Saturday, January 14, 2012

Bean Soup Basics: How to make the best bean soup you ever had


You can make almost any bean soup the same way. Having a pressure cooker not only saves time, but saves you from having to do much work..you can throw it in and leave!  It will still be warm when you come home.

Really there isn't much to it, and you want to make it your own.  Following someone else's exact recipe is not going to give you the results you will get by adding YOUR favorite beans, meats and herbs/spices.  
Pressure Cookers on Amazon

1.  Pressure cook the dried beans in water (see your pressure cooker book or here is an online guide,most take from 15-20 mins)   I NEVER soak my beans.  Honestly, I see no difference in any form when they are soaked overnight.  I skip the soaking process altogether and just dump from the bag into the water and hit cook.

2.  Drain and rinse.

3.  Add a meat if you want meat (chicken, pork, beef) If not adding meat, skip to step five.

4.  If adding meat, pressure cook the meat now in water or broth  (time depends on what you are cooking) ...if its cooked, skip this step and move on.

5.  Add vegetables (this can by anything, onions, celery, peppers, potatoes, kale, collard greens, tomatoes,  etc etc, whatever veggies your family likes) You can also add cooked and crumbled bacon here if you wish.

6.  Add the beans back in to the pressure cooker.

7.  Add water to pressure cooker (you can use chicken broth also, but this adds sodium...and the vegetables WILL flavor the water very well, so there is no need to waste chicken broth here, but do what ya like)

8.  Season (salt, pepper, herbs of your liking)

9.  Cook for about five minutes in the pressure cooker.

Its done!



This is one kitchen gadget that I can honestly say for at least the last three years I have used twice a week, if not more often and has saved many nights of calling for food delivery.  You can cook healthy too and the vegetable soup (just veggies and water and herbs) you can make in this is the best you ever had...and so healthy!  (add some garbanzos too for protein).

Here is a search of the pressure cookers on amazon, great prices, and cheap if not free shipping!
Pressure Cookers on Amazon

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