Lima Bean Soup with Sausage
This lima bean soup with sausage and bacon is a high protein and low calorie very nutritious one pot meal. It doesn’t require many ingredients and it is very easy to make. I like to use dry beans but if you don’t feel like soaking the beans a night before and cooking them before you add them to the soup, use the canned ones.
If you are looking for an easy and delicious dish that is low in calories and will keep you full this is the one. You can store it in a fridge for at least a week or freeze it. It is a great make ahead meal. It gets better with time.
Check out the video for step by step instructions:
What do you you need to make the soup?
- Lima beans – you can use dry or canned. I prefer dry ones as they do not have anything extra added to them. There are two different sizes of lima beans I have come across: baby lima and big lima beans. I am using the big lima beans but feel free to use any kind you like.
- Sausage – I am using turkey sausage to keep calories down. But you can choose your favorite sausage – Polish Kielbasa is perfect.
- Bacon – I use here minimum amount of bacon. Just enough to add flavor but still keep it low in calories and healthy.
- Tomatoes – canned or fresh tomatoes, it doesn’t matter. For canned tomatoes I recommend San Marzano style as they are sweeter and thicker. It will make for a better soup.
- Onion – any kind you like, I used vidalia
- Garlic
- Spices: bay leaves, allspice berries, marjoram
Tips to consider for Lima Bean Soup
- It is best to make the lima bean soup one day ahead. The beans thicken when you let them sit in the soup overnight. The flavors get better as the ingredients marinate together.
- You can add spinach or kale right before serving for extra nutrients and flavor
- The soup can be served with a piece of bread (that’s how we serve it in Poland) or with your favorite grain: rice, barely, quinoa. Lately I have been eating it without anything on the side – it is just so delicious.
Lima Bean Soup
Hearty and delicious soup that you can feel good about eating. Great for meal preparation ahead of time. Stores great and gets better with time. You will need very few ingredients plus some spices.
Ingredients
- 1 package dry baby lima beans 460 g
- 1 package smoked turkey sausage 14 oz/392 g
- 12 slices bacon 90 g
- 30 oz San Marzano style peeled canned tomatoes like Nina 840 g
- 18 oz onion – one large onion 500 g
- 5 cloves garlic
- 4 quarters water (add as much as you need as you cook for desired consistency) or chicken stock
- 3 bay leaves
- 5 allspice berries-
- 2 tbs or more marjoram
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Soak beans overnight
- Drain water
- Add beans to a big pot and add water (or chicken stock)
- Add salt, pepper and spices and spring it to boil, cover
- In the meantime, chop sausage and bacon
- Add bacon to a heated pan and render the fat
- Add sausage and fry in bacon fat
- Chop onion and add to bacon and sausage and sauté until soft
- Add tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes
- Add marjoram
- When the beans are almost done (soft) add the tomato and sausage stew
- Cook for 30 minutes to an hour until beans are completely soft and soup thickens
Very good Lima bean recipe. I used regular sausage , it’s yummy.
thank you, I am glad you liked it