Slow Cooker 15 Bean Soup

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

You never can have enough slow cooker recipes. This small appliance may not be as glamorous as the Instant Pot or an air fryer, but you have to think that the length of time a crockpot takes to cook a meal is its superpower. All it takes is a little planning.

Using a bean soup mix is perfect when you can’t decide on just one kind of bean or lentil to cook. Keep a bag in your pantry to make this easy bean soup recipe where the majority of the cook time requires no active work from you. Again, that’s the beauty of a crockpot.

This wholesome soup is packed with protein and fiber. Three cheers for beans and lentils! They make vegan recipes filling. Plus they are budget-friendly. 

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Bean soup mix: A humble pantry ingredient, you find these mixes with 13, 14, 15 and even 16 kinds of beans and pulses. If it comes with a seasoning packet do not use it. This recipe has all the spices with no preservatives. 
  • These mixes typically include dried navy beans, black beans, red beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, great northern beans, kidney beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas, yellow split peas, green split peas, brown lentils and red lentils.

• Sweet potatoes: Besides beans, I include diced sweet potatoes. They simmer so long in the crockpot that they get very soft and almost fall apart in the broth.
• Kale: When the slow cooker cycle finishes, I stir in chopped kale. The heat from the soup quickly softens the leaves.
• Tomatoes: The soup calls for a small can of diced fire roasted tomatoes. The broth turns out tomatoey, but not in a thick tomato soup kind of way.
• Onions, carrots & celery: Sautéing this trio, also know as mirepoix, is the starting point of this soup recipe like so many other ones. 
• Dried spices: I season the soup with dried cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, kosher salt and black pepper. You can add chili powder to make the soup spicy.
• Garlic: Besides dried seasonings, I include 3 minced garlic cloves.
• Lemon: Giving the soup a squeeze of lemon juice before you serve it adds freshness. Traditional 15 bean soup recipes do this with red wine vinegar, but I am someone who loves the brightness and acidity of citrus.
• Vegetable broth: Use low sodium vegetable broth, so you can control the salt level of the soup. If you don’t need the recipe to be vegetarian, you can substitute with chicken broth. 
• Olive oil is for sautéing the onions, carrots and celery.

Serving

I like eating this classic bean soup for a hearty lunch or dinner. You can keep it easy and serve it with a slice of crusty bread or homemade cornbread. For a leafy greens, this lemon arugula salad, classic house salad or this Italian chopped salad are all great options. 

Leftovers & Storage

Allow the soup to cool to room temperature. Then transfer it to an airtight container and keep it in the fridge up to 3 days. You can freeze it up to 1 month to keep the soup longer. It makes it easier to thaw if you divide the soup into individual portion sizes. Either reheat the soup on the stove in a small pot over low to medium heat or in the microwave.