Slow Cooker Bean Soup - Beef, Bean & Spicy Tomato

This is my new favorite crock pot soup recipe!  We call it Baked Bean Soup.  It's a meal in a bowl, packed with flavor and nutrients, it's the perfect winter warm up meal.

This soup started the day I went to the supermarket and came home with some discounted "use before the end of tomorrow" beef shin bones.

That night after dinner, I made the stock and set it to cook overnight.

Beef Stock

2 Shin Bones with lots of meat on them
2 large carrots scrubbed and chopped roughly
2 large onions peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery, including leaves, sliced
2 bay leaves
a sprinkle of dried thyme or mixed herbs
8 whole black peppercorns
boiling water to cover

Put the lot in the crock pot, cover with the boiling water and cook on high for 7 hours.  (I put it on high for a few hours and then turned it to low to simmer overnight.)

In the morning I got out the colander and a big bowl to put the colander into.  I took the bones with the meat out of the pot and set aside to chop up the meat (and discarded the bones).  I poured the stock and vegetables into the colander, the stock was collected in the bowl and stock veges were collected in the colander.  Discard the vegetables from the stock.  

Then transfer the stock back in to the crock pot insert. Put the chopped meat into the crock pot. Turn crock pot back on to high, to heat stock back up while you prepare the fresh veges etc in the next step.

Next step - make the soup!

Slow Cooker Bean Soup - Beef, Bean and Spicy Tomato

250g dried haricot beans, washed
250g kumara, diced into small cubes
2 medium carrots, diced
1 rib celery, sliced and diced
6 cloves garlic, crushed, chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
½ C tomato paste - I used a 140g pottle
2 x 400g cans crushed tomatoes in juice
¼ tsp cayenne pepper (no more, trust me, if you're using 'extra hot' cayenne!)
2 tsp dried basil
6 cups of hot beef stock


Wash the haricot beans in the colander and leave in the sink to drain.  Cut up the vegetables as described above and add to the colander as you go.  Assemble the remaining ingredients so you can add everything to the slow cooker as quickly and efficiently as possible, to minimize heat loss.
Once all the ingredients are in the slow cooker, stir to combine, cover and cook on high for 8-9 hours.  As you can see from the photo, I added a cup of thawed frozen peas to the soup about 20 minutes before serving, just for a colour hit :)  Enjoy!

This warming, spicy soup is a perfect for warming your bones on a cold winter night.  It's a one dish meal in a bowl when served with warmed farm style multi-grain bread rolls - and it tastes even better the next day!

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Find more slow cooker recipes for Kiwis (and other cooks who use metric measurements) here at... Slow Cooker Recipes NZ - and check this out - the easiest way to see all my Slow Cooker Recipes!