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.
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.