Cookbook Club Recipe #12 | Variation #3

This soup delivers a healthy dose of vegetables to your diet while remaining simple and easy to prepare.

These soup jars take a little bit more work up front (meal prepping is your friend), but once they’re put together, lunch or a hearty snack is just a kettle of boiling water away. You can find a full breakdown to help you come up with your own flavor combinations in my guide to DIY Instant Soup Jars.

This version starts with canned white beans mashed into the concentrated broth base. When you add hot water and give everything a good stir, the beans disperse through the soup and thicken it.

Shredded rotisserie chicken makes it easy to put together, and lemon zest gives the broth a little brightness. Spinach, peas, and carrots round it out, with chopped parsley added at the very end. Give the bottom of the jar a thorough stir before taking that first spoonful; that’s where the mashed beans tend to hang out.

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Recipe: Chicken and White Bean Soup Jars

Every recipe I publish here is personally tested, tasted, and approved.

What I love about this recipe:

Mashed white beans give the broth body without cream or a separate thickening step.

Rotisserie chicken and canned beans keep the preparation simple.

Frozen peas and carrots make it easy to add vegetables without much chopping.

Lemon zest and fresh parsley brighten up the chicken broth.

You can assemble all four jars at once and have lunches ready for the next few days.

Yields: 4 small servings or 2 large onesActive Time: 15 minutesTotal Time: About 20 minutes, using cooked and chilled ingredientsSpecial Equipment: Four wide-mouth, pint-size heatproof jars with lids, or two quart-sized jars; small zipper-lock bags or resealable sauce containers

Notes: Use jars intended for boiling liquids, following the manufacturer’s instructions regarding temperature changes. Cannellini, navy, or great northern beans all work here. Follow the cooking instructions on your package of frozen peas and carrots, then chill and drain before packing. If using leftover chicken, count its time in the refrigerator before shredding toward the soup’s storage time.

Ingredients

2 cups (340 g) drained and rinsed canned white beans

2 tablespoons concentrated chicken soup base, such as Better Than Bouillon, or to taste

Four 2-inch-long strips lemon zest, white pith removed

1⅓ cups (200 g) shredded cooked chicken, chilled

2 cups (60 g) loosely packed, finely shredded spinach

1 cup (160 g) frozen peas and carrots, cooked according to package directions, chilled, and drained well

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley leaves and tender stems

Four lemon wedges (optional)

Boiling water, for serving

Method

Add your ingredients to the jar. Mash beans with a fork to form a rough paste, leaving some beans whole, then stir in chicken soup base. Divide bean mixture, lemon zest, chicken, spinach, and peas and carrots evenly between 4 resealable heatproof jars or 2 larger jars, adding them in that order. Divide parsley between 4 small zipper-lock bags (or 2 bags if using larger jars) and seal bags, squeezing out all of the air (or use small resealable sauce containers). Tuck bags into jars and seal. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Serve and enjoy. When ready to serve, remove parsley packet and add boiling water to the top of the jar. Cover and let sit 2 minutes. Open jar and stir thoroughly, reaching all the way to the bottom to dissolve the soup base and disperse the mashed beans through the broth. Stir in parsley, squeeze the lemon (if using), and serve.

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