White Bean and Bacon Soup

This Could Happen . . .

Let’s say it’s winter and you’re wondering how you can use your patio. It’s an overcast day — kinda gloomy — but it is reasonably warm for a winter day. You want to sit on the patio to take in the season but you need something to keep you warm when the winter chill starts to creep in. And you don’t mean a comforter. You need Randy’s Eat Shop White Bean and Bacon Soup.

I had you at “Bacon”, right?

Quick, Easy, and Delicious

This soup goes together in a flash so you’ll be sitting on your winter patio in no time with a bowl of soup in amazement of how your yard brings you such pleasure even though it is barren because it is “resting” for winter. It’s your patio. It’s your garden. It’s your soup. Enjoy!

White Bean and Bacon Soup

• 1 lb bacon
• 4 cans white beans (Great Northern)
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• String carrots — handful, to taste
• 3 – 4 celery stalks, sliced
• 2 large sweet onions, chopped
• 2 to 3 large garlic cloves, diced, or more to taste
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper

Do this:

Bacon

Cook bacon in dutch oven until crisp. Remove bacon and save the bacon fat. Chop bacon into bite sized bits.

White Beans

You can use dry beans (Great Northern) and cook them in a pressure cooker — I do that often (but I never soak them — ask me why in the comment section below and I’ll tell you). But to speed the process I use canned beans — they’re almost as good.

Open all four cans. Two will go into the soup whole and two will be pureed to thicken the soup a bit. Do not rinse the beans. 

To puree two cans of beans, use a blender or empty them into a bowl and use an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender get one. I had no idea how fabulous this tool is until a friend bought me one. Now I can’t live without it.

Vegetables

Chop the onions, celery, and mince the garlic. Put them in the dutch oven with the bacon fat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil. Use as much, or less, of the vegetables as looks good in your dutch oven to suit your taste — it’s your soup. Add a handful or so of the string carrots. Saute over medium high heat in the bacon fat/olive oil mix.

Half-way through sauteing the vegies, add the spices so the heat will release their flavor and aroma. How long is “half-way”? Watch the consistency of the vegies. You’ll know when to add the spices and when to finish the soup (maybe 5 to 7 minutes). 

Finish Making the Soup

Add the whole beans and the pureed beans to the vegies. Stir to mix the ingredients. Add the chicken broth. Add the chopped bacon. Simmer uncovered about 15 minutes on low heat — stir the soup a couple of times while it simmers. Salt and pepper to taste.

Time to Eat White Bean and Bacon Soup

As with many soups, this will get better day after day. But it should be very tasty the day you make it. Fill up a cup or bowl, grab a spoon, and head out to your favorite seat on the patio. Oh, did you make a hot toddy to compliment your soup and add to keeping you warm? And a hunk of warm bread with butter will be a nice accompaniment to your just finished Randy’s Eat Shop White Bean and Bacon Soup for winter patio dining.

Remember, life happens on the patio . . . even in winter!

Please Leave a Comment

Leave a comment below and tell us if this information was of value to you or let us know what we missed and can add to this post. Did you make the soup? Was it as quick and easy as we said it is? Did it add to your winter patio experience? Did you modify the recipe? How so? Please include a photo so we can see how delicious your soup looks.

Remember I said that I never soak my beans before cooking them in the pressure cooker?  Ask me why in the comment section below and I’ll tell you.

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