Cajun Ham & Beans

A family-favorite recipe for dried beans and ham using Cajun 15 Bean Soup beans and leftover ham made on the stove or crock pot.

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Like many of you, I grew up eating ham and beans. And I loved it! I always looked forward to Christmas and Easter because I knew we’d have a ham which meant soon thereafter we’d be having a big pot of beans and ham salad!

We always made ours with dried butterbeans so everyone was a little taken aback when Daddy came home from the grocery store with something different.

Instead of the usual creamy white dried butterbeans, that man was toting a bag of 15 Bean Soup beans. No, not just 15 Bean Soup, but CAJUN 15 Bean Soup.

I don’t know how y’all are at your house, but the way I grew up, you just don’t go screwing around with tried-and-true family favorites like ham and beans!

I wanted my butterbeans.

Over rice. With diced onion. And cornbread. The end.

Well, Daddy cooked them and we fell in love. Like, really fell in love. And to this day, we don’t use anything else!

The packet of Cajun seasoning is perfect. It is literally perfect. And it goes so well with the smokey ham!

We don't use the recipe on the back of the bag. We make them the same way we cook dried butterbeans, simply using the 15 Bean blend and included Cajun seasoning packet.

I can find the Hurst's Cajun 15 Bean Soup in every grocery store in my neck of SC but if you can't find the Cajun variety, use Hurst's regular 15 Bean Soup beans (with ham seasoning packet) then add some spices.

I'd start with a teaspoon each of the thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and paprika then add the cayenne to taste. Maybe some white pepper too if you have it. Give it a taste after a few hours then add more spices if you'd like.

Don't use a Cajun or Creole seasoning blend as the main ingredient is likely salt. You definitely want to use the ham-flavored seasoning packet that comes with the regular 15 Bean Soup beans and it's plenty salty.

Recipe for Cajun Ham Beans

Cajun Ham & Beans

Yield: 12 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 6 HourTotal time: 6 H & 5 M

A family-favorite recipe for dried beans and ham using Cajun 15 Bean Soup beans and leftover ham made on the stove or crock pot.

Ingredients

• 1 20-oz. bag Hurst’s Cajun 15 Bean Soup
• 6-7 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 ham bone
• 2 cups chopped ham (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine beans (with included seasoning packet), 6 cups water, garlic powder and ham bone in a large pot or Dutch oven then bring to a boil. Cover pot, reduce heat to low then simmer for 4 hours.
2. Remove ham bone and allow to cool a bit (so you can handle it without burning your fingerprints off). Trim all the meat off the bone then add it back to the beans. If using additional chopped ham, add it to the pot as well.
3. Continue cooking beans for 2-3 more hours or until beans are tender, adding an additional cup of water if needed to reach desired consistency.
4. Serve over rice (like we do) or eat as soup.

Notes

• You do not need to soak the beans overnight.
• If you’d like to serve this as a soup (and not over rice), use 8-9 cups of water. You can add more to reach your desired consistency but I’d start with 8 cups and see how it goes.
• Yes, you can cook this in a crock pot! Cook the same way replacing the first 4 hours on the stove with 5-6 hours on high in the crock pot. Continue cooking 2-3 hours on high or until beans are tender.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2016/12/cajun-ham-beans.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2015

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