Moki Bean Soup – Dove Creek Sensation

One of the joys of living in western Colorado is that we get to occasionally drive through the little town of Dove Creek, the Pinto Bean Capital of the World, where even the gas station carries packages of locally grown Moki Bean Soup. 

Moki beans are a creation of the Dove Creek-based Adobe Milling Company and are a mixture of beans including lima, Anasazi, black, Bolita, Zuni Gold, pinto, kidney, black-eyed peas and split peas.

Cooked with a smoked ham hock and some classic soup vegetables, herbs and spices, you have a wonderful, hearty meal that only requires a piece of good bread and butter to go with it. 

If you aren’t in the Dove Creek neighborhood, Moki beans are available from amazon.com.

Moki Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1, 14-ounce bag of Moki beans
• 8 cups water
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 large ham hock or 2 small ham hocks or to make it vegan, use 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 teaspoon fresh parsley or 1/8 teaspoon dried
• 1/8 teaspoon savory
• 1 tablespoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper 

Directions

1. For cooking using an Insta Pot, I use the 6-quart size and combine all ingredients, except the salt, and select the Sauté button.
2. Once soup is boiling, put on the lid, set the seal to “Sealing”, turn off the pot then turn it back on and select the “Bean/Chili” button and let it go throughseveral of these half-hour pressure cooks. (Without an overnight bean pre-soak, it took 2 hours to cook the beans to tender in the Insta Pot.)
3. Once the beans are tender, you can turn the seal to vent and check the thickness of your soup and remove the ham hock. If it looks too thin, reset the Insta Pot on the Sauté setting and let it cook without the top for another 10 minutes or so, to your desired serving thickness. (The sauté setting runs hot so watch your soup closely and be sure to use a screen cover on the Insta Pot otherwise much of your soup might end up on the counter.)
4. Let ham hock cool and remove the meat from the joint and add back into the soup. 

Remove the ham hock(s) from the soup and let cool. Take off the meat from the bone and add back into the soup. 

Other delicious soup recipes from FFA:

New England Clam Chowder – Lightly, With Taste

Potato and Leek Soup – Beloved Soup of the French