Favorite Winter Soup Recipe - Slow Cooker Navy Bean Soup
It’s January again. Of 2023. How in the world did that happen?! Anyway, this time of year always feels a little dark and dreary to me. The holidays are over, the days are short, and it’s cold outside. Not my favorite. But one thing I do love about these winter months is the food. This is soup season for me - time to eat big bowls of warm, delicious comfort food (preferably in front of a glowing fireplace with a chunk of bread for dipping. Yum!).
So today is the perfect day to share one of my favorite, easy soup recipes - slow cooker navy bean soup.
I love this recipe because it is sooo easy. I hate those crockpot meals that trick you into doing a ton of cooking before you even get the crockpot out. No thank you! Other than parboiling your beans, everything just gets dumped right in. This is also a hearty vegetarian soup (but I’ll give you meat eaters some options to bulk this up). Grab a pen and paper, make your grocery list, and dig into this bad boy this weekend. You won’t regret it!
Slow Cooker Navy Bean Soup
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
4-6 cloves minced garlic (or more - go crazy!)
1 medium diced onion
4-6 medium sliced carrots
4 stalks sliced celery
1 lb dried navy beans
Parmesan cheese rind (or ham hock) optional
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 cups vegetable stock (or chicken if not vegetarian)
Directions
You do not have to soak your beans overnight (unless of course you really have your life together and can remember to do this, then by all means soak your beans in a stockpot overnight and then skip this step). You can parboil them by adding the beans to a stockpot, covering with water, and then putting on the stove to boil. Bring water to a boil and boil for 10 minutes.
While your beans are boiling on the stove, chop your onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and throw them in the crockpot. Drizzle with the olive oil.
When your beans are done, drain them and add to the crockpot.
Add bay leaves and spices.
Pour in your vegetable stock or broth and add the parmesan rind for some extra depth to your flavors. Stir everything until well combined.
Place the lid on your crockpot and set to HIGH for 4-6 hours.
Once the soup is cooked, discard the bay leaves and parmesan rind.
For a slightly thicker soup, you can give it a couple of pulses with a stick blender. Or if you don’t have one of those, take 1 cup of the soup out of the crockpot, put it in a blender or food processor, blend, and then return to the crock pot and mix well.
Taste, adjust seasonings as desired, and enjoy! If you eat meat, some crumbled bacon sprinkled on top really adds a pop to the flavor. Don’t forget a nice, warm slice of sourdough bread on the side.
That’s it! Easy peasy navy-bean squeezy. I know what I’m having for dinner this weekend.