If you’re looking for a super cheap, super nutrient-packed, delicious crockpot meal, look no further than this Slow Cooker 15 Bean Soup with Ham and Kale. It’s warm, cozy, freezable, and hearty. It makes a TON. And it’s a great way to use up any leftover ham you may have!
Yes, I said it. The “K” word. KALE. But please, don’t run screaming away! You KNOW kale is good for you.
And you may think it’s a bitter pill (or leaf) to swallow, but wilted in soup it’s absolutely delicious. In fact, you won’t even taste it! This soup is the perfect way to enjoy one of the healthiest leafy greens out there, since cooking is one of the ways you can take the bitterness out of bitter greens. (There are other ways too, such as soaking them or massaging them, like in this massaged kale salad).
If you really, REALLY don’t like kale, fear not. You can easily substitute spinach or some other leafy green in this soup.
Have you ever heard of 15 bean soup before?
In the dried beans section of your grocery store, you will find a pack of beans that is labeled “15 Bean Soup Mix.” Or it might be “16 bean soup mix” or “13 bean soup mix.”
The numbers don’t really matter- you can use this recipe with any of them.
15 bean soup mixes include a combination of TONS of legumes, that may include pinto beans, red beans, pink beans, kidney beans, northern beans, small and big lima beans, white beans, black beans, black eyed peas, chickpeas, peas, split peas (yellow and green), lentils, and sometimes even pearl barley.
Phew! That’s a lot of beans… and a TON of nutrients! Add the kale and you have a nutritional powerhouse that simply cannot be beat.
Some 15 bean soup mixes may come with a flavoring packet. You can just toss it for this recipe- it’s likely packed with preservatives and artificial flavoring, anyway.
Traditionally, 15 bean soup is made with ham and chicken broth. I used both, with kale as an added bonus. It’s a great way to use up leftover ham (or ham bone) from the holidays you may have hanging around, but you can also use a cut up ham steak from your deli or meat department.
I recommend using smoked ham for this, as it will lend a smoky flavor throughout the soup. Yum.
Alternatively, you can easily make this soup vegetarian/vegan by omitting the ham and using vegetable broth instead. If you do this, I recommend adding a little bit of smoked paprika to get that smoky taste you’ll be missing without the ham.
The BEST thing about this slow cooker 15 bean soup is that it cooks all day in your crockpot. It can cook for about 10 hours on low, so it’s great for a long work day.
I used to work 10 hour days before I became a full-time blogger, and I always struggled with slow cooker recipes since they usually only took 6-8 hours. This one was always perfect.
But you can also cook it for 4-6 hours on high if you’re in a crunch for time!
This is a classic dump-everything-all-at-once-in-the-crockpot recipe. There aren’t any multiple steps, aside from adding a little fresh parsley in at the very end.
All you have to do to prep is make sure you pre-soak the beans in salted water (which will help with lessening the indigestion beans are well-known to create and help flavor them) overnight and rinse them well just before adding them to the slow cooker.
Chop some carrots, onion, and celery, and throw it all in your slow cooker with the beans, ham, kale, and broth. Season with salt and pepper, cook, and serve! Add some parsley at the end if you want.
As an added bonus, this 15 bean soup freezes extremely well for a future meal (and this recipe makes a ton!).
If you like this Slow Cooker 15 Bean Soup with Ham and Kale, you’ll love this Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup, this Instant Pot Split Pea Soup (slow cooker friendly), this Instant Pot Black Eyed Pea Soup (also slow cooker friendly), and this Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup with Curry and Ginger.
Hope you enjoy this cozy, inexpensive, delicious, and nutrient-packed meal!
Slow Cooker 15 Bean Soup with Ham and Kale
Ingredients
- 1 lb. 15 bean soup mix or 16 bean, or 13 bean, or whatever you can find!
- 1 onion diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 1/2 lb. cooked ham diced (about 2 cups), or leftover ham bone
- 1 bay leaf
- 7 cups chicken stock/broth or vegetable stock
- 2 cups kale stems removed, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Before making this soup, soak the beans. Put beans in a container and cover with double the amount of water, as well as 1 tablespoon of salt, and allow to soak in the refrigerator overnight.
- Discard any seasoning pack that comes with the soup mix.
- When you are ready to cook, drain and rinse the beans very well.
- Add all ingredients, including a pinch of salt and some pepper, except parsley to your slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 8-10 hours.
- Stir in the parsley, along seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.
Notes
- Don’t like kale? Substitute with spinach or another leafy green. If you use baby spinach, I recommend adding it at the end when you add the parsley.
- If the soup seems too thin, you can thicken it by either cooking it longer or using an immersion blender to blend just a little bit of the soup in the crockpot. Or, use a potato masher to mash up some of the beans directly in the soup.
- To make this in your instant pot or pressure cooker, add all ingredients except parsley and cook on manual on high pressure for 15 minutes. Allow to naturally release pressure for at least 10 minutes. Add parsley when it’s done. If you like, you can use the sauté setting to sauté the veggies in 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter before adding the remaining ingredients.
- To make this on the stovetop, add all ingredients except parsley to a large pot and cook on low covered for about 2 hours, or until beans are tender. Stir in the parsley.
- You can freeze leftovers in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
- Vegan or vegetarian? Omit the ham and make sure to use vegetable broth instead of chicken. I recommend adding some smoked paprika for a smoky taste without using ham.
- For a gluten-free version, please ensure that your bean soup mix doesn’t contain barley and that you are using a GF ham.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Jeannie
I can’t express enough how much I loved this!! Like a big ol’ hug of love! I used a smoked pork hock and then removed it at the end, since I’m “almost” a vegetarian… the beans soaked up all the smoky flavor without actual meat being in it. So delicious! Thank you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Tontinette
Great choice! Taste great, very easy, very healthy!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Pamela Thomas
Thank you for this recipe! My friend was diagnosed with cancer. Again! To ease my nerves, I offered to cook for her and her family. They LOVED this soup! I’ve heard of the soup, but I’d never made it. I’m so thankful for this recipe because I probably would have used the rather large seasoning packet that came with it and wrecked it. My friend loves soup so I’m going to make this one for her again.
Elizabeth Lindemann
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend, and I hope she recovers fast. It’s so kind of you to offer to cook for her and her family! This soup is a great choice because it’s so healthy and hearty and makes a ton. The seasoning packet won’t “wreck” it per se, but I prefer being in control of my own seasonings especially so I can control how much salt gets in the soup. If you add ham and use chicken or vegetable stock, which already contains salt, the seasoning packet may be too much for this recipe. So glad your friend and her family liked it!
Pamela Thomas
Thank you, Ms. Elizabeth! Cooking for people helps me feel useful. Yeah, I wasn’t sure what was in that seasoning packet and I so did NOT want to take any chances! It was so large, it looked at bit suspect. As you stated, the salt from the other ingredients was more than enough for the recipe. I’m looking forward to making the dinner rolls on your website for Christmas dinner! I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Jo
If I make this in a InstantPot do you have to soak the beans first or can you throw them in dry?
Elizabeth Lindemann
I recommend soaking them first even with a pressure cooker, even though many recipes claim that no soaking is needed with an instant pot. With an instant pot, it is true that in terms of cooking TIME you don’t really need to soak dry beans, but there are other reasons to soak them. First, soaking them in salted water helps flavor the beans and improve the beans’ texture. Second, soaking them breaks down some of the indigestible fibers of beans (the ones that cause indigestion). Soaking them, then draining and rinsing them before using, will help remove some of that fiber. Hope that helps!
Dean
Why discard the seasoning pack?
Thanks
Elizabeth Lindemann
Just because I prefer to control the seasoning myself. The seasoning pack has lots of salt, and may contain some preservatives and stuff depending on brand, so I like to take matters into my own hands. Adding the ham also adds some saltiness, so the seasoning pack might just be way too much salt. Hope that helps!
Carole
What a out doing it in an Instant pot ?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Good question! I’d add everything to the pot and cook on high manual for 15 minutes, then allow the pressure to naturally release for 5 minutes or so until quick releasing it. If you like, you can use the sauté setting to sauté the veggies in 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter before adding the remaining ingredients. So glad you asked this- I’m going to add a note to the recipe card for this!
Melanie
Delicious!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks! Glad you liked it :-)
DSW
Great recipe. Easy and wonderful flavor. We loved it and will be one of our favorite crock pot soups. Kale was a nice addition. No bitter taste.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Judy Moore
I have it on cooking no-why do you not put salt and peooer iw and it smells great. Just wanted to ask why do you not put the salt & pepper in until it’s done? Don’t the beans need the salt during cooking?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Good question! And I actually need to update my recipe- thanks for bringing this to my attention! There’s a lot of thought that you shouldn’t add salt to beans while they cook because it will “affect the texture” of the beans, but after doing a little more research I’ve learned that this actually isn’t necessary. It’s actually good to add salt to the cooking water, as WELL as the soaking water. I’m going to update the recipe card now. And don’t worry- you can still add it at the end and it will be delicious!
Amy
What is the serving size?
Elizabeth
My best estimate would be about 1.5 cups per serving. The whole batch serves 8, and while I didn’t actually measure the amount of soup total at the end, I’m guessing it makes about 12 cups total. I’m not much of a “serving size” kind of person so keep in mind it’s just an estimate, but I hope that helps a little bit! :-)
stacy lane
My family loves this soup. We make it all the time and we always use diced tomatoes and or the slices ones. We eat this as just a soup or alot of times we eat it over rice. Beans and rice delicious!
Elizabeth
I’m so happy you and your family like it! It’s such a hearty healthy soup- love the idea of putting it over rice since it’s so thick, almost like a stew.
Zach
I used this recipe, however I used a smoked turkey leg instead of ham and added diced tomatoes. So delicious, the whole family loves it.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you and your family liked it!
Kiva Ferreira
Definitely making this. I wonder how diced tomatoes would taste with this recipe.
Elizabeth
It’s funny you say that, because originally I had wanted to use diced tomatoes in it but I forgot them at the store!! Let me know how it comes out if you try it :-)
mommyhoodsdiary
This soup look so satisfying and delicious!! Perfect for this kind of weather. Happy weekend!