The leaves are changing colors, it’s been raining off and on all day, and I made my Vegetarian 15 Bean Soup for supper… it must be FALL!
Fall is my favorite season and it has been for more years than I can remember. I love curling up with a book and a hot beverage while listening to the rain outside. I love taking a walk through the crunchy, multicolored leaves. And I love making (and eating) homemade soup!
I’m planning to share a number of my favorite soup recipes in the next month since I’ll be making them anyway and this gives me a chance to record how I actually make them. (Instead of trying to remember from the previous year the tweaks I’ve made to whatever the original recipe was.)
This recipe is based on the Hurst’s HamBeens Brand 15 Bean Soup recipe and I usually start with a package of their 15 Bean Soup mix – even though I don’t use their seasoning packet (because my husband is not a fan).
In case you’re interested, the HamBeens’ uses the following beans: northern, pinto, large lima, yelloweye, garbanzo, baby lima, green split pea, kidney, cranberry, small white, pink, small red, yellow split pea, lentil, navy, white kidney, and black. That’s actually 17 so… whatever. Feel free to put together your own bean mix if you prefer. Just use what works for you until you end up with around 20 ounces of beans.
I’ve recently modified the recipe to make in my Instant Pot pressure cooker. (You can check out Amazon here if you’re interested in purchasing an Instant Pot). These directions should work for any pressure cooker though. If you’d rather make them on the stove you can follow the directions on the package.
Ingredients:
- 20 ounces dry bean mix
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes (don’t drain)
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon bullion powder, or to taste (this is what I use)
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 3-4 cups water (you can also use vegetable broth and omit the bullion powder)
- salt and pepper, to taste
Pre-Soaking Your Beans:
- Rinse and sort your dry bean mix to remove any debris.
- Put rinsed beans in a large bowl and cover with about 8 cups of water.
- Soak beans overnight or for about 7-8 hours.
- Drain water after done soaking.
Instant Pot Soup Directions:
- Press the “Saute” button to pre-heat the pot.
- Add the oil, onion, chili powder, and cumin and saute until the onions just begin to soften.
- Turn the pot off.
- Add the rest of the ingredients (except the salt and pepper) and stir. (Use more or less water depending on how “soupy” you like your soup.)
- Close and lock the lid.
- Press the “Manual” button and use the + or – buttons to choose 25 minutes pressure cooking time.
- When the time is up press the “Cancel” button and wait for the pressure to come down on its own (which should take 20-30 minutes.)
- Open the lid once the pressure has come all the way down.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and stir.
