Skip the can – this Homemade Bean and Bacon Soup is hearty and filling and filled with veggies and chunks of bacon!
Growing up, Sundays were always the same. If we had morning church, we would come home from church, and lunch would be soup and sandwiches. I don’t remember ever having anything but soup and sandwiches for lunch on Sundays.
My mom would heat up several different kinds of canned soup, then make up a bunch of peanut butter sandwiches. We are a family that likes to dip, and peanut butter sandwiches got dipped into the soup. So the majority of the sandwiches were just peanut butter, but there were always some with peanut butter and honey. (And for the record – I must have always loved the sweet and salty combination, because to this day, I love a peanut butter and honey sandwich dipped into my soup!)
One of my favorites on those Sunday afternoons was the bean with bacon soup. I don’t know why I loved it so much, but I would always choose it over the chicken noodle or split pea with ham.
Well, my daughter has this love of soup. She would probably eat homemade soup every day if I made it for her, but since that’s just not possible 🙂 we always have a few cans of chicken noodle soup on hand. That girl can eat an entire can of soup for lunch herself.
One day, at the grocery store, I was letting her choose out a few cans of soup. And there I saw it – the Bean with Bacon soup. I decided to buy a can to have on hand for if I ever wanted to eat it for lunch.
Fast forward a few weeks, and my daughter gets home from school, asking for soup for lunch. I go to the pantry, and not a can of her beloved chicken noodle soup left. She sees my can of Bean and Bacon soup, and asks for it. I begrudgingly say yes.
And then she only eats like 2 bites of the soup. After she left the table, I decide to eat a bowl of it for lunch since it was already open and out.
And I ate about 2 bites of it and was done.
I don’t know if my tastebuds have just grown up, or what, but I did not like it. It tasted overwhelmingly of smoke, and not like real smoke. Like liquid smoke.
It tasted completely fake.
I was sad, but only for a minute. Because right then, I decided that I needed to make a homemade bean and bacon soup – with flavor from real smoked bacon.
One eye opener for me when I visited the Culinary Institute of America with Jones Dairy Farm last year was that a lot of companies use liquid smoke to flavor their meats and bacon. I felt duped. When something says smoked, I’m thinking it’s actually spent some time in a smoker, but that isn’t always the case.
For my soup, I knew I wanted actual smoked bacon, not liquid smoke or bacon that had been flavored with liquid smoke. So naturally, I chose my favorite Jones Dairy Farm bacon – their Dry Aged Cherrywood Smoked Bacon. I’ve said it here a thousand times before, but no other bacon compares to this bacon in my eyes.
After choosing the perfect bacon, the rest was pretty easy. Some beans, veggies and chicken broth are cooked together. Half of the mixture is pureed to give you that thick, creamy texture. Add in some tomato sauce and stir in the bacon – it’s the soup that blows that soup of my childhood out of the water. Seriously – this bean and bacon soup was so good – there will be no more cans of soup in my future!
WATCH HOW TO MAKE THIS HOMEMADE BEAN AND BACON SOUP BELOW!
Homemade Bean and Bacon Soup
Ingredients
- 8 oz. Jones Dairy Farm Cherry Hardwood Smoked Bacon diced
- 1 cup diced yellow onions
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 cans 15 oz each Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
- salt and pepper
- 1 can 8 oz tomato sauce
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a soup pot or Dutch oven until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate. Discard all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease.
- To the hot bacon grease, add the onions, carrots and celery. Cook over medium heat until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute. Stir in the chicken broth and beans. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a bubble then reduce the heat to low and let the soup simmer for 1 hour.
- Remove half of the soup to a blender or food processor. Process until smooth. Return the puree to the soup pot and stir into the remaining soup. Add the tomato sauce and 3/4 of the reserved bacon and stir to combine. Taste and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let the soup simmer until it is heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve topped with the remaining bacon.
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I am in a working relationship with Jones Dairy Farm, and this post has been sponsored. I’m so glad to be able to work with companies and organizations that I truly believe in. Thank you for supporting them, too.
MaryB says
Absolutely delicious. We love soup and beans so this one is a no-brainer. This will go on repeat in our house.
Linda Hall says
I’m definitely making this! I always loved this sound but now, I can’t eat anything with gluten so I’m having to cook everything the old-fashioned way, from scratch! (I might even cook my own dried beans) I can’t wait to taste this!
Katherine says
Yummy!!
Jan T says
I am so thrilled with this recipe. It’s the best bean soup I’ve ever tried!! I can’t have beans, but I can have black eyed peas and I cooked my own with a smoked turkey breast carcass. That extra little smoky flavor in the broth just gave it a bit more kick, and the black eyed peas worked very well for me. Thanks SO much.
Anne says
WOW!! Campbell’s bean with bacon soup has always been one of my favorites. But now that I found THIS recipe, I will be making my own ALL the time. I doubled the recipe because I knew the men in my house will devour this and I was right! I used better than bouillon chicken flavor as I think it is the best!!! Thank you SO much for a keeper!
Kristina says
IDK what made me want bean with bacon soup tonight but I had a craving for it so I made it! I did use pinto beans tho as I remember the bean with bacon being darker.. it was still good of course. I will also try it with white beans next time.
I made just enough for me so I only used 1 can of beans and 2-3 slices aldi low sodium bacon. I thought it was very filling and satisfying. Thanks for a great recipe!
Deborah says
I’m so glad you loved it!
Jaime H says
I have made this recipe several times and I love it. I used to eat the campbell’s canned version a lot as a kid and making this has totally made me not able to eat that at all… it’s just SO much better. Thanks for the great recipe!
Deborah says
Thanks for the comment, Jaime! I’m the same – can never eat the canned version again!
Debbie T. says
One word: Delicious!!! This recipe is a keeper, just so good! I had dry navy beans so I cooked those first (using 1.75 cups dry). The only change I made to the recipe was the tomato sauce – I replaced it with 8 oz of fire roasted diced tomatoes (which I puréed first) because I had them already pre-measured in my freezer. I’ve never tried bean and bacon soup before, ever… but I will be making this soup again. And again! Thanks for posting.
Jenn says
This was childhood, for me. My mom would make this soup twice a month – without celery because us kids hated green stuff – and I have been looking for a good recipe to follow that I remembered seeing. This is it. I made your recipe to the letter (using precooked dry beans instead of canned) and it is fantastic. This will be handwritten and put into my recipe box. Thank you, great job!!
Deborah says
Thanks, Jenn – I’m so happy it was such a hit!
Tanya Cole says
Do I need to rinse my jar of Great Northern Beans?
And what is the reason? Thanks.
Love love this recipe and have made it more times than I can count.
Deborah says
I always rinse my beans because they can not only be really salty if not rinsed, but the liquid also contains a lot of starch, which can alter the texture of the soup. Technically you can get away without rinsing, but I always like to take that extra step.
I’m so glad you have loved this recipe!
Karen Dawn says
Rinsing canned beans also lowers the FODMAPS and makes them easier to digest for people who suffer from IBS.
Jill says
Excellent recipe. Really enjoyed the soup. Thank you for posting!
Dianne Whiting says
This is a keeper! Delicious..never going to buy canned again
Rebecca says
I have made this about a dozen times! Only change was my favorite bacon Nueskes! This is excellent! Never any leftovers. So simple to make and perfect year round comfort food!
Yolanda Jackson says
This Bean and bacon soup will definitely go into My soup rotation. Thank You
Shannon says
Hi Deborah, I relate to the story you shared for this recipe more than you could ever know. For me Bean and Bacon soup reminds me of rainy days at the cottage when I was a little girl. My Mom making grilled cheese along side the soup and the two of us sharing not only the food but talking with each other, making plans for the future and just enjoying time together. Sadly my Mom died a couple of years ago so I absolutely treasure these memories. Today is a cool, overcast day with rain on and off so I started googling bean and bacon soup recipes. The cans of Campbells are terrible now. Not sure if it’s because I’m an adult now or if they’ve made changes. Plus I’d much rather make my own so I know what exactly is in it and so I can teach my kids. Your recipe appears to be spot on but I’m not sure what you mean by tomato sauce? Maybe pasta sauce? or tomato purée? or canned tomatoes? Seasoned or au natural? If you have a chance to reply I would greatly appreciate it as I’d truly love to make a big batch.
Deborah says
Tomato sauce is probably closest to tomato puree – at the grocery store, it will be labeled as tomato sauce. It is a little thinner than tomato puree and the flavor isn’t quite as robust, but it is similar.
Jan T says
I wondered about the tomato sauce and almost left it out..I’m sure glad I didn’t . Tasting before and after was the proof. It doesn’t stand out, it just rounds out the flavor! Excellent!
Evie says
Made this multiple times, my family loves it. Currently simmering on the stove!