Bean with Bacon Soup (2024)

This Bean with Bacon Soup recipe is full of bacon flavor and perfectly hearty for a warm winter meal. You only need a few ingredients to make it which makes it affordable and easy.

Bean With Bacon Soup

Nothing says a warm winter meal to me more than the deliciousness of a soup. One that can be made in the slow cooker is even better because it requires less hands-on time and has plenty of time for the flavors to meld together while it cooks.

Not to mention, it makes it easy to throw together supper in the morning so that it’s ready and on the table by dinner time.This navy bean and bacon soup recipe is definitely at the top of the list for flavor, ease, and budget!

My mom made lots of soups when I was growing up, and this bean soup was a childhood favorite.

Ingredients in Bean with Bacon Soup Recipe

• Minced garlic. Make your own from fresh garlic, or you can use dried garlic or the minced garlic from the store.
• Onion. Medium size works well in this recipe unless you are an onion fan, then go with a large one.
• Butternut Squash or Carrots. I used butternut squash in this recipe because that’s what I had on hand at the time. Carrots will work the same.
• Chicken Broth. You can use homemade chicken broth or store-bought, whatever you have. You can use water if you don’t have any broth on hand.
• Bacon. This recipe only uses half a pound of bacon, so it stays budget-friendly.
• Tomato Paste. Just one small can is needed for this recipe to give it a better depth of flavor.
• Navy Beans. I use dried, soaked beans in this recipe. You can replace it with canned beans if you have them, and this will cook up even faster. You could also use great northern beans or cannellini beans if you don’t have navy beans.
• Salt and Pepper. I did not include these in the main recipe but you can add them to taste if needed. It may depend on the saltiness of your bacon. A little black pepper is always good too.

Step By Step Instructions for Making Bean with Bacon Soup

For this recipe, I used dried beans since they are the most cost-effective and work well in dry storage. If you are also using dried beans, be sure to soak them overnight before using them in the soup. You can read more on Soaking Dried Beans here.

Tip: Learn how to Can Dried Soaked Beans.

Although most Bean with Bacon Soup recipes call for carrots, I have plenty of butternut squash in my root cellar, and so that’s what we use in this soup. Either will work just fine. You can also add in diced celery if you have some on hand.

To start making the soup, fry the diced onion in a bit of oil until it’s transparent. Add the onion, chicken broth, butternut squash, tomato paste, and garlic into your slow cooker.

Fry your bacon on the stovetop until it’s nice and crispy. Drain any bacon grease. Stick it in the fridge for a few moments to cool before dicing. I can’t tolerate pork, so I recently found Beef Bacon here, and it’s awesome! It’s not the most cost-effective product, but it’s so nice to be able to enjoy a bit of bacon now and then.

After you’ve finished cutting the bacon, add it to your slow cooker. Rinse the beans well and add them in last. Give everything a big stir until the ingredients are combined, and set your slow cooker on low.

Let it work its magic for about 6 to 8 hours until the beans are soft and cooked through.

Serve this hearty meal with a dollop of sour cream on the top and aCorn Muffin on the side, or just enjoy it nice and warm, straight from the slow cooker.

This recipe makes enough to serve 6 and possibly have leftovers since it’s a very hearty soup. We are able to enjoy this as a meal for all 4 of us and then have leftovers for lunches the next 2 days after making it. I love soup leftovers!

Stove Top Instructions

If you don’t want to cook this in the slow cooker, cook it on the stove top low and slow in a large pot or Dutch oven and simmer until the beans are soft and cooked through.

Print this Easy Bean and Bacon Soup Recipe to add to your Recipe Binder below:

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Does your family enjoy a good Bean with Bacon Soup recipe? Or have you never tried it before?

Merissa Alink

Merissa has been blogging about andliving the simple and frugal life on Little House Living since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from theContact Page.

This Bean and Bacon Soup recipe was originally published on Little House Living in January 2017. It has been updated as of January 2024.