Carrot-Bean Soup With Miso And Dill

Here's a simple, nourishing carrot-bean soup with miso, lemon zest, and dill for a flavor punch. We love the rustic nature that's achieved by keeping vegetable chunks whole rather than pureeing. Created by Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella to feature our Peruano beans and PRMRY Olive Oil, this recipe is proof that beans and olive oil always make a stellar pairing. The addition of creamy beans like Peruano makes this soup especially hearty. And, it happens to be 100% vegan.

Why This Recipe Works

What makes this soup so successful is how it combines simple ingredients in thoughtful ways to create complex flavors. The sweet carrots provide the base, the creamy Peruano beans add substance, the miso contributes umami depth, the lemon zest adds brightness, and the fresh dill provides herby, aromatic notes. Each element plays a specific role.

The recipe emphasizes the "rustic nature that's achieved by keeping vegetable chunks whole rather than pureeing." This creates textural interest, you get distinct bites of carrot and whole beans rather than a smooth puree. It's more satisfying and feels more like a meal.

The Star: Peruano Beans

Let's talk about Peruano beans (also called Mayocoba), beautiful yellow beans with a buttery texture and mild, creamy flavor. These beans are beloved in Mexican cooking for their versatility and how they create a rich, almost buttery broth when cooked.

What makes Peruano beans ideal for this soup is their creamy texture that makes the soup feel rich and satisfying without any cream, their mild flavor that doesn't compete with the delicate carrot and miso, and the flavorful broth they create that becomes part of the soup's liquid base.

When added to the soup with their cooking broth, Peruano beans contribute both substance and a silky quality that makes the soup feel indulgent despite being completely vegan.

The Erin Alderson / PRMRY Collaboration

This recipe was created by Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella, a well-known food blog focusing on vegetarian and whole-foods cooking. It was developed to showcase Primary Beans' Peruano beans alongside PRMRY Olive Oil, demonstrating how "beans and olive oil always make a stellar pairing."

This pairing matters, quality olive oil as a finishing touch transforms simple bean soup into something special. The fruity, peppery notes of good olive oil complement the earthy beans beautifully.

The Simple Technique

The technique is straightforward and builds flavor through proper layering. Heat olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add minced onion and salt, cooking and stirring occasionally until the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. This slow cooking develops sweet onion flavor.

Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant (just until aromatic, not browned). Add thinly sliced carrots and cook until they start to soften, about 3 minutes.

Then add the beans with their broth plus 1 cup of vegetable broth. Simmer until the carrots are just tender, about 5 minutes. Add more broth as needed to reach your desired consistency.

The Miso Addition

Miso gets added off heat, which is important, boiling miso can destroy some of its beneficial probiotics and affect its flavor. In a small bowl, combine the miso (2-3 teaspoons of light/white miso) with a splash of hot vegetable broth, stirring until smooth.

This blooming technique ensures the miso dissolves completely without lumps. Once the soup is done cooking and removed from heat, stir in the dissolved miso.

Miso adds umami depth and a subtle fermented complexity that makes the soup taste richer and more developed than its simple ingredients would suggest.

The Lemon Zest

Lemon zest gets stirred in at the end along with the miso. The zest provides bright, citrusy aromatics without adding acidity that lemon juice would bring. It's a subtle but important element that lifts the whole soup.

Use a microplane to zest half a lemon, being careful to get only the yellow zest and not the bitter white pith underneath.

The Toppings

The toppings are essential, not optional. Generous amounts of:

• Fresh dill (coarsely chopped): Herby, slightly anise-like, refreshing
• Freshly ground black pepper: Spicy, aromatic
• Finishing olive oil (PRMRY's Transform or another quality finishing oil): Fruity, peppery, rich

These toppings add layers of flavor and richness that transform simple soup into something special. The dill in particular is distinctive and makes the soup memorable.

The Rustic Appeal

The recipe celebrates the "rustic nature" of keeping vegetables in chunks rather than pureeing. This is an aesthetic and textural choice that makes the soup feel more honest and satisfying.

You see what you're eating, carrots, beans, onions, rather than everything blended into uniformity. Each spoonful has varied textures and distinct flavors.

Vegan and Nourishing

This soup is "100% vegan", no animal products anywhere. Yet it's deeply satisfying and nourishing thanks to:

• Protein and fiber: From the beans
• Vegetables: Carrots, onions
• Healthy fats: From olive oil
• Probiotics: From miso
• Vitamins: From fresh dill and lemon zest

It's proof that vegan food can be both healthful and genuinely delicious without trying to mimic non-vegan dishes.

Quick and Easy

With only 25 minutes of cooking time (assuming you have cooked beans ready), this is genuinely quick for a from-scratch soup. The technique is simple, the ingredients are straightforward, and the result is far better than anything from a can.

Scaling Up

The recipe serves 2 as written, but it doubles or triples easily for batch cooking or feeding more people. Make a big pot, enjoy some fresh, and freeze portions for easy future meals.

The Bean Broth Importance

The recipe specifically calls for beans with their broth, not drained beans plus plain vegetable broth. This is important, the bean cooking liquid is flavorful and adds body to the soup in a way plain broth can't.

This is another reason to cook beans from scratch rather than using canned, you get that valuable cooking liquid.

A Flavor Punch

As the recipe promises, the miso, lemon zest, and dill provide "a flavor punch" that makes this simple soup surprisingly complex and satisfying. Each element contributes something distinctive, creating a soup that's much more interesting than "carrot soup" would suggest.

Carrot-Bean Soup With Miso And Dill

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Category

Main Course

Cuisine

Fusion

Here's a simple, nourishing carrot-bean soup with miso, lemon zest, and dill for a flavor punch. We love the rustic nature that's achieved by keeping vegetable chunks whole rather than pureeing. Created by Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella to feature our Peruano beans and PRMRY Olive Oil, this recipe is proof that beans and olive oil always make a stellar pairing.

Featured bean: Peruano 

Other beans to try: Cannellini

Ingredients

The soup

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 small yellow onion, minced

• ½ tsp coarse salt

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 3 medium carrots, thinly sliced (about 1½ cups)

• 1 cup of Peruano beans with broth from a batch of beans (cooked according to our guide)

• 1-2 cups vegetable broth, preferably homemade

• 2-3 tsp light miso

• Zest from ½ lemon

Toppings

• Fresh dill, coarsely chopped

• Freshly ground black pepper

• Finishing olive oil, such as PRMRY's Transform

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Directions

1. Prepare the soup: In a medium pot over medium heat, add olive oil followed by minced onion and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant. Add carrots and cook until they start to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in beans and their broth along with 1 cup vegetable broth. Simmer until carrots are just tender, about 5 minutes, adding more broth as needed to reach desired consistency. Remove from heat.

2. Finish and serve: Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine miso with a splash of hot vegetable broth, stirring until smooth. Once soup is done cooking, stir in miso and lemon zest. Season with salt to taste and serve with generous amounts of dill, pepper, and olive oil.

Recipe Note

Serves: 2

Time: 25 minutes

Cookware: medium pot