My Favorite Navy Bean Soup...so Easy to Prepare!

Submitted by GREG IN SAN DIEGO

"This is a wonderful hearty soup, great for using leftover ham from the holidays. Note 1: For a richer-tasting stock, take half of the cooked beans and puree them with the metal blade of your food processor and then add them back to the soup. Note 2: You can soak the beans overnight to speed up the preparation process and omit cooking in the first step of the directions. This soup is comfort food at its best. You will love it. Don't let the number of Steps in the Directions divert you: I always try to make my preparation directions explicit and detailed...to make preparation easier, not more difficult!"

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 20mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1 lb dried navy beans (white peas, about 2 cups)
• 3 large carrots, trimmed, peeled and cut into 3 inch lengths
• 2 stalks celery, washed, de-veined, and cut into 3 inch lengths
• 1 large yellow onion, quartered
• 6 cups water
• 8 ounces sliced ham (or cooked bacon)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg

• Optional

• 4 teaspoons sour cream (optional)
• sherry wine (optional)

directions

1. Wash beans in a colander.
2. Sort beans, discarding stones and blemished beans.
3. Place beans in a large saucepan and cover with cold water by 1 inch.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat.
5. Boil for 2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.
7. Drain beans and return to saucepan.
8. In food processor bowl fitted with slicing blade, slice carrots, celery and onion.
9. Add carrot-vegetable mixture to beans in saucepan.
10. Add 6 cups water.
11. Bring mixture to a simmer over high heat.
12. Replace slicing food processor blade with metal blade.
13. Add ham (or bacon) and pulse until chopped.
14. Add ham or bacon to saucepan.
15. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until beans are very tender, about 1 and 1/2 hours.
16. Add sugar, to taste.
17. Add salt, white pepper, and pinch of ground nutmeg.
18. Serve soup in heated bowls.
19. If desired, add 1/2 t sour cream or creme fraice to top each serving, or.
20. add dollop of sherry to each serving.
21. Enjoy.

Reviews

[COOKGIRl]

This recipe lifts lowly navy bean soup to greater heights! My changes and subs: replaced the ham with a few strips of bacon and added one quarter teaspoon of liquid smoke to try and mimic the taste of ham. Two cloves of roasted garlic were a delicious addition as well. Broth for water and I pureed half of the soup in a blender. The freshly grated nutmeg, sherry and sour cream were inspired and unexpected touches! Threw all the ingredients in a slow cooker and cooked on LOW for about 4 1/2 hours. I do have one confession: I was out of navy beans in both dried and canned varieties therefore I substituted with Great Northern beans and it worked out well. Lastly, garnished servings with fresh parsley from the garden. Next time I will be sure to have the correct beans on hand to give this recipe the right proper respect it deserves. Yay for navy bean soup! I knew you could do it! Thanks for posting! cg

 

[TLu1089]

Great soup, really hit the spot for us during a cold wintery spell. Left out the sugar since I used a hambone from a brown sugar glazed ham. Thanks Greg its simplicity put it at the top of our soup rotation. Thanks!

 

[dgbg100106]

I made this for my family here while it has been nasty cold and we had a ham bone left over that was very meaty. This was a good soup, I omitted the carrots, husband and son don’t like cooked carrots, did use sherry at the end. All of felt something was missing in making this a great soup. Very easy to prepare, thanks for posting.

 

[Caroline Cooks]

Wonderful Navy bean soup, Greg! I love the hint of nutmeg. I did add a drained can of white hominy--which gave it more bulk. I doubt, changed the flavor. Made for BellyWarmers Event in Cooking Photos.

 

[GaylaV]

I have made several varieties of bean soup and I don't think any were better than this. I did use a ham bone left over from Boxing Day and the ham had been studded with cloves which also added flavour to the soup. I would never have thought of adding nutmeg but although I couldn't pick it out in the flavour, it sure didn't hurt. I loved the sour cream on top, looked nice too. Thanks for a great recipe that is going into my soup cookbook and will be made many more times.