Beef and Bean Soup

This hearty beef and bean soup with meatballs, cabbage, and black beans is the perfect autumn or winter soup.

Delicious beef and bean soup with beef meatballs, cabbage, bacon, and black beans. It might seem like a lot of ingredients, but the soup is budget-friendly, easy, and rather quick to make. And everybody will love it!

I think I have mentioned it before, once or twice (or 50 times probably), that we are soup fanatics in this house. We all love soup, any kind of soup; soup is the kind of dish I cook most often.

Ingredients

The ingredient list might seem rather long, but don't let that put you off from cooking this cabbage meatball soup. All the ingredients are easy to get and very cheap, and you probably already have lots of them in the fridge and the pantry.

Meat

• All I had to buy fresh was ground beef to make the meatballs, but many times I already had frozen ground beef in the freezer as well. You can use this Homemade Ground Beef Seasoning to season the meat.
• You can also use sausages to make the meatballs. This way, things will go even faster, and you will not have to add any other ingredients to the meat mixture; the sausages are normally spicy enough.
• To make sausage meatballs, remove the casings from about 500 g/ 1 lb sausages and form small meatballs with wet hands.
• I used lean ground beef. Ground turkey will also be good instead. You can even use pork or, rather, a mixture of ground pork and beef; however, keep in mind that the soup will be fattier that way.

Vegetables

• I made this soup because I happened to have leftover cabbage, not enough to make stewed cabbage or German coleslaw, but enough to make a soup.
• Other vegetables you will need to cook this meatball soup recipe are the typical “soup vegetables”: onion, carrot, celery, leek, and red bell pepper.

Pantry ingredients

• A can of tomatoes and a can of black beans, which you probably already have in the house.
• If you don't happen to have black beans, feel free to use white beans or any other sort of canned beans you have, the meatball soup recipe will be equally delicious no matter what kind of beans you use.
• I use homemade chicken stock (the one used in the Semolina dumpling soup) or beef broth, but use your favorite brand if you don't wish to make your own stock.
• I almost always use vinegar to sour this kind of hearty soup, almost any soup containing meat and/or beans.

How to make it?

• Start chopping the bacon and all the vegetables. I keep them in a separate bowl: bacon and onion together. In another bowl, the carrot, celery, leek, and pepper, and in another bowl, the cabbage.
• Make the meatballs as well, as you will need a little time to form the balls. Set aside.
• First, saute the onion and bacon. Add the vegetables to the second bowl and saute for about 5 minutes more. Stir in the sweet paprika for about 1 minute.
• Now add the tomatoes, the rest of the spices, and stock to the pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Add the cabbage to the soup as well, and cook for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables are almost done; add the meatballs and the drained beans and simmer for about 15 minutes more until the vegetables are soft and the meatballs are cooked through.
• Adjust the taste with the red wine vinegar, more salt, and pepper, and serve.

The beef and bean soup with meatballs can be served immediately, but it reheats very well. Serve it either as it is or with a slice of crusty bread.

Beef and Bean Soup

A hearty beef and bean soup with meatballs, cabbage, and black beans – the perfect autumn or winter soup.

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 -8 servings

Calories: 395kcal

Author: Adina

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Ingredients 

Soup:

• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 3.5 oz bacon 100 g
• ▢ 1 medium onion
• ▢ 1 large carrot
• ▢ 2-3 celery stalks depending on size (or about 50 g/ 1.7 oz celeriac)
• ▢ 1 small leek
• ▢ 1 small red bell pepper
• ▢ ½ tablespoon sweet paprika powder
• ▢ 6 ½ cups chicken stock or beef stock, 1 ½ liter
• ▢ 1 can diced tomatoes 400 g/ 14 oz
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• ▢ 9 oz white cabbage 250 g, Note 1
• ▢ 1 can black beans 400 g/ 14 oz (or another sort of canned beans)
• ▢ 1-2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• ▢ fine sea salt and pepper

Meatballs:

• ▢ 1 lb lean ground beef 450 g
• ▢ 1 small onion
• ▢ 1 large garlic clove
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 4 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs
• ▢ 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley or frozen parsley
• ▢ 1 teaspoon fine sea salt less if using table salt
• ▢ generously freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Chop: Cut the bacon into small cubes. Chop the onion finely. Set both aside in a small bowl.

  3.5 oz bacon/ 100 g
• Chop the carrot, celery stalks or celeriac, leek, and pepper into small cubes. Set aside in another bowl.

  1 medium onion + 1 large carrot + 2-3 celery stalks + 1 small leek + 1 small red bell pepper
• Slice the cabbage very finely or chop it into small pieces. Set aside in another bowl.

  9 oz white cabbage/ 250 g

Meatballs:

• Combine: Chop the onion very finely. Combine the ground beef with the onion, grated garlic clove, egg, breadcrumbs, parsley, salt, and pepper. Mix very well with your hands.

  1 small onion + 1 lb lean ground beef/ 450 g + 1 large garlic clove + 1 egg + 4 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs + 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley + 1 teaspoon fine sea salt + generously freshly ground black pepper
• Shape meatballs, about 30-35 walnut-sized meatballs. Set aside.

Soup:

• Saute: Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the bacon and the onion and saute for about 3 minutes.

  1 tablespoon olive oil
• Add the carrot, celery, leek, and pepper, stir well and saute, stirring often, for about 5 more minutes. Add sweet paprika to the vegetables, and stir well for one minute.

  ½ tablespoon sweet paprika powder
• Add the stock, tomatoes, sugar, thyme, one teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

  6 ½ cups chicken stock/ 1½ liter + 1 can diced tomatoes + 1 teaspoon sugar + 1 tablespoon dried thyme + ½ teaspoon pepper
• Simmer soup: Stir well and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes.
• Add cabbage and bring to a boil again. Simmer for 5 minutes, add the meatballs and drained black beans, and simmer for another 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the meatballs are cooked through.

  1 can black beans
• Adjust taste: Add 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar and more salt and pepper to taste. Add the remaining red wine vinegar according to your taste.

  1-2 teaspoons red wine vinegar + fine sea salt and pepper

Notes

1. Sub with green or sweetheart/ pointed cabbage. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1/8 of the dish | Calories: 395kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 97mg | Sodium: 1125mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g

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