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.
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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
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!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.
Great recipe! I loved Campbell’s Bean with Bacon when I was a kid, so I thought I’d try this. I even started with dried beans, which I’ve never done. It was great. We tweaked it a little with some smoked paprika, additional salt and some black pepper along with a little splash of cider vinegar. My friend who famously hates everything was over, tried it and loved it. She asked for the recipe today! PS – I’ll probably use more bacon next time because – why not?
Just made this and it’s very yummy! I added 2 bay leaves and 1/4 tsp chili flakes. I just decided to make it so rather than soaking beans overnight I just covered with water and 1/2 tsp salt, brought to a boil. Turned off heat and covered for an hour. Just rinsed in colander and they were ready. Got everything chopped and ready in the meantime.
Wasn’t keen on this one. The final product tasted bland to me, so it was a lot of time invested for a poor return. Sadly, not a keeper.
I’ve been making this soup since it was first published and as the weather is getting cold, here I am making it again. Always delicious, and as food prices continue to rise I doubly appreciate this recipe because it’s good food on a budget. Thank you Beth!
My young daughter and I made this tonight, with minor variations, and it was great! We cut the recipe roughly in half: used (2) 15 oz cans of Navy beans, drained and rinsed, vs dried beans; used some cooked, sliced ham cut into chunks instead of bacon, and added it after sautéing the vegetables; used onion and garlic powder to keep it simple instead of using fresh, although we had both on hand; and eliminated tomato sauce even though we had it, because when we taste tested it near the end we felt we didn’t need that. We used a potato masher as someone else suggested instead of trying to puree near the end for half the soup, and that worked well. We found a quick recipe for homemade bread and made a small loaf to go with it. We each had a big bowl with some of the bread, and there was enough left for perhaps 2 medium bowls for lunch some other day. This was a great opportunity to help my daughter develop her cooking skills, as she will be heading off to college in a few years. I also used this chance to have her compare what it would cost to cook for herself vs going out to eat (roughly 10-20% of the cost of a meal in a restaurant). Thank you, Beth, for the recipe, and thank you to everyone else for the helpful comments!
I’m going to make this but leaving out tomato sauce. Thanks for sharing, sounds wonderful!
This looks so delicious! Would love to see it converted to InstantPot.
I just did it in my off brand electric pressure cooker and I did everything the same but soak the beans first. I used the “Stew” option on mine which I’m pretty sure is just 30 minutes high pressure and it cooked perfectly. I added a boatload of Cholula because of a local law that I made up that all bean soups require a minimum of 1 bottle of Cholula.
Made this last winter, loved it and filed it in my brain for later. We’re experiencing another cold snap and I knew what to make! (Had Your swamp soup during the last cold spell. Equally killer.) Whipped up a batch of your soft and sweet rolls as well. Even the picky preschooler loves it! Thanks for another keeper.
Just a quick question I’m in Australia and here tomato sauce is something we put on fries like ketchup is what you used similar to a tomato passata or paste?
can’t wait to try this!
I think what we call tomato sauce is closer to the product that you call passata. :) The stuff we put on fries has a lot of sugar and vinegar added to it, which is not what you want here. I don’t know if that’s how your fry condiment is, though!
This looks so yummy , I am going to try it….ty for posting…
The soup is absolutely DELICIOUS!! I added a bay leave, rosemary and oregano for more added flavor along with some seasonings. I served the soup with toasted French bread. Thank you so much for this fabulous recipe, Beth!! :-)
I made this yesterday and it was delicious! I had one can of cannellini beans which I rinsed and drained and one can of “white beans in tomato sauce” which I drained into a bowl to keep the tomato sauce for later. It was still pretty thin so I added some tomato paste, plus sugar, salt, onion and garlic powder.
I used a potato masher because I don’t have a blender and it worked just fine.
I added thyme, rosemary and a bay leaf with the broth.
It was AMAZING.
With all due respect, for those who made this soup have NO IDEA what flavor means! If the soup is going to be that bland SEASON IT!! I’m looking forward to making this crispy bacon, bean and potato soup next week-despite the objections!!!! :-)
Many people commented that this was bland, but to me, it’s meant to be rather simple right? I mean its white beans and potatoes mainly! I just added some of my fave all purpose seasoning, some smoked paprika and a squirt of lemon juice at the end.
Yummy, filling, great when you are snowed in, and crazy cheap! I think if I had a large family I’d make this a lot! But its just me and my husband so I shared with my parents who loved it.
A bit of thyme and a crank of black pepper make this recipe even more wonderful…
Hey Beth!
I made this soup today in the Instant Pot. I used the “sautee” setting for the bacon and veggies, then threw everything else in and hit the “bean/chili” button. This allowed me to make the soup without soaking the beans overnight! Just wanted to share, since you’ve been posting about the instant pot a lot lately.
I also added a pinch of dried rosemary and pinch of dried thyme, which paired very well with the soup.
Thanks for all the recipes. Many are favorites in my household.
Awesome!! Thanks for sharing! :)
Added some dried thyme, rosemary, and a bay leaf to this as well as 2 more cloves of garlic. Very good.
Followed recipe with no deviations. Pretty bland tasting. Decided to add left over tomato sauce, more bacon, additional seasonings because it was headed for the disposal if the flavor didn’t improve substantially. Fortunately there were some gains. My old white bean and ham/bacon recipe is much better and a lot less work. Probably won’t spend the time and effort on this one again….a major disappointment.
Just made this. Find it quite bland. Probably not quite I like in all….sorry!
Absolutely amazing! I used 3 undrained cans of beans (because I had them) and one can of chicken broth. Served it with cornbread. MMMmmmm
I’ll be making this again and again!
What kind of beans did you use and did you add the other ingredients also…
I think it was S&W small white beans. I used one can of Swanson’s Chicken Broth in place of the the broth from the recipe. The liquid from the 3 cans of beans and the 1 can of Swanson’s Chicken broth seemed to be enough liquid. Followed the rest of the recipe.
At what point did you add the canned beans? I have some leftover cannellini and some red kidney beans in the freezer. Hopefully, they will do.
I made this for dinner tonight, it was amazing!!
This was perfect. I love this site, and I’ve made so many recipes–I check up on it religiously, looking for new posts. :) I am definitely on a budget, and so these recipes are exactly the way that I cook. I always cook my own beans and make my own stock. My favorite grocery store hack is to buy a rotisserie chicken, shred and freeze the meat for later recipes, and make stock from the carcass. Another good tip is to buy herbs and spices in bulk, at places like Whole Foods or co-ops. You can fill a bottle that costs $3-6 with herbs for around $1. I also love using parmesan cheese rinds for soups, especially tomato-based soups. Whole Foods will sell these in the cheese section for VERY cheap, and you can freeze them. SO much extra flavor for so little money. Again, thanks for the site! :)
This sounds delish, but I have someone at home who doesn’t not eat pork. Omit it? Or try turkey bacon or as I’ve heard lately there is beef bacon. Any suggestions?
Campbell’s Bean with Bacon was my favorite soup growing up and when I just recently bought a can for old time’s sake it wasn’t nearly as delicious as I remembered. I made this for dinner last week and heated some from the freezer for lunch today, and oh man, so good! I used Better Than Bouillon ham stock instead of chicken because I had some in the fridge. We’ll definitely be keeping some of this soup on hand!
Hi Beth! I absolutely LOVE your posts and blog. I’m addicted (like seriously addicted….). I apologize if this has been asked to you about a million times, but I’m new to freezing foods… I used to just go to the store about 3-4 times a week. I plan to make several soups in the near future and want to freeze much of it. I hear dairy based don’t freeze as well… and same for potato based. Do you have any experience with cheese heavy or creamy soups being frozen? Thanks!!!
I think potatoes are kind of middle of the road when it comes to freezing. I think they freeze great, but some people are really sensitive to texture changes and find that they get a bit grainy after freezing/thawing. I think dairy based soups are usually on the do not freeze list because they’re often thickened with a roux and any type of sauce or liquid that is thickened with a roux (flour based thickener), cornstarch, or gelatin can break down and separate upon thawing. I haven’t really made a lot of dairy based soups, so I haven’t been able to test them out. :)
I make a potato corn chowder and a chicken and rice soup with half-and-half and freeze both without any difficulty. Allow each to thaw in the refrigerator and add three or four tablespoons of hot water, stir and heat. I’ve never had a problem with separation.
Beth, is your tinned “tomato sauce” just tomato puree or the kind w/added spices/sugar/salt? Asking just as I rarely buy straight tomato puree (so hard to find) and never pre-adulterated sauce tinned or jarred. I’m happier to buy paste and thin it or no-salt diced and make something chunky.
It does have a small amount of salt and “spices” (which I think is just a little onion and/or garlic powder), but I’m fairly certain it doesn’t have sugar. Here’s a link to Hunt’s brand tomato sauce (I use generic, but it’s pretty much exactly the same).
Can I do this in the crock pot? If so, do I need to make any modifications? Thanks!
Yes, you can. I would still do the bacon and onion/celery/carrots in the skillet (so they can soak up all that bacon flavor), then transfer all that and the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 and it should be ready to blend (make sure the beans are super soft, first).
This a great recipe. I’ve made quite a few of your recipes. You are always spot on with the herbs and spices. I love the beef stew recipe. Just made it again last night for the first time this fall. I’ll make it several times in the next few months. It’s always a pleasure to read your blog.
Seriously the best soup recipe I’ve made in a while!
Just made this. Very filling and nice, although I did find it a bit bland. Added a bit of Tabasco to give it a kick – worked like a charm. Thanks, this will keep me going for the next 3 days or so.
This is going on my list to make for sure. I will gladly stop buying Campbell’s Bean and Bacon if I have my own version to replace it with.
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 :-))