Pink Bean Soup is one of my favorites from my childhood. It is also quite frugal; the recipe calls for dried beans and is flavored with a leftover ham hock. If you have not used a leftover ham hock to make split pea or bean soup, you will be amazed at how much meat is actually left on the bone.
This recipe calls for soaking beans overnight, but if you are forgetful like I am, make use of this kitchen tip: Put beans in a large pot, then cover them with water. Put the pot on high heat and bring to a boil. Removed beans from heat and cover the pot with a lid. Let sit for one hour, rinse beans and proceed with the recipe.
Pink Bean and Ham Soup
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Alea
Recipe type: Soup
Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried pink beans (though you can use your favorite bean) ( .99)
- 1 ham hock (basically free as it is a leftover bone)
- ½ onion diced ( .25)
- 2 garlic cloves minced ( .20)
- 2 celery stocks, chopped ( .20)
- ¾ cup carrots, diced ( .50)
- dash of pepper
- 8 cups of water
Directions
- Soak Beans overnight.
- Place all ingredients in a crock pot. Add the water. Cook on high for 6 hours.
- Remove bone from the soup. Remove any meat that remains on the bone and add the meat back to the soup.
Notes
If you like chunky soup, you can serve it as is. I like my bean soup smooth and thick, so I use an emersion blender to blend it to a nice smooth consistency. If you like your soup a little thinner, you can add more water as you blend it. Total cost $2.14 and it makes 8 servings!
Laura says
When my husband and were first married, we had very little for groceries, and smoked ham hocks were one of the few affordable items from the meat counter that we could afford. I made some tasty bean soups almost every week with those ham hocks! They do have a surprising amount of meat on them. Your recipe sounds delicious!
Shana says
That sounds really good. yes there is a lot of meat on a ham hock!