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This HUGE pot of Hearty Barbecue Soup would be a great dish to take to a fall potluck – or make for your family and have leftovers for lunches throughout the week! I absolutely love to make soup, in fact I’ve joked before that soup is one of my love languages. Got leftovers? Make soup. Need leftovers? Make soup. Don’t know what to make for supper? Make soup. It’s so versatile, so yummy, so warm and comforting. I think I could safely say that I’ve never made the same soup twice because even if I go off of the same recipe multiple times, I always tweak it according to what I have in the fridge/pantry. Or I go completely sans recipe and just create something totally new, which is how this one came about. I’ve been on a barbecue kick lately and wanted to see if I could make a THM:E soup that had the flavors of barbecue sauce. It worked!
I wasn’t joking when I said this recipe makes a HUGE pot of soup. It barely fit in our 6-qt. kettle! When I start making soup, I tend to just keep dumping things until I run out of room, but my mom and I both love to make big enough recipes to have leftovers for our family of 6 so that’s not a problem. Soup makes a great lunch throughout the week!
You can serve this soup with my Fuel Pull Sour Cream Cornbread recipe or this Budget-Friendly Cornbread (pictured in this blog post).
You may also enjoy:
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STARTING THM
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my recipe index
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recipe index by fuel type/allergy/theme
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my soup recipes
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Happy Harvest Soup
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Easy Cheesy Fiesta Chowder
As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for extra info. Check out the links in and below the recipe to see the products I use and recommend. Some of the links included in the recipe and blog post are affiliate links, which means that if you make purchases through these links, I make a small commission to help defray the costs of running this blog (at no extra charge to you). Thanks for your help!
You can pin this recipe here:
My cookbook has a lot of exclusive soup recipes!
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- 1 lg. onion (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 29-oz. can tomato sauce
- 3 c. water
- 15.5-oz. can mild chili beans
- -
- 6-8 c. shredded cooked chicken breast
- 2 15.5-oz. cans mild chili beans
- 4 c. cooked brown rice (about 1½ c. dry rice)
- 2 c. low-fat chicken broth
- 1 c. frozen corn
- 1 T. parsley flakes
- 1 T. THM Super Sweet Blend
- 1 T. prepared yellow mustard
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. molasses
- 1 tsp. liquid smoke
- ½ tsp. black pepper
- Salt to taste
- WATCH IT! This makes a lot of soup! I could barely fit it into a 6-qt. kettle, so if you have a bigger pot, you might want to use it so you don't have to stir as tentatively as I did.
- Dry sauté the onions and garlic in the kettle for just a bit to make them aromatic before adding the tomato sauce, water, and one can of chili beans. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth (or transfer to a regular blender to blend, then back to the kettle).
- Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer (uncovered) for 30 minutes to let the flavors settle out. Taste and add salt and/or more seasonings to taste.
- This makes a fairly thick, hearty soup, so feel free to thin it down a little with more chicken broth or water, especially when reheating. (The soup will thicken up after it sits in the fridge for awhile because of the beans and rice.)
Corn is allowed in occasional small amounts in a THM:E setting for flavor. 1 cup is stretched over a huge pot of soup here, so you're only getting 1 T. or less per serving. I do like the little bit of sweetness it adds.
Molasses is allowed in small amounts (1/4 tsp. per serving) for flavor on the THM plan. Obviously one teaspoon is stretched over a lot of servings in this recipe.
Chili beans? Would that be kidney beans?
No, chili beans are pinto beans in a sauce. 🙂 You can find them with the other canned beans. Something like this is what you’re looking for: https://www.target.com/p/bush-s-174-mild-pinto-chili-beans-16oz/-/A-13602125?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&CPNG=PLA_Grocery%2BEssentials%2BShopping_Local&adgroup=SC_Grocery&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=1017939&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1247077&ds_rl=1246978&gclid=CjwKCAjw-OHkBRBkEiwAoOZql20VsZu3v6m0PnEBvGlAbGLrwdZhG44ZTQEqab74YHf5kafp6qkR_RoCxPEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
What would this be like without the rice ?
A lot thinner and less hearty. 😉 I’ve never made it without the rice but you’re welcome to try. You may need to adjust the liquids and spices.
I’ve made this soup several times and everyone in my home (lots of kids) really likes it.
I made this soup tonight for dinner and my husband loved it! I’ve just recently started THM but my husband always decides he doesn’t like anything “healthy” so hearing him say this was the best soup has ever had was amazing! Thank you so much for this recipe, I can’t wait to try so many more off here!
Do you think I could substitute store bought BBQ sauce for the final 9 ingredients? How much would you advise? To taste?
Hmm…I’m not sure if that would add a strong enough flavor or not. You’re welcome to try! Yes, I’d just do it to taste. Be aware that most store-bought BBQ sauces have a LOT of sugar, so if you’re following a low-glycemic diet like Trim Healthy Mama, most BBQ sauce is off plan.
I checked your other recipes. They look healthy and delicious. I’m thinking of trying the Hearty Barbeque Soup recipe out.
Do you think I could make this in the crock pot, just leaving the rice out until the end? That way I don’t have to have the chicken precooked (just throw the 5-6 chicken breast in there raw). Not sure how long rice would take in the crock pot, but I could just dump the whole thing in a pot & finish on the stove top if needed (unless you magically have the answer of how long the rice would need to cook in the crockpot 🙂 )
I’m sorry Shannon – I really have no idea how long things would take! That would probably be fine, but I really do recommend sautéing the onion and garlic ahead of time for best flavor. You’re welcome to experiment! I’ve personally found that soups made on the stove have better flavor than soups that sit all day in a crockpot, but if you think the crockpot would be easier, that may outweigh the flavor difference, and it really all depends on what you prefer.
Since this makes so much, could you freeze (minus the rice) or half the recipe without losing flavor?
I haven’t tried that with this soup, but we usually have no problems freezing and thawing soup. 🙂
So is it a total of 2 or 3 cans of beans? I have an Aldi’s on the way home from work and would like to stop in and grab a couple cans… This sounds YUMMY!
It’s a total of 3 cans. 1 can blended up into the sauce and 2 cans left whole. 🙂