The Hearty Soup Intended For Serious Bean Lovers Only

Nikki Munoz
·2 min read
4
Bean soup in bowl on wood board
Bean soup in bowl on wood board - Rudisill/Getty Images

If you're a fan of soup, you're probably always on the lookout for new recipes to try. If this is the case, we have a suggestion for you -- but there's just one requirement: You have to be a serious bean lover. This is because the soup in question is 16-Bean Soup, which, yes, really has 16 different types of beans in it.

You probably have a lot of questions. But perhaps the biggest inquiry of them all is what types of beans are included in 16-bean soup? Just about every recipe calls for "16-Bean Soup Mix," which is essentially a bag of different beans that is intended to be used to make 16-Bean Soup specifically. As for what the mix is comprised of, Goya's mix, for example, includes the following: pinto, small red, pink, red kidney, great northern, baby lima, large lima, black-eyed peas, navy, black, whole green peas, yellow split peas, green split peas, lentils, chickpeas, and pearl barley. Other brands have similar mixes, although sometimes with a slightly different number of beans. Hurst's HamBeens, for one, offers a mix of 15 beans.

Read more: 20 Popular Canned Soups, Ranked Worst To Best

How Easy Is It To Make 16-Bean Soup?

Pile of multiple types of beans
Pile of multiple types of beans - Claudio Divizia/Shutterstock

Despite the name sounding a bit intense, making 16-Bean Soup is actually quite simple. To begin with, the fact that most recipes rely on a soup mix certainly makes things much easier. However, if you really wanted to, you could definitely buy your preferred 16 types of beans and make your own mix. After all, there are over 400 types of beans for bean lovers to choose from.

If you're going with the bean mix, there are a few other ingredients you'll need to acquire for 16-Bean Soup. There are usually some vegetables included, such as carrots, celery, and onion (but you can customize your veggie choices to your liking), as well as a stock such as chicken or vegetable. You'll also need spices and herbs like oregano and bay leaves. And, if you'd like to make this recipe even heartier, you can opt to add some type of meat to it -- popular options include sausage or ham.

As for how to cook it, 16-Bean Soup can easily be made on the stovetop. But, it's also a perfect recipe to throw into a slow cooker for an easy and hands-off meal.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.