Easy Traditional 15 Bean Soup with Ham Recipe

This Easy Traditional 15 Bean Soup with Ham Recipe is a hearty bowl of comfort food perfect for a cool winter's evening. Loaded with flavor, this stick to your ribs bean soup can be made with ham hocks, or is a great way to use up that leftover holiday ham bone!

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A hearty and delicious 15 bean soup mix recipe!

This classic 15 Bean Soup recipe combines traditional Hurst's Hambeens with smoky and flavorful ham for a stick to your ribs, satifying winter meal that's even better the next day!

Ingredients

• Butter, or bacon grease.
• 1 small onion.
• 2 medium carrots.
• 3 ribs celery.
• 4 cloves garlic.
• 1 smoked ham hock (or a leftover ham bone with meat on it). Ham hocks take longer to break down, become tender, and release their delicious smoky flavor into the soup. If using a ham hock, cooking time will increase by 1 hour to ensure your soup is extra flavorful and delicious. For a quicker soup, use a leftover ham bone, or a bone-in ham steak.
• Low sodium chicken broth (or stock) and water. The seasoning packet and smoked ham hocks can be a bit on the salty side, so opt for low sodium stock and water for a well balanced soup. You can always adjust seasoning at the end.
• 1 bag 15 bean soup mix, plus seasoning packet (I use Hurst's Hambeens for this recipe). The bean soup mix contains a variety of (not necessarily) 15 types of beans, for a hearty and flavorful soup. The beans will soak, then cook to tender perfection in the soup. The packet will be reserved and stirred in at the very end for an extra flavor boost.
• A can fire roasted diced tomatoes.
• Chili powder and smoked paprika.
• Organic apple cider vinegar. I prefer the flavor of organic apple cider vinegar over generic.

Soaking the beans

Soaking the dry beans overnight allows them to not only cook faster and more evenly, but it also gives them a better texture, and allows them to maintain their structural integrity while cooking.

To soak the beans, first sort them for any debris or pebbles, then add to a large bowl and cover with water. To soak, you can cover the bowl and leave on the counter overnight, or transfer to the refrigerator.

When ready to make the soup, drain the beans well before adding to the pot.

How to make 15 bean soup with ham

This easy 15 bean soup mix recipe is easy to make, and can be made with either a smoked ham hock, or a leftover ham bone with some meat on it. Here's how to make it:

1. Add butter or bacon grease to a large dutch oven or stockpot, and heat over medium heat. 
2. Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic, and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened. 
3. If using ham hock, add it and stock and water to a stockpot or dutch oven, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. If using leftover ham bone or ham steak, skip to step 4 and add leftover ham bone along with beans. (Ham hocks take longer to become tender due to their connective tissue, so a longer cooking time is recommended - there is no need for extra simmering time for a leftover ham bone). 
4. Add drained soaked beans and cover. 
5. Cover and cook 1 to 1.5  hours, until, beans are tender. 
6. Stir in tomatoes, garlic powder, chili powder and apple cider vinegar, and stir. Cover and cook 30 minutes more. 
7. Remove ham bone or hock, and shred and meat and add back to soup, if desired. Add reserved seasoning packet from 15 bean soup mix, and stir well. Simmer 5 minutes more, and serve. 

Serving the 15 Bean Soup

This hearty soup goes great with a hunk of crusty bread, or alongside a sandwich or nice side salad.

Storing leftovers

Allow the soup to cool to room temperature, and store in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days!

Substitutions and Additions

This soup is easily customized to your tastes and what you have on hand. Here are some swap and additions you can make with this

• Use fresh squeezed lemon juice in place of the apple cider vinegar.
• Try a spicy ancho chili powder in place of regular chili powder.
• Hambeens is a mix of yellow split peas, navy beans (aka great northern beans), black beans, white kidney beans, black-eyed peas, green split peas, cranberry beans, baby lima beans, small white beans, pinto beans, and a few others. If you can't find Hurst's Hambeens, you could use an assortment of dried beans and forgo the seasoning packet.
• Instead of using a smoked ham hock, you can use either a leftover ham bone from a holiday ham, or a bone-in ham steak.
• You can saute the veggies in olive oil instead of butter or bacon grease.
• Substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock, if that's what you have on hand.
• If you have a parmesan rind, add it when simmering the beans, and remove before serving for an extra boost of umami flavor.

More delicious soup recipes

if you love this Traditional 15 Bean Soup with Ham Recipe, you'll love these soup recipes, too!

• Italian Minestrone with Kale
• Beef Barley Soup
• Pasta e Fagioli Soup
• Easy White Bean and Ham Soup

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