A few weeks ago, my friend Jenni sent me a link to this amazing-looking Bean and Bacon Soup by Taste and Tell. I had actually run across the photo on Pinterest a couple of days prior and it had made my mouth water, but she had already tried it and verified its scrumptious status. That’s all I needed to make me want to try it ASAP. But of course, I made it my own and ended up with this Bacon Bean and Potato Soup.
Budget Tweaks
I love this soup because it has simple ingredients and big flavor—my kind of recipe! I used dry beans to save an extra dollar or two, used less bacon, and added potatoes because they were on sale and potatoes are great for bulking up soups. Because of that, this soup makes a HUGE batch, so you can rest assured at least half of it is going in my freezer. Make sure you have a large stock pot for this one. Mine was a 5 quart pot and The Bacon Bean and Potato Soup filled it really close to the top!
What to Serve with This Soup
You’ll definitely want some sort of hearty bread for dipping into this rich soup, so I suggest making a batch of No-Knead Focaccia Rolls or Rosemary Pepper Drop Biscuits.
Bacon Bean and Potato Soup
Servings 10 (1.5 cups each)Ingredients
- 1 lb. dry navy beans ($1.79)
- 6 oz. bacon ($2.00)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.37)
- 3 carrots ($0.32)
- 3 ribs celery ($0.53)
- 2 lbs. potatoes ($1.44)
- 6 cups chicken broth ($0.76)
- 1 8z. can tomato sauce ($0.34)
- salt and pepper to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- The night before, place the beans in a large bowl and add enough cool water to cover the beans by 2-3 inches. Let the beans soak in the refrigerator over night.
- The next day, cut the bacon into one-inch pieces. Cook the bacon in a large pot over medium heat until brown and crispy. Remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate and pour off most of the grease, leaving a tablespoon or two in the pot.
- While the bacon is cooking, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Peel and slice the carrots, and slice the celery. Sauté the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery in the leftover bacon grease over medium heat until the onions are soft and transparent (about five minutes). Use the moisture from the vegetables to help dissolve the browned bits of bacon from the bottom of the pot.
- While the vegetables are sautéing, peel the potatoes then cut them into 1/2-inch cubes. Drain the soaked beans in a colander and rinse them briefly.
- Add the cubed potatoes, rinsed beans, and chicken broth to the pot. Cover the pot and bring it up to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and let the pot boil gently for one hour, or until the beans and potatoes are very soft.
- Use an immersion blender to purée about half of the soup, leaving some beans and vegetables whole. If you don’t have an immersion blender, remove half of the soup from the pot, let it cool slightly, then use a blender or food processor to carefully purée the warm soup. Return the puréed soup to the pot and stir to combine with the rest.
- Add the tomato sauce and reserved bacon to the soup. Stir and heat until warm. Taste the soup and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve hot.
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Nutrition
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Bacon Bean and Potato Soup – Step by Step Photos
For this recipe you’ll need one pound of dry navy beans. Navy beans are small and break down pretty easily, which makes them nice for this soup where you’ll be blending them until thick and smooth anyway.
The evening before, place the beans in a large bowl and cover with a few inches of water. Let the beans soak in the refrigerator over night.
The next day, take 6oz. of bacon (1/2 of a 12oz. package) and slice them into one-inch strips. The rest of the bacon can be frozen for use in another dish (or eaten for breakfast later in the week).
Cook the bacon over medium heat in a large pot until it’s brown and crispy. Remove the bacon to a paper towel-covered plate and pour off most of the grease, leaving a tablespoon or two to cook the vegetables.
While the bacon is cooking, start dicing one onion, mincing two cloves of garlic, peeling and slicing three carrots, and slicing three stalks of celery.
After the bacon is removed, add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery to the pot with the left over bacon grease. Sauté the vegetables over medium heat until the onions are soft and transparent (about five minutes). Use the moisture from the vegetables to help dissolve the browned bits of bacon off the bottom of the pot (that’s all the good flavor bits!).
While the vegetables are sautéing, peel and cut about 2 lbs. of potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes. I had almost 2 lbs of potatoes, but could have used a bit less because my pot was REALLY full. I’d aim for 1.5 lbs.
Drain the soaked beans in a colander and give them a quick rinse. Add the rinsed beans and cubed potatoes to the pot with the sautéed vegetables.
Add six cups of vegetable broth. Place a lid on the pot and let it come up to a boil. Reduce the heat just slightly and let the soup boil gently for about an hour, or until the beans and potatoes are very soft.
And then it will look a little something like the photo above.
Use an immersion blender to purée about half of the soup. You want a few whole beans and vegetables for visual texture and color. If you don’t have an immersion blender, remove about half of the soup and let it cool until warm, then use a blender or food processor to purée the soup. Stir the puréed soup back into the rest. BE SURE to let it cool before blending. Blending hot liquids is very dangerous. I speak from experience.
Add about 8 oz. of tomato sauce to the soup and stir to combine. I’ve had this 15 oz. can sitting in the back of my pantry for AGES, so I just used that, or half of it anyway.
Finally, stir the crispy bacon back in the soup, let it heat up (if it’s not already), taste, and season with salt and pepper if needed. The amount of salt is very subjective, but potatoes tend to absorb a lot of salt, so I added about 1/2 tsp at the end. You can reserve a few pieces of bacon for garnishing the bowls, if desired.
Thick, warm, and very filling! Bacon Bean and Potato Soup is the perfect soup for cold Autumn evenings. Make sure to get some crusty bread to dip in this deliciousness.
Can’t wait to make this! I’m trying to freeze recipes for later. How would I go about this for the soup?
I like to just portion it out into individual containers, like those blue top Ziploc resealable containers, and pop them in the freezer. Make sure it’s completely cooled in the fridge first, though.
Great recipe again, thanks Beth. Used canned beans a la the original recipe. This was easy and a comforting meal.
I’m going to start this by saying that I’ve never cooked beans before. I’ve always used canned beans before now but I’m feeling adventurous. When you say to soak over night how many hours are necessary? Should I soak them at night and cook them nearly 20 hours later? Or do you mean that I should soak them at night and prepare them the next morning? This looks super yummy but I want to be sure I do it right. Thanks :)
I think as long as you get a good 8 hours of soaking you should be fine. :) I hope it turns out well for you!
Made this soup this weekend. Cooked the bacon and onions up, then dumped everything together in a slow cooker for about 7 hours on low. It turned out very well, although I think my carrots were on the larger side and made this seem more like a carrot soup than anything else. It made a ton – I am set for lunches for the entire week and sent my boyfriend home w/ several containers. I spiced up my bowls with a dap of Sriracha to make it a little spicier.
I was obsessed with Bean with Bacon soup when I was kid – this looks much healthier and sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing!
What’s the benefit of soaking the beans in the fridge vs. on the counter at room temperature?
I’m not sure. I actually soak them at room temperature for a night and then boil them and throw out the water after 5 minutes of boiling 3 times before adding the dish. This gets rid of most of the gas.
I just like to do it to prevent possible bacterial growth. (Former microbiologist here, so I may be a little on the cautious side!) ;)
I like how short the ingredient list and how there are no spices required. When I first started cooking, I would always avoid recipes with lots of spices, so this soup looks super accessible. Thanks for sharing!
The potatoes are brilliant. They won’t much affect the flavor, but will thicken the soup–much better than my way of using a stick blender to break up the beans a little, but not to puree them. Someone else mentioned herbs–I like to add a little thyme and a bay leaf to beans. I’ve recently been using my aged pressure cooker to speed things up since beans are really useful in the current challenge to eat well inexpensively
I make something similar to this but use chopped sun dried tomatoes and no bacon as we’re vegan. More spices like thyme, rosemary to round out the flavor – SO GOOD!!!
This looks so yummy! Definitely going to try!
Abbie E.
http://abulouslife.blogspot.com/
Do you think that you could just use a potato masher to smoosh the soup instead of just blending it?
I’ve done exactly that when I didn’t feel like getting my blender dirty. It’s a bit more work, and your soup won’t be as smooth, but it’ll be okay. Also, when I do blend hot soups, I remove the plastic cap from the lid, cover with a kitchen towel, and pulse a few times. Since everything’s so soft, you don’t really need to full-on blend it.
Yep, it just won’t be quite as silky.
Looks delicious! Could I used canned navy beans instead? How would that alter the cooking time?
The recipe that inspired this one uses canned beans, so you can click over to that one to see how much broth she used considering the beans are already cooked (link is on the recipe card and in the intro to the blog post). I think she still simmered hers for about an hour, though! :)
Yum! This looks like the perfect meal for cool fall nights.
This looks great!! Definitely going on the menu next week. I am curious, if this can be done in the crock-pot? And if so, how would you recommend going about it?
I’ve made a navy bean, ham, and carrot soup in the crockpot many times. It works great all day and smells awesome.
Sounds lush! Will have a crack at this in the next cpl of weeks. Making your split pea and bacon next week. Its a firm favourite. Do you have any idea what the UK equivalent of a navy bean would be? They look a bit like a cannelleni bean to me?
Kate, I’m in Australia and I sub out cannellini for navy beans all the time. Same basic flavor, navy beans just cook up smaller. :)
Thanks Shelli :-))