Honorary Dish of the Day: Hearty Pinto Bean Soup

Honorary Dish of the Day: Our honorary dish of the day today is this simple but heart-warming Hearty Pinto Bean Soup! Pinto beans are some of the most popular bean varieties and are usually my go-to bean type aside from my all-time favorite yellow-eye beans. They are somewhat similar to kidney beans but I find them so much easier to cook and handle in general compared to the latter. Similar to all dry beans, I first pre-soaked them overnight with about 3 cups of water. Soaking not only helps to soften the beans for faster cooking but also helps clean them by removing any external debris that may be attached to their surfaces. I then boiled the beans the following day with 3 fresh cups of water for about 1 hour until they were tender and poured out all the boiling water. To make the soup, I first sautéed some diced red onions, tomatoes, and carrots slices cut into small circular shapes as shown above. I seasoned them with some ground black pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, and turmeric before adding 1 cup of water and covering to let this base mixture simmer for about 5 minutes. I then poured in the cooked beans, stirred thoroughly to blend with the base mixture, and added 2 more cups of water. I seasoned with some salt to taste, sprinkled some dry parsley and rosemary flakes, and let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes. I added 1 more cup of water and left the soup to simmer for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat. I served this soup hot as a side dish with my Warm Quinoa & Sweet Potato Salad for a complete dinner meal. I highly recommend this simple but hearty and gratifying bean soup, so do give it a try sometime. Enjoy! 😋