Quick and Easy. Bean with Bacon Soup (Food and Whine)

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Quick and Easy. Bean with Bacon Soup

January 9, 2012

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It's soup week here at Food and Whine. No. Not really. It just seems that way :) Actually, it's just January in Ontario, so just about every day is a good soup day it seems.

I have always been a fan of Campbell's™ Bean with Bacon Soup but I didn't set out to try to replicate it. I really just thought I should probably be eating more beans. That said, I was pleasantly surprised how close this soup ended up to the flavours of the canned version. No, it's not exactly the same, but it's definitely in the neighbourhood.

This is a bit of a loose recipe, mainly because I made it up as I went along. There are plenty of options for tweaking the soup to your taste. I used canned beans for my soup because I was feeling lazy today. Certainly you could start with dried beans and soak according to the package directions. Simply add the beans at the same time in the recipe.

I loved the convenience of using canned beans and the texture was actually quite lovely in the soup. Just be sure to rinse the canned beans really well before adding to the soup. By using canned beans, the soup was ready in just about an hour, which makes it great for a hearty but quick weeknight meal.

Bean with Bacon Soup

This recipe uses canned navy beans but can also be made starting with dried beans. Just soak the beans per the package instructions and add to the soup at the same time as specified in the recipe. You may need to simmer the soup a wee bit longer. Just do a taste test to make sure the beans are tender.

Ingredients

5 slices of bacon, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
1/3 cup diced onion (from about 1/2 an onion)
1/3 cup diced red pepper
1/2 - 3/4 cup cup diced carrot (from about 1 carrot)
1 clove garlic, minced
5 cups chicken broth (sodium-reduced if you have it)
A few drops of liquid smoke, if you happen to have it around
Bay leaf
2 cans (15oz/425g) navy beans, rinsed well (15oz/425g)
1/2 cup tomato sauce (or 2-3 Tbsp. tomato paste)
2 tsp. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
(Cornstarch/water to thicken soup, if desired)
Splash of cream, if desired
Fresh parsley, roughly chopped, for garnish

Method

A brief word about salt: There are a lot of salty elements in this soup, so you definitely don't want to add any extra salt until you taste it at the very end of cooking. You can control the salt a bit easier by using sodium-reduced bacon and chicken broth and by rinsing the beans really well. Then taste at the end and add only as much salt as you think the soup needs.

-----------------------

Cook the bacon until almost crisp in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, red pepper and carrot to the pot and cook, stirring until the onions are tender. Add the broth, the beans and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil then immediately reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove and discard the bay leaf. Add the tomato sauce and the sugar to the soup. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary (add more salt/pepper/sugar/tomato paste, to taste). If you'd like a thicker soup, make a slurry of 2 Tbsp. of cornstarch with enough water to make a paste. Add to soup. Cook over medium heat, stirring until soup thickens. Repeat to thicken more if you'd like. Add a splash of heavy cream or half and half if you'd like it a wee bit creamier (not much is needed, just a splash) Finally, if you like, you could use a potato masher or immersion blender to gently smash a few of the beans (not all, just some), to add some texture to the broth.

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 hour
Yield: 6 - 8 servings

Tags: bacon, beans, recipes, soups,

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Comments

What a great idea! I've been on a major soup kick lately and I loved the canned bean with bacon growing up! (Don't be hatin' all you canned soup haters...some stuff just happens to be good, even if it's from a can).

I actually snatched up a bunch of ham hocks super cheap after the new year and threw them in the freezer....looks like I'll have a use for them soon!

Thanks for posting!

Jennie M on January 10, 2012 8:25 PM

Hi Jennie, I was thinking a ham hock would have been good to have around when I made this soup but I didn't have any. Are you thinking you'd put it in with the chicken stock or are you thinking of making a ham stock from them?

(P.S. I love the canned Bean with Bacon, Jennie. And their Italian Wedding too, now that I'm confessing ;)

Jen on January 10, 2012 8:38 PM

I usually simmer the hocks in just plain water on low heat for a while (then use that as the stock) because then they really get tender and you can actually get some decent meat off the bones to throw in the soup but I bet it would be good either way. I'm a junkie for smoked pork flavor so any way sounds good to me!

And since were in confession...I love the Italian Wedding too!!!

Jennie M on January 10, 2012 11:12 PM

Beans and bacon--there's nothing better than that (except maybe chocolate and peanut butter). This soup looks so delicious!

kyleen on January 25, 2012 11:28 PM

Thanks Kyleen. It was really good and perfect for winter comfort food.

Jen on January 26, 2012 8:01 AM

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