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As luck would have it, our heat went out in our apartment in the dead of winter during a blizzard because when else does your heat go out? Not that the heat going out is the worst thing in the world. You get out the blankets and tea kettles and make it work.
The other thing I highly recommend is soup. Not only is soup healthy, but there’s really nothing that warms the body like a good bowl of soup.
I’ve been itching to make a bean soup for awhile although I didn’t really want to do the standard black bean variety. So after some searching I found this awesome kidney bean soup recipe. Topped with some guacamole and tortilla chips, it’s a great meal for a no heat situation!
Beans in hiding!
I followed my normal rule for soups on this recipe, which is to double it and I ended up with enough kidney bean soup to feed Betsy and I until we have children (far in the future). So maybe there’s no need to double this one unless you are a family of at least four, unless you have a lot of spare empty containers and freezer space.
Kidney Bean Soup with Guacamole Salsa (Adapted from Best-Ever Soups)
Serves 6- 1 pound dried kidney beans or 2 14 ounce cans
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 jalapeno, diced (optional)
- 1 14 ounce can chopped tomatoes
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 Tablespoon cumin
- 1/4 Teaspoon cayenne powder
- 1 Tablespoon paprika
- 1/2 Teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 Cups liquid (water, or stock)
- Salt and pepperGuacamole Salsa:
- 2 avocados
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 green chili, seeded and chopped
- 1 Tablespoon cilantro, chopped
- Juice from 1 limeHelpful Equipment:
- Emersion blender (or a normal blender)
Preparing the beans. The original recipe actually called for canned beans, but I figured dried would be better. The important thing to remember about dried beans, especially if you buy them in bulk, is to lay them out on a flat surface and go through them.
I found three actual rocks in this batch. They were small, but I don’t think any amount of cooking would’ve softened them up.
Turns out dried beans can also contain ROCKS.
Soak the dried beans overnight in cold water using about 3 cups of water per cup of beans. The water should definitely cover the beans as they will soak up a lot of water throughout the night.
When you’re ready to cook them, drain the beans and rinse them. Then add them to a large pot and cover the beans with fresh water until the water is about 1 to 2 inches above the beans.
Bring them to a bowl and then let them simmer for about an hour to an hour and a half or until they are tender. If a lot of foam forms on the top, just skim it off with a spoon.
Beans never looked this good:
Is it weird that I love this photo?
Other Ingredients. The other ingredients for kidney bean soup are pretty simple. Some onions, garlic, a pepper or two and loads of spices.
Other important ingredients
Once your beans are cooked, let them cool a bit and then strain them. Feel free to reserve the cooking water if you want to use that in your soup. I used a crazy mixture of about 1/3 homemade chicken stock, 1/3 bean cooking water, and 1/3 fresh water.
Starting the Kidney Bean Soup. There a lot of onions in this soup and we need to soften them up. Start by adding your oil to a large heavy pan and once it’s hot, add all your onions. Stir regularly until they soften and cook down. You don’t want to caramelize them, but just soften them. I’d say about 15 minutes should do the trick. Then add your pepper and garlic and cook for another minute.
Then add all your spices at once! Stir it well to combine. The onions will take on an amazing red color mainly due to the paprika.
spicy!
Next add your beans, chopped tomatoes, and tomato paste to the party and stir well to combine. Let these cook just for a minute or two.
Nice.
Simmering the Kidney Bean Soup. Once your beans are combined, add all your liquid to the pot, stir, and bring it to a simmer. Simmer the soup, covered, for about 30 minutes and then remove it from the heat.
I guess theoretically you could serve it like this and it would be more of a bean stew than a legit soup. I think it’s a good idea to blend it up with your blender of choice. If you’re using a stand blender, just be sure to cool your soup a bit or you’ll have hot soup flying all over the place.
Or, if you have one, you can use my new best friend the emersion blender.
Go go gadget blender!
After it’s smooth, return it to the heat and let it simmer for another minute or two just to warm up and get all the flavors combined. Taste it for salt and pepper and serve it up!
The recipe called for a quick guacamole to use as a topping. It was great with the soup.
Seriously good.
Betsy and I learned the really good way to eat this was to sprinkle on some tortilla chips. They add a great crunch to the soup.
The soup itself is spicy but not crazy spicy. Just a nice gentle heat. But it does have tons of flavor from the cumin and veggies and everything.
Besides the well-documented social problems associated with eating a large bowl of pureed beans, there’s really nothing bad about this soup.
I like the soup here Nick. I will say one thing though, and I speak from experience.
When you are cooking with kidney beans, be white or red, make sure that after you soak them overnight, YOU WASH THEM, DRAIN, and then PUT THEM IN NEW WATER.
I recently made a batch of white kidney bean soup that I cooked in a slow cooker. I soaked the beans overnight, and then proceeded to cook them over a long period of time.
I ate a bowl of it, and got violently ill afterwards. (I will spare you the gory details.) That is when I found out that kidney beans have a toxin that is not destroyed by the heat. It could only be one or two beans in the whole batch that trigger the effect.
For more info, check out here: http://www.foodreference.com/html/artredkidneybeanpoisoning.html
I just wanted to make sure you all did not have the same failure as me. How embarrassing!
Huh! Thanks for the info Jason. I did do that when I cooked mine but I wasn’t entirely clear in the post. I updated it to reflect the new water situation.
Thanks for the link!
Looks like a very good soup! The guacamole topping sounds wonderful.
point for no meat :)
looks like a delicious vegetarian chili, great pictures.
stay warm
Mmm…I loves me some soup! Up here in the great white north (western Canada) it’s averaging -20 so we’ve been eating lots of soups & stews lately, I’m going to give this a whirl on the weekend I think. Here’s a tip Nick for when you double up soup recipes -with the extra, freeze lunch sized portions in the plastic containers you’d normally use to tote it around. Then once frozen, pop it out like an ice cube and store in a big freezer bag thus freeing your containers. Then you can just pull them out as needed, handy for lunches and last minute suppers!!
Yep! I love doing this with leftovers. I literally ran out of plastic storage containers when I doubled this recipe ;)
Looks wonderful. I’m going to try it! Thanks for posting.
another winner. I gotta try that avocado salsa. I made some buffalo chicken chili and am having a hard time remembering what I put in it to write out a recipe. Has that ever happened to you? And did you go ahead and post it anyways?
Hmm, this might be good for Super Bowl Sunday. Looks yummy!
Does that soup look good or what? Mmmmm. I can’t wait to try this. I love kidney beans and think beans are an important part of a healthy diet. This is a perfect dish to add some more to the menu.
Now you’re talkin’! I am a huge fan of the bean and this is a delicious-looking and unique recipe for bean soup. Consider it bookmarked!
wow this recipe sounds delicious!
Looks good
Beautiful photo! I hope your heat is back on. In the meantime, this soup looks like a wonderful way to warm you from your head to your toes.
[...] has been busy over at Macheesmo whipping up legit dishes such as Kidney Bean Soup and Spicy Shrimp Quesadilla. Nick, if you lived near me, I would be over at your house all the [...]
This was great! I added a little lemon juice at the very end to sharpen the flavor a bit. One note: is it 1/2 teaspoon or tablespoon or oregano? (I assumed teaspoon.)
Haha. Yea… Teaspoon. ;) Updated!
[...] Kidney Bean Soup – Macheesmo – A hearty soup with a fresh guacamole salsa. [...]
Found your website by change ;) This looks great! Make me think of my mothers brown bean soup. Now Let me go and find that old cookbook and make it this weekend. Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
[...] Kidney Bean Soup | Macheesmo. [...]
That soup looks really good! I like the guac topping.
[...] to put into burritos with rice and cheese and they tasted great. This recipe was adapted by Macheesmo, from Best-Ever Soups and serves (in my opinion) [...]
[...] recipe from 101 Cookbooks is on my list – looks delicious, as does this different take on Kidney Bean Soup from [...]