Oma's German Green Bean Soup (Grüne Bohnensuppe)

by: Gerhild Fulson  / Oma Gerhild shares easy, authentic German recipes you can trust, rooted in family tradition and featured in her cookbooks.

Published: August 17, 2009, Updated: May 8, 2025

This hearty German green bean soup (grüne bohnensuppe) is a family favorite ... simple, satisfying, and full of flavor.

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This hearty traditional German green bean soup (Grüne-Bohnensuppe) with potatoes and ground beef is German comfort food at its best.

This green bean soup is my Mutti’s recipe and a true taste of home. It’s quick, hearty, and always a hit with the whole family. I often make it when I’m short on time and need something easy and comforting. One pot, so many delicious possibilities.

Top Tips for Best Results

1. Use Summer Savory: This herb (bohnenkraut) gives the soup its traditional German flavor.
2. Customize Your Protein: Ground beef, smoked sausage, or ham hocks all work well.
3. Thicken as Desired: For a heartier soup, add instant mashed potato flakes or leftover mashed potatoes.
4. Make It Ahead: Flavors deepen over time; it's even better the next day

Green Bean Soup Ingredients

This is where the fun begins, because this soup is made for experimenting.

Green Beans:
Fresh is great, but I often use frozen, meaning I always have a few bags in the freezer! Canned works too if that’s what you have.

Meat:
Raw lean ground beef is a classic, but ham hocks, smoked sausage, or kielbasa (cut up) are delicious too. Leftover pork or beef roast? Use that! Skip the oil if the meat’s already cooked. You can also fry bacon and use the grease to brown the beef.

Liquid:
Water works fine, especially if using raw beef ... it’ll create a broth. Chicken, beef, or veggie broth adds more flavor. Bouillon cubes or leftover gravy also do the trick.

Potatoes:
Raw, cooked, canned, mashed, or even instant ... anything goes! If you’re using cooked potatoes, you'll have a soup that’s ready in 15 minutes.

Onions:
I usually use yellow cooking onions, but red onions work too. Green onions are nice to stir in just before serving.

Seasoning:
Bohnenkraut (summer savory) is essential! I also love using Vegeta seasoning. Don’t have it? Salt, pepper, and a splash of Maggi are all you need.

Extras:
Add sliced carrots or a handful of canned tomato chunks to make it more colorful

Can You Can It?

One of our readers, Judy Goeringer, wrote in to let me know that she's pressure canned this soup with great success. I'll add her recipe adjustments right under the recipe card below, so you can make it as well.

Judy's jars of German Green Bean Soup, ready to be stored away for future use.

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How To Make Oma's Grüne Bohnensuppe

(Find the printable recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.)

Get your ingredients ready, peeling those potatoes and dicing the peeled onion.

Everything you need to make Oma’s Grüne-Bohnensuppe — simple pantry staples and wholesome ingredients.

Brown the ground beef and add the onion. Sauté until the onion is translucent. You don't need to get it golden brown, although if that happens, that's fine. It's more flavor.

Start by browning the ground beef and onions to build flavor for your German green bean soup.

Add the remaining ingredients. When you add the broth, use your wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits at the bottom of your pot. This is the flavor that will make your soup awesome!

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until those veggies are tender. It will only take about 15 minutes.

Add chopped potatoes, green beans, and seasonings right into the pot ... it’s already smelling so good!

Now you get to choose how you want to serve your soup. Either creamy or with a clear broth. If this is being served as a light lunch, side dish, or an appetizer, then probably keeping it as a clear broth is best.

A quick sprinkle of instant potato flakes thickens the broth just like this Oma does.

However, if this is going to be your main meal, then adding those instant mashed potato flakes to thicken this hearty soup is a great idea.

Enjoy your bowl of Oma's German Green Bean Soup

Those potato flakes will increase the potato flavor of this soup. Delicious! Using Yukon gold potatoes brings a nice yellow color complement to the green beans. 

Enjoy!

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Oma's German Green Bean Soup (Grüne Bohnensuppe)

This hearty German green bean soup (grüne bohnensuppe) is a family favorite … simple, satisfying, and full of flavor.

Prep Time:

10 minutes

Cook Time:

30 minutes

Total Time:

40 minutes

Servings:

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 - 2 tablespoons (15-30 ml) olive oil
• 1 pound (454 g) ground lean beef, (see notes below)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 pounds (900 g) bag frozen cut green beans
• about 1 teaspoon (1 g) dried summer savory (Bohnenkraut) 
• 1 - 1½ tablespoons (9-14 g) Vegeta Food Seasoning (see notes below)
• 5 cups (~675 g) cubed raw potatoes, see below for other ideas
• about 6 cups (~1.4 L)beef broth or water
• about ½ cup (15-20 g) instant mashed potato flakes (optional)
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions:

1. In large pot or a large saucepan over medium high heat, heat the oil and sauté the ground beef until it starts to brown.
2. Add onions. Continue to sauté onions until they are translucent.
3. Add frozen green beans and raw potatoes. (If using cooked potatoes, add once beans are cooked and just reheat.)
4. Add just enough broth to almost cover veggies. Scrape up any browned bits at the bottom of the pot.
5. Add savory and Vegeta and stir. 
6. Bring to boil and lower to a medium-low heat. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until vegetables are tender. 
7. Stir in just enough instant mashed potato flakes to thicken the broth of the soup, if using. Soup will thicken slightly more as it rests after adding the potato flakes.
8. Season with salt, pepper, and extra summer savory, if desired.

Notes/Hints:

• Garnish with fresh parsley or fresh dill with their bright green color.
• Add Maggi to taste.
• Instead of raw potatoes, add leftover cooked potatoes or mashed potatoes. Add this at the end of the cooking process and simmer until hot.
• Instead of ground meat, use ham hocks, smoked sausage or kielbasa. Add it after you brown the onions. Leftover meat can be added at the end instead.
• Instead of frozen beans, use fresh beans. First trim them and cut into small pieces.
• Add garlic cloves, bay leaves, or a ham bone to the simmering soup.
• Vegeta Food Seasoning has salt and dried vegetables in it. If you don't have this, add about 1 teaspoon salt and some pepper to start. Adjust seasonings to taste.
• If you like soup with a clear broth, omit the instant mashed potato flakes.
• This can be made in the slow cooker by putting all the ingredients (after browning the ground beef and onion) into a slow cooker and setting it to low for about 6 hours.
• To make this more of a rich soup, serve it with a dollop of sour cream.
• This tastes wonderful the next day.
• Serve some homemade bread or rye bread with this to make it a main meal. Perfection!

*  *  *  *  *

Unless otherwise noted recipe, images and content © Just like Oma | www.quick-german-recipes.com

Recipe updated on May 8, 2025

Here's Judy's recipe for Pressure Canning this German Green Bean Soup

It's been years since I've pressure canned, so I'm really glad Judy shared how to do it here. ~ Oma Gerhild 

Click for more Soups ->

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Hi, I'm Oma Gerhild! As a food writer and cookbook author, I'm always looking to find ways to pass on my German heritage using local ingredients. Quick and easy. That's my goal. Wunderbar food. That's the result.