Slow-Cooker Senate Bean Soup

Slow-Cooker Senate Bean Soup

This ultrasimple bean soup has been on the menu at the U.S. Senate Dining Room and served to senators and their staff for more than 100 years. Even as politics have changed, this soup has remained basically the same: navy beans simmered to creamy tenderness with ham hocks, butter and onion. Fittingly, there is no consensus on where exactly the soup came from: Some say it dates back to the early 20th century, when Senator Fred Dubois of Idaho passed a resolution making it a menu staple. This slow-cooker version has updated the classic slightly, with the addition of carrots and smoked paprika. If you’d like more vegetables (how modern!), stir in about 8 ounces of chopped kale before serving. As a nod to Idaho, this version contains a single russet potato, which gets mashed at the end of cooking and thickens the soup beautifully.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

1 pound dried navy beans or small white beans, rinsed

5 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped

3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

2 medium smoked 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

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.)

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.

TIP: 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

A great way to add flavor and freshness to any recipe is to chop up twice as much of your aromatics, fry up half in olive oil with any spices, and reserve half to add either at the last half hour of cooking, or as a fresh salsa-like garnish during service. Although this dims the beauty of a dump-and-go recipe, it adds great flavor! Also, once a week, I’ll chop a pound EACH of carrots, celery, and onions and a 1/2 pound of jalapenos to keep in the frig for a ready-to-go mire poix. This is a super easy way to add veg to any recipe!

*The Famous Senate Restaurant Bean Soup Recipe (Senate.ggov)

2 pounds dried navy beans

4 quarts hot water

1 1/2 pounds smoked ham hocks

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste

Wash the navy beans and run hot water through them until they are slightly whitened. Place beans into pot with hot water. Add ham hocks and simmer approximately three hours in a covered pot, stirring occasionally. Remove ham hocks and set aside to cool. Dice meat and return to soup. Lightly brown the onion in butter. Add to soup. Before serving, bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Serves 8.

* I’ve stopped routinely soaking dried beans. The experts at Rancho Gordo rarely soak them. Unsoaked beans seem to hold their shape better, and using the slow cooker on the HIGH setting with plenty of water, cooks the beans just fine in 6-7 hours.

And for stovetop or oven, bring beans to a boil, boil for 10 minutes, then simmer partly covered for however long your beans take, adding more boiling water as needed to keep them well covered. Add salt only after they begin to soften. Just keep checking them after an hour or so. They take less time than you might think.

Instant Pot Conversion: 

This is a classic ham hock and navy bean soup recipe that converts perfectly to the Instant Pot. In a slow cooker, this would typically take 6 to 8 hours, but you can have it fully cooked and creamy in about 1 hour and 15 minutes total.

Because you are using dried navy beans and smoked ham hocks, you will need to add 6 cups of liquid (either water, chicken broth, or vegetable broth) to ensure the beans cook fully and the ham hocks have enough moisture to break down under pressure.

Here is your exact step-by-step Instant Pot conversion:

Instant Pot Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Sauté the Aromatics: Turn your Instant Pot to the Sauté function and melt the 1 tbsp of butter. Add the chopped onion and sliced carrots. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the onions start to soften. Stir in the chopped garlic, 1 ½ tsp smoked paprika, and 1 tsp dried thyme, cooking for 1 more minute until fragrant.
2. Deglaze the Pot: Turn off the Sauté function. Pour in a splash of your 6 cups of liquid and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the inner pot. This step is critical to prevent the "Food Burn" warning.
3. Layer the Ingredients: Add the 1 pound of rinsed, unsoaked dried navy beans, the quartered russet potato, the 1 tbsp kosher salt, a generous amount of black pepper, and the 2 smoked ham hocks. Pour the rest of the liquid over everything.
4. Pressure Cook: Close and lock the lid, making sure the steam release valve is set to the Sealing position. Select Pressure Cook / Manual on High Pressure and set the timer for 30 minutes.
5. Natural Pressure Release (Required): When the cooking time finishes, do not touch the valve. Let the Instant Pot sit undisturbed for 20 minutes for a Natural Pressure Release (NPR). This prevents the starchy bean liquid from foaming up out of the valve. After 20 minutes, turn the valve to Venting to release any remaining steam.
6. Shred the Meat and Mash the Potatoes: Carefully open the lid. Transfer the ham hocks to a cutting board. Discard the skin, bones, and excess fat, chop or shred the meat, and return it to the pot. Use a potato masher or the back of a large spoon to mash the quartered potato right into the broth—this will instantly make your soup thick and creamy.
7. The Finish: Stir in the 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar to brighten the flavors, adjust the salt and pepper to taste, and serve.