This amazingly delicious Escarole Bean Potato Soup has a beautiful light broth accented with tasty tomatoes, earthy escarole, and hearty white beans. A fabulous Whole Food Plant Based recipe. Vegan, oil free, sugar free, gluten free, no highly processed ingredients.
Hi! Robin here!
I have been making versions of this soup for years. TP109 loves it. Let me paint a picture. Just imagine TP109 sitting at the table with a big soup spoon in one hand and a ma’peen (Italian for dishtowel) tied around his neck waiting in anticipation for the soup to be done. He gets that excited for soup, especially THIS soup. He can’t wait. He goes crazy over it.
Italian Slang “Ma’peen”
The Italian slang word for dishtowel is “ma’peen”. For years, my kids did not know anything but “ma’peen” for a dishtowel. We all used that term in our household. “Pass the ma’peen.” “There are no ma’peens to dry the dishes!” “Give me a ma’peen to wipe up this mess!” You get the idea.
The Family Ma’peen
Back in the day, when money was tight, TP told me that many of his family members used a “family ma’peen” instead of individual napkins. They would pass the “family ma’peen” around the table as a virtual family napkin. I get the concept, but we never adopted that concept in our family. I like my own napkin, thank you very much. LOL
Neighbors
Monkey’s best friend when she was growing up was Lauren. Lauren was a very sweet and beautiful girl who lived across the street. Monkey and Lauren played together every day for years. Lauren spent as much time at our home as Monkey did at hers. They were inseparable. Lauren was like a daughter to us. I remember one time Tony came to see me, bursting with pride, that Lauren had asked for a ma’peen! It’s the little things, dontcha know! LOL Time flies, one minute your kids are just starting grade school, then flash, they are off to college, getting married, and having kids. I swear, I feel like I just blinked my eyes and the time was gone. Don’t blink!
Growing Escarole
As I have mentioned in past posts, we are avid gardeners. We love to grow our own veggies. We usually grow escarole or swiss chard. We love them both. Monkey and I typically have a bunch of creative ways we use escarole and swiss chard, but the easiest is just add it to any soup. Yes, you can add escarole to just about any soup there is and it will taste amazing!
We will be sure to share with you all our creative escarole dishes in the near future – especially this summer when the escarole is ready to harvest!
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Ameera here!
I adore this soup! The broth is light, but packs a lot of amazing flavor. I love soups that have an airy lightness to them. Mom likes creamy, hearty soups while I prefer them to be light like this one. It is so delicious. I could eat bowl after bowl. My dad can eat bucket after bucket! LOL
You need a what?
I remember one time when I was at Lauren’s house (before Lauren learned the word ma’peen), and I had washed my hands at the kitchen sink, and needed to dry them. They normally kept their kitchen towels hanging on the oven handle or on the countertop, and there wasn’t one available. So, I asked where the ma’peen was, and they had no clue what I was talking about. At the time, it was unbelievable that they didn’t know what a ma’peen was. I mean everyone knew what a ma’peen was, right? I literally had no words to describe what I needed. So I began motioning for something to dry my hands and then someone offered “You want a kitchen towel?” Yes! A kitchen towel! Mind blown – I had no idea that is what it was called besides a ma’peen. When I think about it now, it totally cracks me up.
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Escarole Bean Potato Soup
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 30 Minutes
- Total Time: 40 Minutes
- Yield: 6 Servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
This amazingly delicious Escarole Bean Potato Soup has a beautiful light broth accented with tasty tomatoes, earthy escarole, and hearty white beans. A fabulous Whole Food Plant Based recipe. Vegan, oil free, sugar free, gluten free, no highly processed ingredients.
Ingredients
Base Ingredients:
- 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 carrot, chopped into pennies
- 1 celery rib, finely diced
- 8 cups water (or broth)
- 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth*
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
Spice/Herb Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
- 1 teaspoon dried basil (+/-)
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley (+/-)
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning (+/-)
- 1 bay leaf
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons sea salt (+/- to taste) *
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper (+/- to taste)
Other Ingredients:
- 4 cups potatoes, small cubes
- 1 – [ 15.5 oz. can ] cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 head escarole (+/- to taste)
Optional Toppings:
- Fresh basil, chiffonade
Instructions
- In a large ceramic or enamel lined Dutch oven or similar stock pot, add the finely diced onion and celery, sauté until they begin to soften, approx. 3 to 4 minutes.
- Then add all the remaining ingredients into the pot except the potatoes, beans and escarole. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, add the cubed potatoes and beans and cook for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, add the escarole and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, approx. 5 to 10 minutes more – largely dependent upon the size of the cubed potatoes. The soup is done when the potatoes are fork tender.
- Serve with fresh basil chiffonade on top of individual servings.
Notes
*Vegetable Broth: We used Low-Sodium Pacific Organic Vegetable Broth because it does not have MSG, and has no highly processed ingredients; however, Pacific has a very strong flavor so our water to broth ratio is heavy on the water and low on the vegetable broth. If you are using a vegetable broth other than Pacific, please adjust the water to broth ratio accordingly. IMPORTANT NOTE UPDATE: Since making this recipe Pacific Organic has changed their flavor of this broth. If using Low-Sodium Pacific Organic Vegetable Broth, you may wish to create a more equal ratio of water/broth, perhaps 4 cups broth and 5 cups water.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Storage: Cool to warm and refrigerate. Freezes well.
This post contains affiliate links, and I may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.