Bean with Bacon Soup

Do you remember making Campbell's Bean with Bacon soup?  That was always a rainy day favorite.  I still buy it occasionally to keep on hand for those days I don't feel like cooking. 

But that was before I started seeing other people's version of it on the internet.  I thought, I can do that.  So I did.

Bean with Bacon soup

4 cups chicken broth
2 cans Northern White Beans, rinsed and drained
8 or so slices of thick cut bacon
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced onion
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons minced garlic
pepper to taste
Don't add salt.  The bacon is plenty salty.



Place the broth and the drained beans in a large stock pot. 

 


Heat to a low boil.

 

Brown the bacon in a large fry pan.  It took me two batches.  Remove the pieces when brown on both sides and drain on paper towels.

Add 2/3 of the bacon bits to the soup pot.

 

Pour out most of the bacon grease, leaving a Tablespoon or so for cooking the vegetables.  Place the vegetables in the fry pan and cook until softened and the onions are translucent.  Add the tomato sauce. Even though the tomato paste comes in a small can, I rarely use the whole thing  I freeze the remainder in  Ziploc bag in lumps of about 2 Tablespoons.

 

Cook the veggies until the tomato paste is fully incorporated.  Then add them to the soup.

 

Cook for about 5 minutes more.  You want all the flavors to blend!



Serve with some of the reserved bacon pieces for a garnish.

I'm not going to say you will never buy a can of this soup again.  That is a nice and easy choice.  But this soup is more flavorful and has REAL bacon pieces, and big ones!  It is also pretty quick.  Most of the time is spent cutting veggies and cooking the bacon, and that goes pretty fast.

I could soak the beans overnight and make my own chicken broth.  But I won't.  I like to cook, but I am not a fanatic about it!