Hearty Sausage and Bean Soup

When the weather is cold and the snow is falling there are few things more satisfying than a big bowl of hearty, soup. We all know and love the classics like chicken noodle, french onion, tomato vegetable, and beef and barley. But soup can be anything. And that's kind of what I want to show you today with this hearty sausage and bean soup.

The main components of this soup are two kinds of sausage, one fresh and one smoked, and pinto beans. Then there are bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and garlic in a flavour chicken broth. To tie all the flavours together there is thyme, crushed red pepper flakes, and a bit of cajun seasoning.

There is nothing complicated about this soup. It is honestly about as down to earth as you can get. Yet, it is incredibly delicious, filling, and satisfying. And with that, let's take a look at how to make hearty sausage and bean soup.

Pinto Beans

I used dried pinto beans to make this soup which means that I first had to soak them. The day before I made the soup I took ½ cup of dried pinto beans and covered them with 1L of cold water. This went in the fridge overnight to allow the beans to reconstitute.

Why did I use pinto beans over another bean? I really like the flavour and texture of them. I also find that they tend to be lighter than other beans. You can use whatever bean you would like.

The Sausages

As I said, I used both smoked and fresh sausage in this soup. The smoked sausage was the PC Free From Original Smoked Sausages. The fresh sausage was Johnsonville's regular sausage. If you can't find these specific sausages don't worry. You can use any kind of fresh and smoked sausage you can find. You could also substitute the smoked sausage for ham or bacon.

Making the soup

To make the soup I sliced the sausages and sautéed them in a bit of oil over medium heat. Then I added in the onions, celery, and garlic. Those first vegetables got cooked for about 5 minutes or until the onions start to soften. Next up in went the tomatoes, pinto beans, and crushed red pepper flakes. Then the chicken broth. At this point, I brought the soup to the boil, added in the remaining ingredients except for the bell peppers, put a lid on the pot and put it in the oven on 325°F for 2 hours. After that initial cook, I added the peppers to the pot then baked it, lid off for an additional 30-45 minutes. The soup was done when the beans were tender. I seasoned with salt and pepper to finish.

It's important not to season this soup too early as the salt can toughen the beans make the soup less enjoyable.

Why did I bake the soup?

You may be wondering why I cooked the soup in the oven rather than on the stove. It's a good question. I did this because had I just cooked it on the stovetop the heat would have only been coming from the bottom. This means I would have had to stir the soup fairly often to make sure nothing stuck to the bottom of the pot. Putting the soup in the oven meant there would be a more even heat throughout. Meaning, there was no need to stir the soup really, and that there wouldn't be mushy beans at the bottom of the pot and firm ones at the top.