Looking for Mayocoba beans recipes? Take a look at this lemony potato soup with Mayocoba beans and vegetables. A thick, hearty, delicious and healthy bowl of soup, and a recipe large enough to feed a hungry crowd. Perfect for a cozy Winter Sunday family dinner.
Colorado Grown Mayocoba Beans
So many dried beans, so little time. On our yearly trip to Brighton in September, I stocked up on freshly harvested Colorado beans.
My pantry is chock full of little bags of beautifully colored legumes just dying to be part of our next bowl of soup. Brighton is about a 45 minute drive northeast of The Ranch.
It features many vegetable farms and roadside markets that sell Colorado products from all over the state.
It’s such a fun trip in so many ways. Fresh vegetables, fresh dried beans, chile pepper roasting, specialty foods.
The best part is that it supports our Colorado farmers. I love this photo from Polambo Farms of Colorado pinto beans with its warning sign.
Colorado is nationally a major producer of dry beans. A combination of altitude, bright sunshine, fertile soils and Rocky Mountain water provide the prime mixture of elements for dry beans to flourish in taste and color.
Colorado pinto beans are known for their bright color (source Colorado Dry Beans). My go-to market in Brighton is Palombo Farms.
It’s a great place to purchase Colorado grown beans such as these sometimes hard to find mayocoba beans, along with a barn full of locally harvested Colorado vegetables.
What Are Mayocoba Beans?
The Mayocoba bean, sometimes called the Canary Bean or Peruano, has a thin skin, a buttery taste and a creamy texture that performs well on its own or as a component with other ingredients.
It will soak up any flavor that you throw at it and still hold its shape. It’s a wonderful addition to mixed vegetable and potato soup because it takes well to a variety of seasonings…particularly herbal.
Mayocoba beans are originally from Peru, has now made its home growing in Eastern Colorado. Again, Colorado is a major producer of dry beans in the United States.
Mayocoba beans are a great bean to use as a substitute for Cannellini or great Northern beans. It’s a popular bean all over Mexico but especially in the state of Jalisco, where you often see them used to make super creamy refried beans. I’ve also used Mayocoba beans in this Chorizo Albondigas Bean Soup.
As as soon as I got my stash home, I put pen to paper to try to come up with some Mayocoba bean recipes.
Recipe for Lemony Potato Soup with Mayocoba Beans
The Mayocoba lived up to its reputation by enhancing this potato and vegetable soup with it’s beautiful texture and the way it soaks up flavor from the spices. With plenty of healthy vegetables and lemon juice for a fresh flavor, we really enjoyed this soup.
I hope you give this potato soup with Mayocoba Beans a try, and if you do, please come back and give the recipe a rating and leave a comment about your experience. I love hearing from my readers.
And if you have a favorite recipe using Mayocoba beans, please let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
More Bean Soup Recipes
- Great Northern White Bean Soup with Bacon
- Southwest Chicken and Bean Soup
- Easy Black Bean Soup with Ham
- Mixed Bean and Vegetable Soup Mix
And if you’re a soup lover like us, you won’t want to miss my Soup Category. You’ll find lots of delish ideas. Including the most popular on my site, Anthony Bourdain’s New Mexico Style Beef Chili.
If you can’t find Mayocoba beans at your local market, there’s always Rancho Gordo Brand from Amazon. I’m a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. If you purchase from this link, I receive a small commission with no extra charge to you.
What People Are Saying:
Ms. Lee Ann: “I want to thank you for you Lemony Potato Soup with Mayocoba Beans! It was my first time using this particular bean and they are an absolute delight.
Additionally, I typically use the recipes of others only as inspiration but for whatever reason I felt compelled to follow this one to a T (except I used red potatoes because it’s what I had on hand). I’m so glad I followed my instinct! Wow! This is definitely going into regular rotation at my home. Plus, it’s nutritious and economical to boot. I served with homemade cornbread and the meal was a hit!
Many thanks for sharing this delicious recipe!” Regards, Leeann
Lemony Potato Soup with Mayocoba Beans
Ingredients
- Pam cooking spray
- 2 cups Mayocoba beans dried, washed and picked over
- 1 quart low sodium chicken broth
- 2 large sweet onions or yellow onions, chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon oregano dried, preferably Mexican
- 1 tablespoon basil dried
- 1 teaspoon thyme dried
- 1 teaspoon dill dried
- 1 teaspoon rosemary dried
- pinch of New Mexico Red Chile Powder or cayenne
- 2 medium carrots peeled and sliced
- 2 ribs celery, with leaves diced
- 3 medium potatoes peeled and chopped
- 2 15-ounce cans chopped tomatoes undrained
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley fresh, rough chopped
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- juice of one lemon
- Additional chopped parsley for garnish
- Paprika for garnish
- Paper thin slices of lemon for garnish
Instructions
- Spray a large heavy pot with the Pam and in it soak the beans in enough water to cover. Soak beans over night. If you want to use chicken stock to soak beans, then refrigerate. Soaking beans in water can be done on the counter over night.
- The next day drain beans. Add chicken chicken stock to cover the beans by 1 1/2 inches. Bring to boil, then turn down heat to low. Add one of the onions, the bay leaf, all herbs and chile powder. Gently simmer 1 hour.
- Add the carrots, potatoes, celery and tomatoes. Let simmer covered until the beans and vegetables are meltingly tender. About 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- In a large Pam sprayed skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the remaining onion and saute until softened about 3 minutes. Scrap the onion into a food processor. Add the parsley, garlic and lemon juice. Puree until smooth. Stir the puree into the soup. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more lemon juice and chile powder if needed.
- Cook about 5 minutes more. Serve hot garnishing each bowl with parsley, paprika and lemon – all optional.
I guess we are finally going to get some snow this weekend what a great time for this soup! I do have a few questions: what kind onions, on the diced tomatoes do you use all of the juices, which brand of tomatoes did you use, do you use flat or curly parsley?
On the New Mexico Red chile I bought some from the Shed and from Savory Spice which is better for this soup? Thanks for a prompt reply can’t wait to make this!
Thanks
Katherine
Hi Katherine. Yes! Keep those fingers crossed for snow. Thanks for all of your questions, I’ll change the recipe to be more thorough. Sweet onion or yellow onion. Don’t drain those tomatoes. I like Red Gold Diced tomatoes from King Soopers, but I also stock up on chopped tomatoes at Costco. Great question about the parsley. Flat leaf. I learned in Culinary School that curly leaf doesn’t have the flavor, so mainly used as garnish at restaurants. I think Savory Spice has excellent products, but I’d most certainly reach for that powder from the Shed. Just because I love that place soooooo much. 🙂
I made this tonight and it was very good. I only changed one thing by adding a diced Hatch pepper with the onion and garlic near the end to pep things up. It made a huge amount and I’m looking foreword sharing some tomorrow! I bought my beans at Kroger and the bag said they’re from Mexico.
I made this soup tonight and wow! I found these Mayocoba beans (which I I had never heard of) at my favorite discount grocery store so searched around for a recipe other than just making them refried. First of all, this made a HUGE amount. My Dutch oven was nearly full. I’ll make a half batch next time and will still have more than enough for two people for several days.
I followed the recipe exactly except I only had one large onion so halved it for the two different preparations. The broth is so flavorful I just want to drink it and the beans are creamy and delicious. The lemon provides the right amount of acidity and tang and compliment the potatoes (I used red) I make a lot of soups and this will be one of my keepers. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Why is this dish so high in sodium? It seems all the ingredient are fresh and healthy. Are the beans high in sodium?
I went back into the recipe and changed the ingredient “Chicken broth” to “Low Sodium Chicken Broth”. That reduced the sodium from 472 to 72. Amazing isn’t it. Will make me rethink next time I’m grabbing chicken broth off the shelf.
I also think canned tomatoes can have quite a bit of sodium.
Thanks for the recipe Lea Ann. I made it vegan (used veggie broth). You really need to get up here to Brighton. It’s currently chili fest time. The chili roasters are going and there’s still great fresh produce (especially corn) as well as the dried staples. Make sure to visit Palizzi’s, Berry Patch Farms and of course Lulu’s too. So much yumminess! Also our King Soopers carry items you might not see down in the Ranch, like cassava and nopales. Bon appetit!
I really enjoyed learning about the mayocoba bean. And so interesting that I can find these here in CO.
I did not know CO was a major dried bean producer, I’ve never heard of this bean, and i would have not thought of using lemon and potato soup in the same sentence. Having said that, I enjoy dried beans and lemon flavor so I would be all over this soup.
“So many dried beans, so little time.” Truer words were never spoken. 🙂 This is fabulous because I just happen to have a pound of these beans in the pantry. Now I know what to do with them. Your recipe looks perfect. Thanks!