This is truly the BEST 15-Bean Soup recipe I’ve ever tried! This soup starts with a package of dried assorted beans (NO overnight soaking required) that get cooked in the slow cooker or pressure cooker until perfectly tender.
What Beans Are In 15-Bean Soup?
This soup uses a 15 Bean Soup package which is a dry bean soup recipe containing 15 of these bean varieties: Northern, Pinto, Large Lima, Yellow-eye Bean, Garbanzo, Baby Lima, Green Split Pea, Kidney, Cranberry Bean, Small White, Pink Bean, Small Red, Yellow Split Pea, Lentil, Navy, White Kidney, and Black Bean. The mix comes with a seasoning packet, instructions for cooking, and a list of extra items you’ll need to make it a full meal. It’s kind of like Hamburger Helper® except that it’s for soup–and it takes a bit longer to prepare!
Fun fact: According to the company’s president, this 15-bean soup mix is the #1 best-selling dry bean soup in the U.S.
Why We Love This 15-Bean Soup Recipe!
While you can find “15-bean soup instructions” on the back of the bean package, nothing beats this recipe! And especially if you don’t have a pound of ham, leftover ham bone, or ham hocks! Or, if you don’t love tomatoes (both tomatoes and ham are called for on the back of the package). For our recipe, we will not use the seasoning packet that comes with the beans.
This is a 15-bean soup recipe without tomatoes or ham. (That said, check out the “variations” section below if you want to add in either!)
Instead, we’re letting the beans be the star of the show and then loading up this soup with beautifully sautéed veggies and a wonderfully creamy texture. Which, by the way, the cream base is ridiculously easy to make — no roux, butter, or flour required! The way this soup is perfectly thickened with only two ingredients is practically wizardry! 🙂
Variations
Soup Variations
So what if you do want ham or tomatoes in this soup? No problem! They’re easy additions!
- Adding ham. Add a leftover ham bone (~2-2.5 lbs) in with the dried beans. Leave out the salt and replace the stock with water (otherwise, it will be too salty). After this portion of the recipe is finished, shred the ham off the bone and stir it into the finished soup. If you are using leftover chopped ham, add it at the end to warm through while the soup is thickening.
- Adding tomatoes. Add in 1 can of diced tomatoes when you add in the garlic.
- 15-Bean Soup recipe with chicken. Stir through leftover cooked or rotisserie chicken at the end just to warm through.
- 15-Bean Soup recipe vegetarian. Replace the chicken stock/broth with vegetable stock/broth. Do not add chicken bouillon, but consider adding vegetable bouillon for more flavor.
- More veggies. If you’d like, mix in some baby spinach or kale near the end of cooking time. You could also add a diced bell pepper with the carrots, celery, and onion.
- 15-Bean Soup on the stove. Soak beans overnight (or 8 hours). Drain beans and discard the liquid. Then add soaked beans and 8 cups stock/broth to a large pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer (uncovered) for 2-1/2 hours. After simmering, pour in the vegetable cream mixture and simmer for another 30 minutes.
How To Cook 15 Bean Soup
This soup is broken down into 2 parts: first, we’ll slow cook the beans in a well-seasoned herby broth. Second, we’ll sauté veggies on the stovetop to pour into the soup later.
Q: So why don’t we do it all in the slow cooker?
A: For flavor and to get a creamy base (without curdling). To get the most flavor out of the celery, onion, and carrots, sauté them in oil. This also ensures even cooking so you aren’t left with crunchy raw onion in the finished soup! Since we’ll need a separate pot anyway (to create the creamy base), using that separate pot to also create the tender veggies is the best way to prepare this soup! We use a separate pot for making the base because if we cook milk in the slow cooker for 8 hours, it will curdle.
A few more tips:
- Finely dice carrots, onion, and celery into even-sized pieces. Or use the food processor to quickly chop the veggies! Purchasing mirepoix (already chopped carrots, onion, and celery) is another shortcut option.
- Cook until the mixture thickens. When making the creamy base, don’t remove the pot from the heat until the cornstarch mixture has fully thickened into a sludge-like mixture.
- Don’t skip the finishing touches! A couple of fresh additions (the parsley and lemon) add freshness and vibrancy, bringing the soup alive.
- Add more salt! Don’t underestimate the magic an extra pinch of salt can offer. Especially in a soup filled with beans — you may be surprised how much salt is needed.
Quick Tip
It might seem like a good idea to make your own blend of beans instead of buying a pre-packaged mix. After all, then you can customize the types of beans you use! The only problem with that is that you generally will need to buy an entire package of each of the 15 beans–which will leave you with quite a few leftover beans. If you have access to a bulk food bin and can get just as much as you want, then that might work. Making gift packets of 15-Bean Soup is popular during the holidays–because making up lots of soup mix packets lets you use up all those packages of beans!
Storage
Soup Storage
- How to reheat: This soup keeps nicely in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-6 days. Reheating a creamy soup can be tricky; we want to avoid separation and a grainy texture. To reheat, add the amount leftover you’d like to enjoy into a pot and slowly increase the heat while stirring frequently. Don’t boil the soup or reheat it at a high temperature; this can cause the ingredients to separate or even curdle.
- If the soup has thickened too much for your liking, add a splash more of chicken stock to thin it out as it warms through again.
- Freezing: Unfortunately, because of the dairy in this soup, it is not a great candidate for freezing and thawing.
More Tasty Soup Recipes:
- 30 Best Soup Recipes all our favorites in one spot!
- Lentil Soup with the best seasoning blend!
- White Bean and Sausage Soup with Italian sausage
- Vegetable Noodle Soup with orzo pasta
- Vegetarian Split Pea Soup Recipe with loads of veggies!
15 Bean Soup
Equipment
- Crock-Pot or Instant Pot
Ingredients
Beans:
- 2 cups dried 15-bean mix discard seasoning packet, see note 1
- 1-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- 6 cups chicken stock or chicken broth, see note 2
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
Soup:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 cups finely diced yellow onion 2 medium onions
- 1-1/2 cups finely diced carrot 4 carrots
- 1-1/2 cups finely diced celery 4 stalks
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic 4 cloves
- 2-1/2 cups milk whole preferred, divided, see note 3
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- Serving suggestions see note 4
Instructions
- 15-Bean Soup (Crock-Pot): Add everything listed under “Beans” to a Crock-Pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook 8 hours on low or on high for 4 hours.
- 15-Bean Soup (Instant Pot): Add everything listed under “Beans” to an Instant Pot. Season to taste with salt pepper. Seal the Instant Pot, turn the valve to seal, and cook on manual mode for 45 minutes. (Keep in mind that it takes about 15–20 minutes to get up to pressure.) Once finished, allow for a natural release of 25 minutes (I recommend setting a timer so you don't forget!) before releasing the rest of the pressure manually.
- 15-Bean Soup (stovetop): Soak beans overnight (or 8 hours). Drain beans and discard liquid. Add soaked beans and 8 cups stock to a large pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer (uncovered) for 2–1/2 hours. After beans are tender, pour in vegetable cream mixture (instructions 4–6) and simmer until thickened and creamy.
- Veggies: Add olive oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, and carrots; season to taste (I add 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper). Sauté, stirring occasionally, until very tender, 10–12 minutes). Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add 2 cups milk and stir.
- Thicken: In a separate bowl, add the remaining 1/2 cup milk and 1/3 cup cornstarch. Whisk with a fork until completely smooth. While stirring constantly, pour the mixture into the pot. Stir until the sauce is very thick. Once it has thickened, scrape it with a spatula into the Crock-Pot or Instant Pot. Mix well until soup is smooth. Slow cook with lid on for 20 minutes on high or sauté in Instant Pot for about 5 minutes—until heated through and thickened to your liking.
- Finishing Touches: Taste and adjust seasonings; I typically add another 1/2–3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Optionally add some chicken bouillon powder for extra flavor (1–2 teaspoons.) For some acidity, add a squeeze of lemon juice or a swish of red wine vinegar. The flavors should sing!
- Serve: Serve bowls garnished with a sprinkle of parsley and some Parmesan cheese if desired. Serve some hearty buttered bread on the side if desired.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Loved it!
So happy to hear this! Thanks Ashley!
My husband raved about this soup. Already looking forward to me making it again. Great recipe, results as promised! Only thing I did differently was add some smoked sausage into the crock pot at the start of cooking.
Delish! So thrilled this was a hit! Thanks Nicole!
I loved it! What a great way to get more plants into my dinner! My kids and husband liked it as well.
So thrilled to hear this! Thanks so much, Ashley!
Please send me recipes.
If you click skip to recipe you can grab the recipe! 🙂
Simplistic recipe,yet the soup comes together very elegant. Followed your recipe as is. Very wonderful flavors. Not as heavy as a winter soup, perfect for the spring/summer time transition here in the South. Thank you!
I am so thrilled to hear you’re loving this 15-Bean Soup! Thanks so much Christopher! 🙂
Yo Chelsea!
This was awesome!!!!! You were right, my failure at 1st was a slow cooker that burns to hot, i used my other slow cooker and this came out awesome!
I will absolutely be makeing this often, thank you for what you do!!!
I am so thrilled to hear this Paddy! Thanks SO much for your feedback and comments! 🙂
I was all in until you brought out the milk/cream. If you know how to make this dish, you really don’t need to add anything for thickening.. it just ends up creamy on its own.
You’re welcome to leave out, we love the creamy flavor it adds! 🙂
Just a question for knowledge, why not use the seasoning packet the beans come with? I’ve made this soup before (EXCELLENT) and didn’t use the seasoning packet, and i’m actually making a double batch next week and started wondering why no seasoning packet. Too salty?
Yes! Too salty!
Hey Chelsea!
I have to try this one again it was smelling awesome , but at 3.5 hours on hi heat in the slow cooker I noticed all the broth had been sucked up by the beans and burned up, not sure where I went wrong I did everything following the directions, any advice?
Hey Paddy! Thanks for reaching out, that’s so strange! I’ve never had that problem before. Does your slow cooker run hot (usually cook things quicker)? Did you use more than 2 cups of beans?
Im guessin it does run hot I was in shock that they sucked up 6 cups of broth but no I used jut 2 cups of the beans, I Will DEFINATELY be trying this again !!!! Thank you for getting right back to me we love your recipes!
I’m shocked too; I had plenty of liquid left after 4 hours on high! Were your beans falling apart/bloated? Maybe try for 2-1/2 to 3 hours next time on high? Sorry about the mess, that’s no fun! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my recipes, thanks again for reaching out!
Could I use 2 cups of dried navy beans instead of the 15-bean mix?? Thanks in advance!
I haven’t personally tried it, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work just fine! 🙂
Thank you for responding so quickly, Chelsea!
You bet! Let me know if you give it a try with the navy beans and what you think 🙂
Cant wait to make this soon for me can i use vegetable broth and almond milk i never had 15 bean soup before perfect timing as been raining here in Singapore perfect for raining days in Singapore and after office meals love your recipes as always brightens up my day everyday after work
Hope you enjoy! Thanks Ramya! 🙂