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Today’s recipe is a pretty simple soup that is a few years in the making for us. Back in December 2019, we were visiting Nottingham, and you know we LOVE to hit up all the grocery stores when we travel. Brian found a spice blend at Asda and loved it so much that we had to get an extra bottle to take home. He made this soup when we got back and quickly realized that he would need to create a similar spice blend of his own!
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Before you get overwhelmed – yes, that looks like a LOT of spices in the lovely photo of Brian below. But when you actually break it down, they are pretty basic ones that most people will have on hand in their pantry.
The spice blend that Brian got at Asda in the UK was a Lebanese 7-Spice Seasoning. I’m not sure if they still sell it – but be aware that the original blend does contain salt. We unfortunately could not find it available in the US.
Not to worry! Brian and I developed our own version of the blend using his spice knowledge and my math skills. We set out to replicate it as close as possible using all of the spices you see below.
The one “secret” ingredient in the blend seemed to be red bell pepper. Now – this is important – don’t mistake this for “red pepper flakes,” which are quite SPICY. We used ground up red BELL pepper flakes for this recipe, which are not spicy at all. We’ve found them at Penzey’s or you can buy them on Amazon. I like to blend a batch up in our spice grinder and keep them on hand. The smell alone is just amazing and you can add the ground red bell pepper to salads, soups, etc. for an extra punch of flavor.
A spice grinder is a great (and pretty inexpensive) investment if you want to create your own spice blends. For this recipe, we add all of our spices into the grinder and blend everything together before adding it to the soup. I actually made a large batch of the spice blend using three times the amount that the recipe calls for and stored it in an empty spice jar. If you do this, you can just measure out about 4 1/2 tablespoons of the blend in place of all the spices for this particular soup.
The other ingredients you’ll need for this recipe are veggie broth, three kinds of beans and some pasta.
Brian likes to toast the spices lightly before adding the veggie broth, but you can skip this step if that makes you as nervous as it makes me. LOL! They do burn very easily, but Brian swears that this step adds just a little something extra to the soup.
Our pasta of choice for this one is a nice, hearty Banza Cavatappi. If you aren’t familiar with Banza, it is chickpea pasta. It holds up surprisingly well in this soup and even makes for tasty leftovers.
Be sure to watch the video to see us make the recipe and get even more tips!
Recipe: Three Bean & Pasta Soup
by Krocks In The Kitchen
Ingredients
- Spice Blend:
- – 2 tsp ground cumin
- – 2 tsp paprika
- – 1 tsp ground coriander
- – 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- – 1/2 tsp onion powder
- – 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- – 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- – 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- – 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- – 2 tsp dried red bell pepper flakes, ground (NOTE: Do not use “crushed red pepper,” which is SPICY and primarily made of cayenne peppers. You’ll need red BELL pepper flakes for this recipe, which are not spicy – you can find them here.)
- Other Ingredients:
- – 6 cups reduced sodium veggie stock (we use 2 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon mixed w/ 6 cups of hot water)
- – 1 x 15oz can garbanzo beans (no salt added if possible), drained & rinsed
- – 1 x 15oz can kidney beans (no salt added if possible), drained & rinsed
- – 1 x 15oz can white cannellini beans (no salt added if possible), drained & rinsed
- – 4oz pasta of your choice (we use Banza Cavatappi)
- – OPTIONAL: Salt to taste
Directions
- Prepare your spice blend. We prefer to measure all of the spices directly into our spice grinder and use it to combine everything into a fine powder. If you do not have a spice grinder, just make sure you use a blender or food processor to turn the dried red bell pepper into as fine of a powder as possible. The remaining spices can go in as-is.
- Heat a large pot or Dutch oven to medium-low.
- For the next step, you have two options:
- – OPTION ONE: Make sure your veggie broth is ready and within reach of your pot. Add the spice blend to the heated pot and stir constantly for 10 seconds to lightly toast. IMMEDIATELY add veggie broth. Do not go longer than 10 seconds – the spices will go from toasty to burnt very quickly!
- – OPTION TWO: Add the veggie broth to the pot and then stir in the spice blend.
- Add drained/rinsed beans, raise the temperature to medium-high, and bring to a boil.
- Add pasta and cook according to package instructions. For the Banza Cavatappi, we prefer to cook it for 10 minutes.
- Check pasta for doneness, remove from heat & enjoy!
Makes approximately 4-6 servings.
We hope you enjoy this (fairly) simple soup. Brian keeps saying it is one of the best soups he’s ever made… so it’s definitely worth a try!
This is a great one for those of you who are looking for new ways to use all of the spices you’ve collected.
As always, we’d love to hear from you if you make the recipe. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook – don’t forget to tag us if you post a photo!
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We use an 8-quart Dutch Oven from Martha Stewart that I purchased at Macy’s.You can also check out Dutch Ovens on Amazon.
Banza Chickpea Pasta, Cavatappi (Pack of 6)
Red Bell Pepper Flakes, 4oz
KRUPS F203 Spice/Coffee Grinder
StarPack Basics Silicone Spatula Set
Talented Kitchen 134 White All Caps Spice Label Set
Aozita 36 Pcs Glass Spice Jars
Better Than Bouillon Organic Vegetable Base 16 Oz, Reduced Sodium
365 by Whole Foods Market, Beans Garbanzo No Salt, 15.5 Ounce
365 by Whole Foods Market, Beans Kidney No Salt Added Organic, 13.4 Ounce
365 by Whole Foods Market, Beans Cannellini No Salt Added Organic, 13.4 Ounce
I just made this and it’s good. I made a few tweaks since I didn’t have all the ingredients. I didn’t have the dried red pepper flakes and I didn’t have any fresh red bell peppers either so I sautéed an onion and 3 stalks of celery before toasting the spices. The only other modification I made was I added a drained can of corn near the end. I will definitely make this again.
I am so glad you found a GF noodle that is actually good. I am GF & haven’t found one I like. And I have tried many. I love Dr Mcdougall Broccoli Noodle Soup but have up making it years ago but maybe I can bring back if these noodles are that good. I plan to try this recipe too since I am a big soup fan
Hello! I have made this soup three times now and enjoyed it every time! I did tweek it a little and added two tins of finely chopped tomatoes and some concentrated tomato purée. Absolutely delicious! Thank you 😊 keep up the great work
Wow – three times!! That is awesome. We’ll have to try it out with the tomatoes added!
Looks delish !!
If I wanted to add some veggies like onion, garlic and celery when would I cook them ? Before or after toasting the spice blend?
We would suggest heating your pan to medium-high and cooking the veggies first. Once they are softened a bit to your liking, then add the spice blend and veggie stock!
This is so wonderful!
I already mixed a 12x batch of spices for the 12 soups. Jessica, you mentioned you were going to do the math for us so would
you know what amount of the mixture I would use per batch?
THX!!
Hello! Yes, it is about 4.5 Tablespoons per batch – so 1/4 cup + 1/2 Tbsp!
This looks delish!! I do have those spices on hand but I don’t have the dry red pepper. I have a dehydrator though and remember long ago drying out diced red peppers that could be ground. I also looked up the blend you referenced. There is a store downtown Toronto that sells amazing blends and they have a version they labelled Baharat (which I think is Arabic for a blend). The Berbere is WAY better than anything else I have found. Pricey, but it’s quality.
https://thespicetrader.ca/products/baharat?_pos=1&_sid=11091be86&_ss=r
Delicious! I loved it.
Can anyone please recommend how to get more vegetables in here though? I’d like to lower the caloric density even further while still keeping the volume large.
This was so yummy. I didn’t have capsicum powder so I used chilli flakes and it was really spicy and yummy 🤤