Instant Pot Bean and Bacon Soup

There’s nothing better on a chilly day than a big bowl of steaming soup. This bean and bacon soup is full of flavor and will leave your whole family wanting more. Serve this rich dish with a hearty chunk of bread, a lightly dressed side salad, or even a toasty, melty grilled cheese. This recipe is filled with the warm flavors or ground cloves, thyme, fresh garlic, and luscious bacon-y goodness. You can make this on the stove, or in your pressure cooker.

Bean and Bacon soup is a favorite childhood memory that my mother would heat up from a can.  I wanted to recreate this soup, from scratch, and it worked!  This soup is hearty with Navy Beans, bacon, with just the right amount of tomato.  Served with a salad and some fresh bread– you’ve got a winner!

To make this even easier, I adapted the stove top version to my Instant Pot Pressure Cooker and soup was on in no time at all!

You’ll need a bag of Great White Northern beans. Since I made the soup on a whim, I didn’t pre-soak the beans overnight. I used my pressure cooker to do a quick soak, but you can also you a regular pot. I simply rinsed and sorted out the beans, put them into my pressure cooker, covered them with water and a pinch of salt  and let them cook for 3 minutes (a regular pot takes about 5 minutes).

Turn off the pressure cooker (mine is digital) and released the steam. In a regular pot, just turn it off and let them sit for about an hour. NOTE: I see no reason why you can’t use drained and rinsed canned beans, instead.

This is a simple soup to make– you need a mirepoix, which is a fancy word for chopped onion, celery and carrots.  I actually did a rough chop and pulsed them in my food processor.

For the bacon, I removed some from the freezer and sliced them with a very sharp knife.

You want them a little crispy…like this. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Reserve some bacon fat and cook the mirepoix for 3-5 minutes, then I added one clove of garlic. I added 2 Tablespoons tomato paste (for a richer flavor; the season with about 1 Tablespoon of fresh or dried thyme (I used dried).

In a Dutch Oven — in this case, I used my pressure cooker– add the bacon and mirepoix.
NOTE:  I now cook the bacon and vegetables, using the browning cycle on my electric pressure cooker…much easier!

I thawed the last of my homemade chicken stock, but you can certainly used a good quality chicken stock (Trader Joe’s or Kitchen Basics are my favorite commercial brands). I recommend buying low-sodium chicken broth and adjusting the salt to your own liking.

Add  chicken stock , beans, vegetables, one large can of diced tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and cloves, and pressure cook for 25 minutes. If using a dutch oven, simmer all the ingredients for about 1- 1/2/ hours. You could, certainly, use a slow cooker for this, too!  You can mash some of the beans to make the soup thicker. I prefer to take about 2 Tablespoons of potato starch, ladle some broth in a bowl and whisk it together– the soup should thicken nicely.

This is one of those hearty soups that men, in particular, seem to love. I think men have a “thing” about bacon…at least in my house!

I froze half the soup for one of those work nights when I’m too tired to cook. A salad and some hearty bread makes this a filling meal.  It reminds me of Campbell’s Soup from my childhood– only a whole lot better!

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Bean and Bacon Soup

There's nothing better on a chilly day than a big bowl of steaming soup. This bean and bacon soup is full of flavor and will leave your whole family wanting more. Serve this rich dish with a hearty chunk of bread, a lightly dressed side salad, or even a toasty, melty grilled cheese. This recipe is filled with the warm flavors or ground cloves, thyme, fresh garlic, and luscious bacon-y goodness

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Pressure Cooker Time25 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course: main, Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Bean and Bacon Soup

Servings: 6

Author: Debby – www.AFeastfortheEyes.net

Ingredients

• 1 package dried navy beans or Northern white beans 16-ounces
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 pound bacon coarsely chopped
• 2 onions chopped
• 1 to 2 carrots finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic finely minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 can diced tomatoes 16-ounce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon thyme

Instructions

• Cook the bacon until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon, reserving 2 to 3 tablespoons of bacon fat.

  If using a pressure cooker, follow the same step. I use the saute cycle on my electric pressure cooker.
• Add the onions, carrots, garlic, and celery to the reserved grease and saute until soft, do not drain.

  Add the thyme.

  Add the tomato paste; cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

  Add the beans, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, salt, black pepper, ground cloves, and bay leaf.
• If using a dutch oven, simmer all the ingredients for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• If using a pressure cooker, lock the lid on and pressure cook on high for 25 minutes.

  Remove bay leaf, and taste for seasoning.

  Adjust salt, to your own taste, sprinkle bacon in each bowl just before serving to preserve its crispness. Enjoy.
• Freezes well.

Notes

Unless you are using the “quick soak” method, the beans should be rinsed and soaked for at least 8 hours or overnight. To “quick soak” beans, boil the beans in 9 cups of the water and then let sit for one hour. Drain and set aside. Or, if using a pressure cooker, cook for 3 minutes in salted water, and allow a natural release. Drain and rinse.

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!

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