This German Green Bean Soup Is An Easy-to-Make Classic!
Want to make a simple yet filling soup that is loaded with good stuff? Our German green bean soup – or Grüne Bohnensuppe in German – is for you!
Made from a bunch of chopped vegetables and herbs, flavorful ham chunks, and – of course – lots of green beans, this German green bean soup recipe is really easy to make!
Green bean soup goes is great on a cold day or when you want a soup that is hearty but won’t leave you feeling bloated!
There are a number of German bean soup recipes out there. Lisa ate this green bean soup growing up.
In fact, green beans are a popular addition to soups across Europe.
We also have a creamy Hungarian green bean soup on the website (which is a family recipe and everyone seems to absolutely love it) and we’ll make many more in the future.
Recipe Tips & Substitutions
When making German green bean soup, there are a few variations to the recipe you might want to consider.
We flavored ours with both chopped parsley and savory. Savory, in this case, is an actual green herb and not just an adjective for food!
It looks kind of like rosemary but has a different flavor. We believe it really makes an impact on the flavor of the green bean soup.
How to Make Germen Green Bean Soup – Step by Step
To make this delicious German green bean soup recipe, you can have a look at the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact measurements.
If you’d like to see each recipe step as you go, you can follow the green bean soup recipe process photos below.
This way, you can get an idea of how large to chop the vegetables, the herbs, and how it might look when it’s all together in the soup pot!
Start by gathering all of your ingredients.
Wash the green beans. Then cut off the ends and cut the beans into halves or thirds depending on their size and your personal preference.
Next, peel the potatoes. Then cut them into bite-size cubes.
Also, peel (or wash if you want to leave the peel on) and cut the carrots. Then cut them into slices or half-slices depending on their size.
Next, cut the ends off the celery root. Then peel and cut it into small cubes as well.
You can’t always find celery roots in North American grocery stores. If you can’t find any in your local grocery store, you can also just use two green celery sticks.
Wash the leek really well since it can be quite dirty in between the different layers.
Then cut the leek into rings.
Of course, you also have to peel and chop the onion into small pieces.
Lastly, also wash and chop the parsley and savory.
Savory might be an herb that you are not overly familiar with but it tastes great in green bean soup.
We were actually able to find it in our local grocery store without issues (which was honestly a bit surprising) so keep your eyes open when you’re shopping for ingredients.
After all this chopping, it’s time to sauté the onion and pancetta bacon. If your bacon pieces are quite large, you can cut them a bit smaller first.
Heat the oil in a large pot. Then add the pancetta bacon and fry it for a couple of minutes. No add the onions and sauté them until the onions are translucent and the bacon is slightly brown.
Stir regularly.
Then add the other vegetables (minus the parsley and savory) to the pot and sauté them for around 2 minutes as well.
Now add enough vegetable broth to just cover all the vegetables in the pot.
In our case, it was around 8 cups of broth, but depending on the size of your pot and the size of the vegetables you used, it might be slightly more or less for you.
Once you’ve added the broth, also add the parsley and the savory and give everything a good stir.
Place the lid on the pot. Bring the soup to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
And that’s it – making green bean soup is really quite easy and doesn’t take that long.
If you decide to add beef it obviously takes longer since the meat has to cook first, but it might be worth it if you really enjoy eating soup with meat in it.
Just make sure to cook the beef separately first and then add it in later when you make the soup – otherwise, the vegetables would be very mushy.
Storage
You can easily store the leftovers in an airtight container with a lid in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Alternatively, you can also make extras and then freeze them in freezer-safe containers.
If you want to freeze lots of soup, we’d recommend splitting it up into various portion sizes. This way you can easily take out the exact amount of soup you need and reheat it in a pot on the stove.
Related Recipes
Looking for more delicious soup recipes? Try out these different German soups made from all different ingredients:
- German Split Pea Soup (Erbsensuppe)
- Celery Root Soup
- German Potato Soup
- Cabbage Potato Soup
- German Lentil Soup
German Green Bean Soup (Grüne Bohnensuppe)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds green beans
- 1 pound potatoes, approximately 4 medium-sized potatoes
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 small celery root
- 1 leek
- 2 medium-sized carrots
- 5 ounces pancetta bacon, more or less to taste
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 8 cups vegetable broth, approximately
- 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon savory, chopped
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash the beans, cut off the ends, and then cut them into halves or thirds depending on the size of them.
- Peel the potatoes, carrots, and celery root. Cut everything into small cubes.
- Peel the onion and finely chop it.
- Wash the leek really well (it can be quite dirty) and cut it into rings.
- Heat one teaspoon of oil in a large pot. Add the pancetta bacon and fry it for a few minutes until the fatty pieces appear cooked. Then add the onions and sauté them until the onions are translucent and the pancetta bacon is slightly brown.
- Add the vegetables (potatoes, carrots, celery root, green beans, and leek) and sauté them for around 2 minutes as well.
- Now add enough vegetable broth so that it just covers the contents of the pot. In our case, this is usually around 8 cups of vegetable broth – but it might be more or less in your case depending on the size of your pot and your vegetables.
- Add the chopped parsley and savory. Give everything a stir.
- Add the lid to the pot and bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Then turn down the heat and let the soup simmer for around 20-25 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Sometimes there is also beef in German green bean soups. However, we like eating our soup with just a little bit of bacon. We enjoy eating meals without much meat and it’s also much quicker to make.
- In Germany, we use "Schinkenspeck" (a type of bacon) for this soup. The closest we could find to it in North America is Italian pancetta bacon so that’s what we used – just in case you were wondering why we use Italian bacon in a German recipe.
- Traditionally, German soups are usually made with celery root because the green celery stalks weren’t wildly available until 10 years ago or so. If you’re in North America and can’t find celery root (they are not as common over here), you can also just use two green celery sticks.
Nutrition
This nutritional information has been estimated by an online nutrition calculator. It should only be seen as a rough calculation and not a replacement for professional dietary advice.
Ganz gut!