Aldi 16 Bean Soup Mix Review
Author’s Note: As always, this is not a paid or sponsored review. These are my own weird little opinions. I have no affiliation with Aldi.
You look like you need some fiber.
Just kidding. I don’t know what you look like.
But, if you DO need fiber, may I suggest Aldi’s 16 Bean Soup mix? A serving has at least 10 grams of fiber (more if you add veggies). This store-brand “Dakota’s Pride” dry bean soup kit comes with 20 ounces of dry beans and a small packet of “ham” flavored seasoning mix.
I skipped the flavor packet and made the soup using chicken stock, chicken sausage, and a mixture of carrots, celery, onions, and garlic. Here’s how it went down:
The bean mix.
There are 16-ish different beans in this bag. I found lima, pinto, garbanzo, black, red, navy, black-eyed-peas, lentils, green peas, yellow split peas, and more. I’m not a bean geek, so I’m not totally sure what all of these are. Behold:
Inconsistent cooking.
The bad news is: the beans do not cook at the same rate. Some of them completely disintegrate into the soup (which, admittedly, adds a nice thickness to the broth), while others are just excessively soft and shed their skins. In public! How rude.
And others are just a TAD too firm, even after cooking for more than 2 hours. This seems to be a common denominator for bean soup mixes, but you’d think someone would have solved it by now. I’d rather have just 5-6 beans that cook consistently instead of 1 dozen+ that don’t. Oh well. “Nobody asked me, did they?”
Soaking the beans.
I rinsed, sorted, and soaked my dry beans for 24 hours. Yes, please sort them carefully first. I only found one small rock fragment while sorting, but boy am I glad I found it before it went in the soup! These beans are very clean and in good condition, but nobody can completely prevent pebbly debris.
Seasonings.
If this little plastic pouch of “ham” flavor sparks joy, by all means use it. It does not spark joy for me. No thank you. Keep reading for the ingredients in here. Ew.
Instead, I used 2 teaspoons dried sage powder, 1.5 teaspoons dried thyme, 0.25 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (this is Aldi’s store-brand), and a few bay leaves. I also added 1.5 teaspoons extra salt, plus whatever was in my chicken stock already.
Speaking of chicken stock, I used my own homemade bone broth that I had stashed in my freezer. One to two quarts, plus some extra water, should do the trick.
Veggies!
I am “team veggies,” so I added a LOT of vegetables to my soup. Sautéing in butter brings out the flavor. I used 1/2 bunch chopped celery (6 or so stalks), 1 pound coarsely chopped carrots, 1 large diced onion, and 1 whole bulb minced garlic (yes, the entire bulb…about 12 cloves…do it).
I sauteed the vegetables in 1/4 cup butter for 8 minutes (or so) until the onions were translucent. Then I added to the soup for the last 30-45 minutes of cook time.
Meat.
I also opted for Jones Organic Chicken Sausage, instead of the recommended diced ham. I really like the flavor of this sausage, and it’s easy to use. And it was already lurking in my freezer. So.
I heated 16 sausage links in a skillet for about 8 minutes, stirring to turn the links. Then I diced into bite-sized pieces before adding to the soup. I added the sausage about 15 minutes before the soup finished cooking.
I’ve had great results with this sausage; you can read my full review of Jones Organic Chicken Sausage here.
Finished 16 Bean Soup.
It took more than 2 hours for my beans to adequately soften, and that’s with a 24 hour soak first! Yikes. Some of my beans were still just a tiny bit stiffer than I’d prefer, but still edible. My 5-quart Dutch Oven was full to the brim. This is a lot of soup!
Overall, the result is hearty and flavorful. So. Many. Beans. The liquid soup base is rich and thick from disintegrated bean bodies. Almost like a gravy (add more water if you want it thinner). It’s got a spicy undertone; if you don’t like this, reduce the crushed red pepper flakes to 1/8 teaspoon, instead of 1/4.
What would I do differently next time?
If I was to buy another bag of this soup mix, I might opt to use just half of it at a time and add 3/4 cup dry barley in the last 45 minutes or so of cook time. I like a combination of grains/beans for better amino acid completion. That would also leave a little more room in my pot for extra vegetables! And it would double my bean-mileage.
Ingredients in Aldi 16 Bean Soup Mix
Here is my best attempt at typing out the ingredients:
- Bean Mix (Contains 16 of the following varieties: Large Lima Beans, Small White Beans, Red Kidney Beans, Baby Lima Beans, Great Northern Beans, Garbanzo Beans, Black Beans, Pinto Beans, Cranberry Beans, Pink Beans, Whole Green Peas, Yellow Split Peas, Lentils, Green Split Peas, Small Red Beans, Navy Beans, Blackeye Peas)
- Seasoning (Salt, Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Sugar, Bacon Flavor [Cellulose Powder, Rendered Bacon Fat, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Smoke Flavor {contains sunflower oil}, Hydrolyzed Corn and Soy Protein, Salt, Flavoring, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate], Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Ham Type Flavor [{Water and Bacon Flavor}, Smoke Flavor, Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80, Soybean Oil], Less than 2% Silicon Dioxide added as an anti-caking aid)
I mean. It’s nice to see some real bacon fat in the seasoning? But sad to see all this other stuff, plus Polysorbate 80. I don’t regret my decision not to use this “ham” packet.
Nutrition Facts
The nutrition facts from the dry soup mix is as follows. Obviously, the way you prepare your soup will greatly influence the final nutrition.
A serving is 35 grams (dry) and contains 90 calories. There’s 0.5 grams fat (0 grams saturated fat) and 7 grams protein. You get 22 grams total carbohydrates, of which 0 grams are sugars, and 10 grams are fiber. There’s no cholesterol, and 3% your daily value sodium. You also get 10% each your daily value iron and potassium.
Price and Servings
The 20 ounce bag of dry soup mix cost $2.29 at my local Aldi. If you got 16 servings from the package, each serving would cost about 14 cents.
Shelf Life
I had a hard time reading the “best by” date on my package; it either says “Sep 26” or “Sep 28.” Since this is mainly dried beans (and dry seasoning), I’m guessing it is 2028, or approximately 3 years from the purchase date.
Preparation Instructions
Here are the official instructions from the bag:
- Quick Soak: “Rinse and sort beans in a large pot. To 20 ounces of beans, add 8-10 cups hot water. Bring to a rapid boil, boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain soak water and rinse beans.”
- Overnight Soak: “Rinse and sort beans in a large pot. To 20 ounces of beans, add 8-10 cups cold water. Let stand overnight or at least 6-8 hours. Drain soak water and rinse beans.”
- Cooking Directions: “Add 8-10 cups hot water to drained and rinsed beans. Simmer gently with lid tilted until desired tenderness is reached, about 1.5-2 hours. Add contents of spice packet approximately 30 minutes before beans have finished cooking.”
And here is the “recipe” from the bag:
“Thirty minutes before beans finish cooking, add the following: one pound cooked ham, one can chopped tomatoes and green chilies, one chopped onion, one clove minced garlic, and contents of flavor packet.”
Obviously, I did not do this. Sorry-not-sorry.
Dramatic Conclusion
This is a fairly typical bean soup kit. It’s cheaper than other brands, and contains a wide variety of good-quality beans. I would probably choose it over a name-brand, due to the cost-savings. However, I would be more likely to buy a bean mixture that cooked evenly, if such a thing existed. Make it so.
The illustrious “Awesome-o-Meter” rates this bean soup a “Yaaas.”
The End.
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