How do you jazz up your 15 bean soup?

[pip]

I picked up a pretty little bag of 15 bean soup, with a ham flavor packet. I'm going to make it in my crockpot, but many years ago when I tried to make 15 bean soup, it was just so-so. Maybe I need to cook it for a longer amount of time, but what do people add to jazz it up? Thanks for any tips!

[Lisahas2cats]

For about a cup and a half of dry beans, I'll add a can of diced tomatoes and about 8 ounces of cooked, drained sausage (or 4 oz of cooked, drained Italiain sausage). For seasoning, I'll put in chicken boullion granules (well, the vegetarian chicken ones since that's what I have on hand, lol), a bay leaf, some fennel seeds, some dried parsley flakes.....um, a small handful of dried onion flakes (chopped fresh onion is fine too), and probably some oregano since I toss that in everything.

HTH!
Lisa

[frugalwarrior]

Make it Cajun. Add some red spices! Have any spicy sausage,maybe pepperoni,jalepenos, Hot pepper sauce, chicken if you want meat. Tums.

[thefrug]

well, to start with I wouldn't use that "flavor" packet. I'd use real smoked ham hock. Cook it off for about 2 hrs. Then add the beans, cook them until almost tender, then add sliced carrots and cook for about 20mins, then add some ribbles. Which are small fresh made egg dumplings. 1 cup flour, pinch of salt, 1 egg, 1Tablespoon of water. Mix all in a bowl, drop into boiling soup, by tearing into small pieces, and then cook for about 10mins. Turn the heat off, slap a lid on the pot and let sit another 10-15 mins.

[Ceashels]

I just made some lentils and used ham broth and curry spices to give it some zing. You might want to experiment with a large pot of bean soup and divide it into smaller portions before adding spices you may not enjoy.

[FrugalWitch]

Toss out the flavor packet. Add a smoked ham hock or two and if you want something spicy throw in some Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.

Add finely minced onion, celery and bell pepper. Cook until beans are soft and meat is falling off the bones.

Serve over rice, or as-is for bean soup.

[fixer]

We use salt cured pork for seasoning. We also use liquid smoke to give a subtle smokiness to the beans.

[EmilyD]

I use ham hocks, onions, bay leaf and chicken broth. Made a crock pot of beans yesterday ... yummy!

[lisaflex]

i do the same as above - ham hock and chix broth, bay leaf and lots of pepper, chopped garlic and 1 can of tomatoes.

[LastDragonfly]

I throw in hamhock or salt pork and a can of Rotel Tomatoes (tomatos & chilie)

[pip]

Thanks for all the replies. Guess I need a ham hock!

[joyofsix]

Yep, or I've even just used leftover chopped up ham in a pinch. I add some carrot and onion. I put on more raw onion and tabasco on top in my bowl. Yum!

[kittykatstrong]

I just made a pot yesterday and this is the recipe I kind-of followed:

• 1 bag of 16 Bean Dried Soup Beans
• 1 Ham bone and leftover ham from Easter.
• 1 Can Chicken Broth
• Celery (I used 4 Stalks)
• Carrots (I used 3)
• Onion (I used about 1/2 an onion chopped)
• 1 Can diced tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• Water (6 cups approx.)
• Seasoning (Celery Seed, Mustard Powder, Cumin, Curry, Bay Leaf, Parsley, Basil, Oregano, Black Pepper, White Pepper)

Soaks beans overnight and rinse. Add to large pot with ham bone and any extra ham, bay leaves, Chicken Broth and Water. Cook on low for 4 hours. Remove ham bone and pick off any meat you can from bone and put it back. Add the rest of the ingredients to taste and simmer for 20 minutes until vegetables are soft. This should go good with some Corn Bread.

[pat in east texas]

I use ham hocks, my own spices and herbs, and corn added at the end of the cooking time. The sweetness of the corn adds a lot to the flavor.

[Momof3girls]

I use a chopped onion, bay leaves, thyme and garlic.