Giada De Laurentiis' Secret To Creamy Tomato Soup Comes In A Can

There are many ways to get a rich and creamy tomato soup. Adding heavy cream is a classic way to make it a thick, smooth bisque. Coconut milk is another common addition to the soup to make it vegan while keeping it full and velvety. However, this isn't the canned ingredient we're surprised by. Recently, television chef Giada De Laurentiis, who has many great cooking tips you should know, posted a TikTok video showing an unexpected canned ingredient she adds to her vegan tomato soup to make it creamy: Cannellini beans.

These white beans, common in Italian dishes, are often confused with northern beans, but there is a difference between the two. Also known as fasolia beans or white kidneys, cannellini beans bring a creamy nuttiness to the soup. This secret ingredient also packs in the protein along with good amounts of iron, potassium, and calcium. Plus, a cup of them adds 11 grams of fiber, which is a good portion of your daily requirement.

Blending up cannellini beans isn't just for tomato soup. This ingredient can be used in many applications. You can, of course, stick to soup with a hearty, creamy Tuscan white bean soup. With just a few ingredients and about 30 minutes of cooking time, you'll have a delicious and hearty meal.

Cannellini beans also make a delicious dip. Just blend it with olive oil, lemon, salt, and whatever you want to flavor it with. The nuttiness of the bean really shines on its own here. One simple recipe for this is our tasty, garlic and rosemary white bean dip.

The big question here is, do you use canned or dry beans? While cans are a lot more common because of their ease of use, dry beans are less expensive, and you can control what goes in them, like the amount of sodium. After soaking them overnight, you can cook dry beans with garlic, sage, thyme, or other spices to add to the natural flavor of the beans. Just make sure not to make any of these common dry bean cooking mistakes.