Brown Bean Soup

Well, it’s been a while, but we’re back!  May and June have been packed months for us, with lots of fun celebrations, birthdays, and even a camping trip (oh yes, with a 10 month old!).  But we’ve been thinking about you — and we have a backlog of recipes to prove it.  Coming soon I’ll have a papas rellenas recipe for you (potato balls stuffed with picadillo, breaded and fried) and a simple, but delicious roasted chicken recipe.  Aaron has also been working on perfecting a homemade gluten-free allergen-free bread recipe, homemade allergy-friendly chocolate ice cream, and maybe even chocolate cranberry scones.

It’s been lovely to still find ways to celebrate even as we adjust to a new normal due to the COVID-19 isolation that we’ve all been sharing, but we’ve also had some not-so-fun times, including allergy scares, more testing, and finding out that Caleb, the newest addition to our family, also has food allergies.

The allergy test was tough for Caleb.  For an adult the test is probably just uncomfortable, but a nine-month old baby doesn’t understand.  For those of you unfamiliar with allergy testing, a technician draws a grid on the patient’s back, then proceeds to prick and scrape small amounts of different allergens on the skin.  You wait 15 minutes, wherein the doctor comes in and checks the spots periodically for any signs of reaction, such as hives.  You can’t scratch the spots during the 15 minutes, but my Caleb is not used to any discomfort and is definitely not used to being restrained.  He did not appreciate Mommy holding his little hands to keep him from reaching and scratching.  After lots of sobbing, delayed consolation from Mommy, and antihistamines, Caleb was fine, but I was emotionally exhausted. 

When I brought him home, I made this soup for dinner, and it warmed me from the inside like a friendly hug letting me know that everything was going to be alright.

See, brown bean soup was my favorite bean soup growing up, and to this day it’s still comforting to me.  It’s an easy soup to make well.  My Abuela Ofelia was not known for her cooking, but even she cooked up a mean bowl of brown bean soup.  And for the adventurous cook, these beans are a blank canvas.  You can do so much with them.  My Abuela Berta, a renowned home cook in her community,  used to feed hordes of people with a pound of these beans, earning these beans almost miracle status among my family.

After cooking it for myself, I have looked behind the curtain and know that you just throw lots of other things into this soup — whatever meats, potatoes, and squash you have on hand — and it grows to become a huge, super-hearty stew.  Ham, beef, butternut squash, pumpkin — the creaminess of the bean elevates and complements the flavor of every addition.  And when it’s all cooked, you pour it over white rice.

So let me tell you about “Brown Beans”.  First, this is a misnomer, and I didn’t realize it until I was a grown woman trying to find dried brown beans in the grocery store to make this for the first time.  “Brown beans” is what my family calls “frijoles colorados”.  Frijoles colorados actually means “red beans,” and the actual bean we use is the red kidney bean.  These come in dark and light varieties, but I choose the dark red kidney beans for this soup.  For my sanity, and to not confuse my family, I’m going to keep calling this soup Brown Bean Soup.

In this recipe, we’re keeping it fairly simple with a kielbasa, some potatoes, and a can of pumpkin puree. If you’re vegan/vegetarian, omit the sausage and feel free to add in all kinds of extra squash and tubers; these beans are so versatile. I’m looking forward to feeding this to my Caleb when he finally gets some teeth, and I hope he loves it just as much as his Mommy does.

By the way, you should definitely let me know how this goes for you in the comments.  I’d love to hear from you, and hear about your own special tweaks and additions.  Oh, and if you have any special requests, let us know!  We’re always experimenting in the kitchen, and if we don’t know how to make it, we’ll try to figure it out for you.

Print Recipe

Brown Bean Soup (with Sausage & Pumpkin)

A traditional Cuban bean soup using red kidney beans, easily customizable with meats & starches.

Prep Time12 hours hrs

Cook Time3 hours hrs

Total Time15 hours hrs

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Cuban

Keyword: Allergy-friendly, Beans, Cooking, Cuban, Dinner, Gluten-free, Latino, Meat, Potatoes, Recipe, Rice, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: 10 people

Calories: 380kcal

Ingredients

For the Beans

• 1 Lb Dark Red Kidney Beans dried
• 8 cups Water
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Salt (table salt)
• ¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
• ¼ tsp Cumin

For the Sofrito

• 1 Tbsp Salt (table salt)
• 2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 2 tsp Onion Powder
• ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
• ½ tsp Cumin
• 8 oz Tomato Sauce (1 can)
• ¼ cup White Vinegar distilled

Add-ins (optional, but recommended)

• 15 oz Pumpkin puree (1 can)
• 1 Kielbasa Sausage cut into ½ inch rounds
• 2 Lb Potatoes peeled and quartered

Instructions

The Night Before

• As we usually do for dried beans, soak them overnight (for about 10-12 hours) in a large pot in cold water, with enough water to completely cover the beans as they swell.

12 Hours Later…

• When the beans have swollen, strain out the water and add 8 cups of fresh cold water.
• Add the 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp of black pepper, and 1/4 tsp of cumin to the pot and stir it all up.
• Cover the pot and bring it to a boil on high heat.  Once the soup starts boiling, drop the heat to a medium low heat, and let the beans simmer 2-3 hours.
• As the beans cook, they release starches into the water, which becomes cloudy.  If this hasn't happened but your beans are soft and cooked, go ahead and crush some of the cooked beans against the inside of your pot to manually release those starches.  The starch is important because it helps to thicken the soup and make it creamy.

Adding the Sofrito

• If using potatoes, you may want to peel and quarter them now.
• In a medium sauce pot, prepare the sofrito. Heat the olive oil on medium heat and add salt, garlic, onion powder, black pepper, and cumin. Stir the spices until lightly browned.
• Once the spices have browned, add tomato sauce and stir. Be careful at this step! The tomato sauce will spatter when added to hot oil.  (Seriously, wear an apron or an old shirt!)
• Once your sofrito starts bubbling again, add the white vinegar and pumpkin puree and stir.
• (Optional) Add the sausage and stir.
• Add your sofrito to the pot of brown bean soup and stir.
• Add the peeled and quartered potatoes.
• Let the soup gently simmer for at least 20 minutes.
• Taste the soup and add spices as needed.
• Check potatoes for doneness. When cooked, they should be tender and easily pierced with a fork. If they're still hard, give them more time at a simmer.
• Serve warm over rice.

Notes

• If I were just cooking beans and not adding the pumpkin, or potatoes, or extra squashes, I would add less spices to my sofrito.  I would only do a teaspoon of salt, garlic powder, and onion powder, and only a 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and cumin.
• When you serve it, add some sliced banana.  The sweetness of the banana cools the spice of the bean soup on the tongue, making it even more enjoyable.  I still do this for myself and for my kids–we love it!
• Calorie count does not include rice, but does include the kielbasa. Without the kielbasa, you can subtract about 100 of those calories.