Slow Cooker Senate Bean Soup
Published August 6, 2025
Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 6¼ hours
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 6 hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 pound dried navy beans or small white beans, rinsed
5 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 medium ham hocks (about 1 ½ pounds total)
1 small red or yellow onion, finely chopped
1 medium russet potato, peeled and quartered
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Black pepper
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
90 grams carbs; 146 milligrams cholesterol; 895 calories; 11 grams monosaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 27 grams fat; 21 grams fiber; 1892 milligrams sodium; 77 grams protein; 9 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a 6- to 8-quart slow cooker, combine beans, garlic, carrots, ham hocks, onion, potato, butter, salt, smoked paprika and thyme. Top with 8 cups of water and several generous grinds of black pepper. Cook until the beans are very tender and creamy, about 6 hours on high. (Beans need to reach a simmer to be fully cooked and safe to eat, so be sure your soup reaches a vigorous bubble. This shouldn’t be a problem on the slow cooker’s high setting. Additionally, beans vary in cook time by age, so if your beans are older, you may need to cook a bit longer than 6 hours.)
- Step 2
Pull out the ham hocks and put them on a cutting board to cool a bit. Using a fork, mash the potato pieces against the side of the slow cooker. Stir well to break down some of the beans, too. Stir in the vinegar. Pull the meat off the bones, add it back into the soup and discard the bones. Taste and add more salt or pepper as needed.
Private Notes
Comments
@David Looks like most of the sodium is coming from the 1 Tbsp of salt divided by 4 servings, which 4 servings may be a very generous bowl of soup. With the ham hocks alone, you should get enough salt to be flavorful. I’d make it without the added salt, and let people add salt to their servings.
I make this often with no meat, it highlights the great taste of the beans. Meat tends to overshadow the beans imho. I do use celery as well. And I saute the onions first. until browning, to add a little more depth of flavor. I alsolike to add some chopped carrots and celery in the last half hour or so to give it some color and a little of the texture you would get from the ham or turkey. Check out thermal cooking for another way to cook beans or soups in summer without adding heat to kitchen
This soup is so good, it'll knock your hocks off
Furthermore, I did soak my beans overnight as they were a bit on the older side, and used about 1.25 lbs. The six hours of cooking time on high softened them to perfection even though I was a a bit skeptical.
I felt one TBS of salt to be cringeworthy health wise, so I halved it. Later, however, I sprinkled a tad of salt on my serving, taste wise, and it was perfect. I also sautéed the onions first as just the thought of biting into a hard piece of onion in a soup like this is unappetizing. However the long cook time would probably make this a non issue. I tucked one home smoked turkey drumstick into the pot for the entire cooking time instead of the hamhock. It was a perfect substitution and complemented the beans perfectly. Overall this is a keeper. I like the historical origin being from the US Senate. It adds to the appeal.
How can you make this without a slow-cooker?