Appalachian Soup Beans

Ingredients

• 3 cans Pinto beans, canned no-salt-added, two drained, one with liquid
• 1 Yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves Garlic, smashed
• 2 tbsp Canola oil
• 2 tsp Smoked paprika
• 2 Bay leaves
• 4 cups Low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• ¾ tsp Black pepper
• 1 tbsp Apple cider vinegar
• ½ Red onion, diced, for the table
• 2 tsp Louisiana-style hot sauce

Method

1. Cook the onion in the oil over medium for 8 minutes. Add the garlic and paprika for 1.
2. Add the beans, bay leaves and broth. Simmer, partly covered, 60-75 minutes, until the liquid has gone thick and brown. If you start from a pound of dried pintos soaked overnight, give it two hours and salt only at the end.
3. Mash a cup of the beans against the side of the pot. The broth — soup beans are named for it — should coat a spoon.
4. Add the salt, pepper and vinegar. Taste; it will want more pepper than you expect.
5. Serve in bowls with a wedge of skillet cornbread, raw onion on top, and hot sauce. Crumble the cornbread in — that is the point of the bowl.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

The mash and the vinegar. Two moves, thirty seconds, and it goes from beans in water to soup beans.

🧒 For the kids

Beans and cornbread. Serve the raw onion on the side.

🥡 Leftovers

Better every day for four. Freezes 3 months.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.