cups of chopped kale.

Easy and tasty. Liked it with fresh thyme.

Indeed kind of a Swiss-Army-Knife-Soup: Great on its own, but infinitely tweakable. Cooked it last night with fresh oregano (parsely/oregano ratio was 1:1). Topped it with a teaspoon of Pesto and a good amount of shredded Grana Padano. It nearly brought us to tears! It’s a keeper. P.S.: Depending on the stock you use, prepare to add a lot more salt!

This was delicious; we added slivered kale just a few minutes before serving and a splash of sherry vinegar at the table. Perhaps a note about rinsing quinoa prior to cooking would be a good idea?

My version of this great recipe isn't vegetarian; I have yet to find a palatable vegetable stock. I used chicken stock, a half-cup of quinoa and a 19-oz can of cannellini beans, and I added a parmesan rind and some red pepper flakes and Aleppo pepper. Then I mixed in a few handfuls of finely sliced baby spinach, and served with grated grana padano.

Delicious soup following the directions and using home veggie stock. The notes below refer to doubling the quinoa and adding acid which was not needed in our four hour simmering/reduction of this soup. The 1/3C quinoa in the recipe was just right for us, and our tomatoes and fresh parsley kept the flavor bright. Try the recipe first before tinkering.

This recipe is delicious! I have followed the advice to double the quinoa (good advice, thanks!). I've also decided to use a can of fire roasted tomatoes with green chiles and it brought to the soup the perfect kick.