15-Bean Soup with Ham (Printable version)

Slow-cooked medley of tender beans, savory veggies, and smoky ham bone for a warming dish.

# What You'll Need:

→ Beans

01 - 1 bag (20 oz) 15-bean soup mix, rinsed and sorted

→ Meats

02 - 1 leftover ham bone with some meat attached

→ Vegetables

03 - 1 large onion, diced
04 - 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
05 - 3 celery stalks, sliced
06 - 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
07 - 3 garlic cloves, minced

→ Liquids

08 - 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
09 - 2 cups water

→ Spices & Seasonings

10 - 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
11 - 1 teaspoon dried thyme
12 - 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
13 - 1 bay leaf
14 - Salt to taste

# Directions:

01 - Rinse and sort the 15-bean soup mix, discarding any debris or broken beans.
02 - Place rinsed beans in the bottom of a 6-quart or larger slow cooker, then place ham bone on top.
03 - Add diced onion, sliced carrots, sliced celery, canned diced tomatoes with juice, and minced garlic to the slow cooker.
04 - Pour 8 cups chicken broth and 2 cups water into the slow cooker.
05 - Sprinkle smoked paprika, dried thyme, and ground black pepper over the mixture, then add bay leaf.
06 - Cover and cook on LOW setting for 8 hours until beans are tender.
07 - Remove ham bone from soup. Allow to cool slightly, then shred any remaining meat and return to soup. Discard bone and bay leaf.
08 - Stir well, taste, and adjust seasoning with salt as needed. Serve hot.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • It makes your entire home smell like a slow-simmered secret, filling every room with savory warmth that no candle can match.
  • Once you throw everything in the slow cooker, you're completely free—no stirring, no fussing, just a pot doing the work while you live your day.
  • One ham bone feeds eight people with hearty, stick-to-your-ribs soup that costs almost nothing but tastes like you've been cooking since dawn.
02 -
  • Never salt the beans while they're cooking; salt in the water will make them tough and stubbornly refuse to soften, a lesson I learned the hard way with a pot of nearly inedible soup.
  • The ham bone does all the heavy lifting—if you don't have one, liquid smoke and smoked paprika can approximate the flavor, but the real thing creates a richness that substitutes simply cannot match.
  • Eight hours is the sweet spot; cooking longer won't hurt, but shorter than six hours leaves the beans firm and the flavors not yet melded into that seamless, comforting taste.
03 -
  • If you can't find a ham bone, ask your butcher; they often have them available and might even give you a discount because most people don't think to ask for them.
  • Don't fear the 15-bean mix—it's not complicated, just colorful and full of variety that keeps each spoonful interesting in ways a single-bean soup never could be.
  • Taste as you go in those final minutes of seasoning; soup is incredibly forgiving, and you're looking for that point where every element sings without overshadowing the others.
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