When I heard we were doing a soup series, I immediately knew I wanted to try out a bean and bacon soup. This smoky and hearty duo has always been one of my favorites but something I hadn’t tackled yet, so I liked the challenge. I wasn’t able to find anything to my liking in my cookbooks or online, so I made up my own based on four or five recipes that looked interesting. I was very pleased with how this turned out and recommend enjoying it with some crusty bread and a glass of red wine.
Tuscan Bean Soup
6 strips thick, sliced Applewood Smoked Bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
10 cups chicken broth
16 ounces dried Great Northern beans, rinsed
14 ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 sprig rosemary
1 ½ teaspoons black pepper
In a Dutch oven over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp and set aside on paper towel-lined plate. Remove bacon drippings leaving two tablespoons in Dutch oven. Add onions and carrots and sauté until soft. Add garlic and stir for one minute. Add chicken broth, beans, tomatoes, rosemary and pepper; stir until well incorporated. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove rosemary spring before serving.
Serves 8
Erik says
This is what beans were made for! Nice recipe!
(Doesn’t bacon make everything better??)
thejoereview says
My wife loves everything Italian & is already bugging me to make this for her. So wish me luck.
Jenna says
Good luck!
Richard says
I made the soup today. The only thing I did different was I soaked the beans overnight so cooked them for 4 hours instead of the 7. It turned out fabulous! A simple but very flavorful soup. My wife and I love soups this time of year. Erik I agree, bacon makes everything better!
Kim says
Thanks for the tip, Richard. If I hadn’t waited until that morning to start the soup, I would have soaked the beans overnight so I didn’t have to cook them as long. That’s a major pain and three more hours that the stove had to be on (not looking forward to my PG&E bill). Thanks again for posting that suggestion!