Instant Pot/Slow Cooker Creamy 15 Bean Soup–the classic 15 bean soup recipe with a creamy twist! You’re going to love this thick and creamy bean soup with smoked sausage or ham. Make it fast in your pressure cooker or let it simmer all day in your slow cooker. Big thanks to Hurst’s Beans for sponsoring this post.
Instant Pot/Slow Cooker Creamy 15 Bean Soup
If you’re serving ham for Easter dinner I hope you have some leftovers! And if you do I hope you make this soup. It is so good. It might be my favorite ham and bean soup yet. If you don’t have ham leftovers don’t fret, you can use sliced smoked sausage as well.
I love using Hurst’s products in the Instant Pot and the crockpot. There are so many options to choose from. My personal favorites are the 15 bean soup mix and the bacon and beans soup mix. The flavorings are spot on and they require very few ingredients. Look in the dried beans aisle at your grocery store to find them.
I like to soak my dried beans overnight before I use them. Soaking dried beans helps them become more easily digestible. In addition soaking them in a salty solution seems to make the skins softer. The problem is usually I don’t remember to soak beans. That’s why I’m a fan of using the quick soak method. I made this video to demonstrate how to quick soak the beans in the Instant Pot.
One thing that I really like about this Instant Pot/Slow Cooker Creamy 15 Bean Soup is that it makes a huge batch! By the time the soup was done it was almost to the top of my Instant Pot. We were able to feed our family of 4 plus another family of 5! This soup freezes well and makes good leftovers for dinner or lunch the next day.
More Hurst’s Instant Pot Recipes
Here are some other Instant Pot dried beans recipes that you might be interested in:
Instant Pot (or slow cooker) Cajun Sausage and Beans
Instant Pot (or slow cooker) Cincinnati Chili
Slow Cooker or Instant Pot Bean and Bacon Soup
Instant Pot (or slow cooker) Sausage and Bacon Chili Soup
And make sure to visit Hurst’s Beans on Facebook for more recipe inspiration!
What Pressure/Slow Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot/Slow Cooker Creamy 15 Bean Soup in the pressure cooker I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. For the slow cooker version I used my 6 quart oval Kitchenaid slow cooker.*
Print
Instant Pot/Slow Cooker Creamy 15 Bean Soup
- Prep Time: 20 minutes + soaking time
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minute
- Yield: Makes about 14 cups of soup 1x
Description
The classic 15 bean soup recipe with a creamy twist! You’re going to love this thick and creamy bean soup with smoked sausage or ham. Make it fast in your pressure cooker or let it simmer all day in your slow cooker.
Ingredients
For soaking beans:
- 1 (20 oz) package Hurst’s 15 Bean Soup
- 1 Tbsp salt
- Water
For pressure cooking the soup:
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cups cubed ham OR 1 or 2 packages (13 oz) smoked sausage, sliced into quarter inch rounds
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 cups water
For later:
- 1 (14.5 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
- 6 Tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 cup flour
Instructions
- Soak the beans: you can soak the beans overnight or you can do the quick soak method. To soak overnight dump beans in a large bowl, save the seasoning packet for later. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp of salt over beans. Fill the bowl with plenty of water to cover the beans. Soak for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. Rinse the beans thoroughly in a colander. For the quick soak method, see my note below or watch my video above.
- Pressure/Slow Cook: Add the soaked beans to the Instant Pot. Add in half of the seasoning packet onion, 1 tsp salt, ham and 6 cups of water. Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is on sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 18 minutes on high pressure. When timer is up you can perform a quick release. If foam comes out move valve back to sealing and try again in 20 seconds. Slow Cook: If you’re using the slow cooker add soaked beans to the crock, add in half of seasoning packet, onion, 1 tsp salt, ham and 6 cups of water. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
- Finish the soup: Remove the lid. Add in the rest of the seasoning packet, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, lemon juice, garlic and evaporated milk. Turn Instant Pot to saute (or turn slow cooker to HIGH). In a small bowl whisk together the melted butter and the flour together until creamy. Once it is creamy add in a little bit of the soup. Whisk. Add the mixture to the pot and stir. Let the flour mixture thicken the soup for about 5-10 minutes in the Instant Pot and about 20 minutes in the slow cooker. Stir often.
- Season to taste: finish the soup by salt and peppering to taste. Add in additional seasonings if desired. Serve this soup with cornbread, rolls or croutons. This soup freezes well.
Notes
Instant Pot QUICK SOAK METHOD: First just pour the beans into a colander and rinse them off. Sometimes dried beans have a little dirt and debris in them. Once they have been rinsed you can add the beans to the Instant Pot. Next you’ll cover the beans with water. For every one cup of beans you’ll want about 3-4 cups of water. I used 8 cups of water for the entire package of dried beans. Now you’ll bring the pot to a boil by using the the “sauté” function on your Instant Pot. Once the water comes to a boil you will cover the pot with the lid and set the valve to “sealing.” Then you’ll set the manual pressure cooker button to 2 minutes. When the timer beeps you can open the valve very slowly. If foam begins to exit the valve stop releasing the pressure and wait for 30 seconds before you try again. Once the lid is removed go ahead and drain and rinse the beans in a colander under cool running water. Now you can proceed with the recipe that requires pre-soaked beans.
This recipe can be gluten free: Substitute the flour with a GF flour blend or corn starch.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Slow Cooker/Pressure Cooker
Send Me Free Recipes
Like this recipe for Instant Pot/Slow Cooker Creamy 15 Bean Soup? Get all my new recipes delivered to your email inbox by signing up below.
I made this tonight with both kielbasa and leftover smoked ham with its ham bone. I added a little more flour, some crushed red pepper, vegetable “better than bouillon” base, some shredded cheddar cheese and only 5 cups of water so it was thicker, more like a chowder. The flavor is delicious but next time I would cook it 16 minutes on low pressure so the beans retain more texture. They got quite mushy at 18 minutes on high.
★★★★★
Good tips! Thanks Jeanette 🙂
I would love to try this recipe, but I would like to know as someone who is on WW can you make the thickener without all that butter or does that what makes the meal? Please advise. TIA
Some recipes that use Hurst 18 Bean don’t call for soaking. Do you have any insights as to why?
Hi Pj, I guess it’s probably a preference of the recipe author. Personally when I don’t soak beans the consequences are an upset stomach. So it’s worth it to me! Haha!
You say to add in half of the seasoning packet. What seasoning packet? It is not listed in the recipe.
The seasoning packet that comes with the Hurst Hambeens 15 Bean Soup package is what I was referring to. Here is what I used: https://hurstbeans.com/products/ham-beens-original-15-bean-soup
I made an expanded version of this this morning and it turned out great. I had a 20 oz package and a half of beans so I used my 8 quart instant pot instead of my 6 quart. I kicked up the spice some with a tblsp + of paprika. I used a smoked pork hock and a pound and a half of smoked Kielbasa.
★★★★★
Wow that sounds super tasty John!
This was a great soup. I went with the smoked sausage but I like a little more spice. So need to up the temp a bit.
PS the recipe makes a whole Vat of soup.
Ken
yes it does! Leftovers for days!
It was an unseasonably chilly day in North Central Texas this past Saturday, so I made this and used both ham and smoked sausage. It’s fabulous and nice that it makes a lot so I had plenty to freeze for another day.
Thanks again for the great recipes – keep them coming!
★★★★★
So glad you liked it! It’s nice to have a chilly day just so you can make soup!