Franks & beans are, without questions, a quintessential Americana food right of passage when camping. In fact, sitting around a campfire will welcome some of the best meals one will enjoy. Whether you’re outdoors roughing it in the middle of nowhere or enjoying a fire-cooked meal in a camper with air conditioning (raises hand), these foods with a smoky-flair are pure rustic comfort. Always thinking outside the box, we’re gonna change things up a bit and give those franks & beans the ultimate soup treatment. That’s right – Franks & Beans Soup! (NOTE: If it’s Halloween, call it Frankenbean Soup). Now you can bring the flavors of the campfire right to your own kitchen (or make it while camping if you bring you Instant Pot and have an electrical hookup). Goes great with my garlic bread.
Watch The Video!
Hot Diggity Dog
Sauté Away
Under Pressure
The Post Pressure-Cooking Treatment
Lending a Blending
The Finishing Touches
The Taste Test
Instant Pot Franks & Beans Soup
Franks & beans are, without questions, a quintessential Americana food right of passage when camping. In fact, sitting around a campfire will welcome some of the best meals one will enjoy. Whether you're outdoors roughing it in the middle of nowhere or enjoying a fire-cooked meal in a camper with air conditioning (raises hand), these foods with a smoky-flair are pure rustic comfort. Always thinking outside the box, we're gonna change things up a bit and give those franks & beans the ultimate soup treatment. That's right - Franks & Beans Soup! (NOTE: If it's Halloween, call it Frankenbean Soup). Now you can bring the flavors of the campfire right to your own kitchen (or make it while camping if you bring you Instant Pot and have an electrical hookup). Goes great with my garlic bread.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) salted butter
- 24-48 ounces hot dogs (about 16 regular-sized ones), sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 sweet (Vidalia) onion, diced
- 5 cups ham, beef, or vegetable broth (I used 5 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon Ham base + 5 cups water)
- 3 (15.5-ounce) cans cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and divided
- 3 (15.5-ounce) cans red kidney beans (light or dark), drained and divided
- 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 cups (8-ounce bag) shredded Cheddar cheese (any blend will work)
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
Instructions
- Add the butter to the Instant Pot, hit Sauté and Adjust to the More or High setting. Once the butter's melted, add the sliced hot dogs and sauté for 3-5 minutes until a bit puffy on the sides and browned. Remove the hot dogs to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the onion and sauté another 2-3 minutes until translucent.
- Add the broth and tomato sauce and stir in 2 cans of the drained red beans and 1 can of the drained white beans and stir well.
- Secure the lid, move the valve to the sealing position and hit Manual or Pressure Cook on High Pressure for 4 minutes. Quick release when done.
- Add the shredded cheese, maple syrup, liquid smoke. Then, using an immersion blender, blend until pureed.
- Add the remaining 3 cans of drained beans (2 white and 1 red) and return the sautéed hot dogs to the soup.
- Serve with some crusty garlic bread or cornbread.
Jeffrey's Tips
As for the hot dogs, you can definitely use any variety you wish - be it beef, turkey, or plant-based/vegan! Using plant-based and vegetable broth will keep this soup vegetarian!
And if you have longer, thicker hot dogs to work with, that's fine too (some may even consider this a blessing). In that case, still use between 24-28 ounces but in addition to slicing them into 1/4-inch pieces, I'd quarter them as well to be more bite-sized.
When using canned beans in a recipe, people often ask me if they can use dried ones instead. You CAN, but it will take far longer to cook and absorb a lot of the broth. Therefore, you'd need to add more broth and significantly up the cook time which will all vary on the types of beans you use. In a nutshell, I'd suggest following the recipe as written with canned beans that are drained (and rinsed, if you wish).
Sharon Fernald
This is a very hearty soup. I like light red kidney beans more than dark ones. My husband is not a soup person but he really enjoyed this. The garlic bread was really good for soaking up the soup juice. Very little prep and cooking time for this one!! A really good homemade bean soup. Thank you again Jeff for another delious recipe!!!
Jeffrey
You are so welcome!
Sigrid Trombley
I don’t know if you were following my suggestion or not, but you went a step better – placing the recipe video before AND after the step-by-step instructions. Great idea.
Jeffrey
Thanks!
Lisa
My family enjoyed this soup! We don’t like things too sweet, so we tasted and decided to omit the maple syrup. And I try to do lower sodium, so we used only 3 tsp ham Better than Bouillon, instead of 5.
To me, this felt like a very kid-friendly meal. My picky 21-year-old said it’s probably one of their favorite things I’ve fixed (ha!). I used 28 oz Nathan’s franks, which was plenty for us.
When I make this again, I think I may add one extra can of beans, after the immersion blender step.
Today is the first day of the fall semester. I’m thinking about making this soup, as a comforting treat for my kid.
Jeffrey
This gives me all the feels 😉