Green bean soup is one of the less popular soups that definitely deserve more attention as it’s extremely easy to prepare, very affordable and definitely worth a try. You can use fresh or frozen green beans to cook it, both types work really well. I prefer to use fresh ones, because these hold their shape better when cooked.

This creamy green bean soup is both sweet and sour in taste and you can adjust the taste to your own likings. The key is to balance the sweetness and acidity so that neither of them dominates. You can use white or brown sugar and even honey for the sweat part and white wine or apple cider vinegar to give it the required touch of sourness.

In order to improve the flavor profile of this green bean soup, I’m adding a bit of smoked bacon, but that’s an optional ingredient you can skip. And to give this soup a bit of aroma, I’m going to add a nice amount of dill. Fresh works the best of course, but feel free to use dried one if you’re having trouble finding fresh dill in the store. Now let’s start cooking.

Looking for more soup recipes? Try my Sauerkraut soup recipe, Tomato cabbage soup with pork, Mixed vegetable soup or a thick and comforting Bean soup. All of them will warm both your body and soul… and if that’s still not enough, try this Instant pot apple cider 🙂

Green Bean Soup Recipe Ingredients

This green bean soup recipe uses simple and very accessible ingredients, so you should have no problems getting all of them… I’m pretty sure you have most of them at home already.

500g (1 pound) fresh or frozen green beans
500g (1 pound) diced yellow potatoes
2 medium sized yellow onions
3 cloves chopped garlic
100g (3.5oz) diced smoked bacon
500ml (2 cups) whipping cream or half & half
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons butter
salt & pepper to taste
1 pinch ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
olive oil
1 liter (4 cups) chicken broth/stock
1 liter (4 cups) water
4-5 eggs hard boiled and sliced
fresh dill

How To Cook Green Bean Soup

Watch the video or scroll down for step-by-step instructions:

Let’s prepare all the ingredients in advance so they are handy when we need them. Finely chop the onions, dice the bacon, chop the garlic… you know what to do, right? 🙂

The first thing we need to do is prepare the “base” of the soup. Heat up 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil and about 2 tablespoons of butter in a smaller soup pot. The one I’m using can take about 3 liters or 3 quarts and all the ingredient counts in this green bean recipe are matched to reflect that.

Once the butter melts, add 2 finely chopped medium sized onions and 3 chopped cloves of garlic. Saute on high for a few minutes, then add finely diced smoked bacon. I have used about 100 grams or 3.5 ounces. As mentioned in the introduction, adding bacon is an optional step that you can skip, but it really does help to make this green bean soup better.

I’m using fresh green beans in this recipe so we need to clean and cut those. Remove the tips and ends, these are hard and not really edible. Then cut the beans into bite size pieces, roughly one inch long. By the way, it’s perfectly fine to use frozen green beans if you can’t get fresh ones.

TIP: Using fresh green beans for this soup recipe has a few pros. First of all, you know what you are cooking with… it’s easier to judge the quality of fresh beans, compared to frozen ones. Fresh green beans also retain / hold their shape better, frozen ones cook quicker and they tend to fall apart, when overcooked.

Now add the green beans to the pot. The next ingredient are potatoes. I’m using about 500 grams or 1 pound of diced yellow potatoes. Properly mix all the ingredients and sautee for about 5 minutes.

Now for the liquids. I’m using 1 liter or 4 cups of chicken broth or stock and an additional liter or 4 cups of water. You can use beef or vegetable broth/stock too, or even go with just plain water. In that case, I would recommend adding a bouillon cube.

Add 4 or 5 allspice corns, 3 bay leaves and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Do not try to hit the right amount of salt at this point, you will likely have to add more later on, because the potatoes and cream will absorb quite a lot of it. So add just about a teaspoon for now. Mix well, cover the pot and simmer for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, hardboil 4 or 5 eggs in a second small pot or saucepan. Once boiled, peel them and slice or chop into small pieces. The eggs are quite important for this green bean soup recipe, so don’t skip this step.

Now whisk 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour and 500 ml or 2 cups of whipping cream or half and half. Remove all the 3 bay leaves from the soup and proceed by adding the cream and flour mixture. Use a whisk to make sure that absolutely no lumps have a chance to form.

Keep stirring the soup, it should start to thicken up in a minute or two, as the flour cooks. Once that happens, it’s time to add the hard boiled eggs and finely chopped fresh dill. You can add quite a lot of dill and if possible use fresh one. Next comes a touch of ground nutmeg. It is quite aromatic so add just a pinch.

The final seasonings are sugar and vinegar. I have used 5 tablespoons of sugar and 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Based on what type of sugar and vinegar you are using, you might have to adjust these amounts. Just keep in mind that neither the sweat nor the sour flavor should dominate.

Simmer for a few minutes to make sure all the flavors combine and then give the soup a final taste. I had to add some extra salt, which is pretty much always the case when cooking a soup with potatoes and this green bean soup is no exception.

Give the soup a few more minutes of simmer, so the extra salt dissolves and we are done. This green bean soup can be served with a slice or two of fresh bread and some extra dill as garnish.

Thanks for watching and see you next time. In case you liked this green bean soup recipe, please rate it and post a comment.

TIP: Looking for some main dish to serve along with the soup? Check my recent Pork steak recipe or a kind of special German pork knuckle recipe that I posted recently.

Green Bean Soup Recipe Tips

• I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but lemme repeat 🙂 My wife hates spicy food, but I would definitely add something spicy to make this green bean soup more interesting. Try adding some chili flakes or spicy paprika.
• Using whipping cream is the best option to make this soup creamy, but you can use half and half or even whole milk instead. Lactose free works just as fine, but keep in mind that lactose free milk is a bit sweet, so adjust the amount of sugar accordingly.
• I’m using bacon in this green bean soup recipe, but cooked ham would be a great substitute.
• Do you like mushrooms? You can add some to this green bean soup! I would add these at the same time as the bacon so they sautee with the onions and garlic. Finely sliced would work the best.
• Did you buy more green beans than you could use? Try this BBQ Green Beans recipe from Jere.