Chicken and leek barley soup
A warm chicken soup with soft leeks, carrots and pearl barley.
About 55 min · 405 kcal · 36 g protein per serving
Butter bean, leek and lemon soup with parsley
A soft butter bean soup with sweet leeks and a lot of lemon.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 21 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm leeks soften without colouring in 10 to 12 minutes covered
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 42 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 540 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 27 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- vegetable stock. Vegetable stock often contains celery, and some contain milk or gluten; check the label, especially if you need it vegan.
- Parmesan. Parmigiano Reggiano is made with animal rennet, so it is not vegetarian. Vegetarian Italian-style hard cheeses are widely sold.
Cooking steps
Slice the leeks into rounds and wash them well, lifting them out of the water rather than draining.
Soften them in the oil in a covered pan over low heat for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not let them take any colour; this is the whole flavour of the soup.
Add the drained butter beans and the stock, bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
Ladle half the pan into a jug, blend it until smooth and pour it back. You get the body of a creamed soup with whole beans still in it.
Take the pan off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, and serve with the chopped parsley and the grated Parmesan.
The useful detail
Cook the leeks slowly and never let them brown. Caught even slightly, they turn the whole soup a dull grey and give it a bitter edge that the lemon cannot cover.
Make it work for you
One serving is A deep bowl, half the pot. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Cannellini beans instead of butter beans
Smaller and firmer, and they hold their shape better when blended.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Vegetarian hard cheese instead of Parmesan
Identical on the soup, and it makes the dish vegetarian.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Leave out the cheese
Lighter and less salty, and the soup becomes vegan. Add a little more lemon juice instead.
Allergens: Removes milk.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A soup where half a kilo of beans does the work of the protein, the fibre and the thickening, so nothing has to be added for body.
| Energy | 540 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 27 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| of which saturates | 4 g |
| Carbohydrate | 80 g |
| of which sugars | 9 g |
| Fibre | 15 g |
| Sodium | 2,220 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| leek | 300 g | FDC 169246Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw | 183 kcal | 4.5 g |
| olive oil | 18 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 161 kcal | 0.0 g |
| butter beans | 500 g | FDC 175204Beans, white, mature seeds, cannedFoodData Central has no record for tinned butter beans, which are mature lima beans. Calculated as tinned white beans, the closest tinned bean it records; the two are close in energy and protein, but your tin's label is the exact figure. | 570 kcal | 36.3 g |
| vegetable stock | 785 g | FDC 171583Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve | 39 kcal | 1.9 g |
| lemon juice | 31 g | FDC 167747Lemon juice, raw | 7 kcal | 0.1 g |
| parsley | 15 g | FDC 170416Parsley, fresh | 5 kcal | 0.4 g |
| Parmesan | 30 g | FDC 170848Cheese, parmesan, hard | 118 kcal | 10.7 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1083 kcal | 54.0 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool it quickly, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours. The FDA chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days. It thickens considerably overnight; loosen it with stock or water.
- In the freezer
- The same chart gives soups and stews 2 to 3 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout, stirring so it heats evenly.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
Butternut, white bean and sage soup
Roasted squash and white beans blended into a smooth sage soup.
About 50 min · 345 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
Vegetarian