I have a confession to make: I do not like beans. Oh, I can hear you all now – “Hey how can you make a 5 bean soup if you don’t even like beans? You’re a phony!”
Yes, yes, I know, that seems kind of crazy, but Cody is to blame for this one! He wanted to recreate a bean soup he made years ago since we first started blogging about our home cooking adventures, and there just came a point where I could no longer avoid it.
But hey, don’t let my initial lack of enthusiasm scare you off. After meticulous taste testing and additions of this and that, we finally, according to Mr Cody “Beans” Woodworth, perfected a 5 bean soup.
Zellie once said that Cody is made of beans and he bleeds Sriracha, and I fully endorse that description.
So, we can trust Mr Beans to know a good bean soup if he tastes one! And believe it or not, he may or may not have convinced me that bean soup is a pretty tasty thing.
Our 5 bean soup contains:
- Smoked sausage,
- Bacon (yyyuummmm),
- Fire roasted tomatoes,
- 5 types of beans (if you count split peas as beans…which we do…oops),
- Onion,
- and Spices!
It’s truly simple and easy and really worth it if you’re craving a soup that is filling and tastes great.
How to make healthy 5 Bean Soup or Stew:
Everything, apart from the smoked sausage, gets tossed into a pot, and is pretty much left alone to do its own thing.
If you don’t mind more hands-on time, you could go ahead and crisp up the bacon and the sliced sausage, but it’s entirely optional.
It will taste great all the same. So, it all boils together for about 45 minutes, which leaves your hands free to do whatever you like.
As a final attempt to convince you to try this soup out yourself, I need to mention that while I’ve been back in South Africa and Cody having our apartment all to himself, you’d naturally assume he’d be grasping the opportunity to live off junk food. Yes?
No. He actually called me a few weeks ago and asked for the notes on our 5 bean soup. Yep, he actually cooked this for himself and that’s all the evidence you need to know how yum this is.
5 Bean Soup – Pin It!
5 Bean Soup Recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 • onion sliced
- 2 cans • 14oz/400ml Fire Roasted Tomatoes
- 1 lb • smoked sausage
- 4 • bacon strips cubed
- 1/2 cup • pinto beans
- 1/2 cup • red kidney beans
- 1/2 cup • black turtle beans
- 1/2 cup • black eyed peas
- 1/2 cup • split peas
- 1/2 tsp • cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp • dried chili
- 1 tsp • ground cumin
- to taste • salt and pepper
Instructions
- To prepare beans: Add 2 cups of beans to 8 cups of water and bring to the boil. Boil rapidly for 2 minutes and let stand for 1 hour. Or soak overnight.
- Toss all the ingredients into a pot and cook for approximately 1 hour or until the beans reach your desired level of tenderness and the soup has thickened.
- Add the smoked sausage when the beans are almost cooked.
- Remove from heat. Serve and enjoy.