White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs

Name: White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 12
Ingredients: 1 1/4 pounds thick-sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 1 Spanish onion, finely chopped; 1 large carrot, finely diced; 2 celery ribs, finely diced; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 1 fresh bay leaf; 2 teaspoons chopped thyme; 2 teaspoons chopped rosemary; 1 pound Great Northern beans, soaked overnight and drained; 10 cups chicken stock; Salt and freshly ground pepper

2,198 Ratings
3 Reviews

This warming soup takes inspiration from the Spanish dish caldo gallego, and combines the heartiness of white beans and crispy bacon with a light, herb-infused broth. To keep things vegetarian, you can swap the bacon fat for olive oil or butter and top the soup with another crunchy garnish of your liking, like croutons. The longest part of the process is allowing the soup to simmer and all the flavors to meld, but your patience will pay off. Plus: More Terrific Soup Recipes & Tips

By Jose Garces

November 2008

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Credit: © Petrina Tinslay

Recipe Summary test

active:

30 mins

total:

2 hrs

Yield:

Directions

Step 1
In a large soup pot, cook the bacon over moderate heat, stirring, until browned and crisp, about 7 minutes. Drain, reserving the fat and bacon separately.

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Step 2
Heat the olive oil in the soup pot. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf and 1 teaspoon each of the chopped thyme and rosemary and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the drained beans, stock and 3 tablespoons of the reserved bacon fat and bring to a boil. Simmer the soup over moderately low heat until the beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours.
Step 3
Discard the bay leaf and stir in the remaining thyme and rosemary. Season the soup with salt and pepper and transfer to shallow bowls. Garnish the soup with the bacon and serve.

Make Ahead

The soup and bacon can be refrigerated separately for up to 3 days. Recrisp the bacon before serving.

Suggested Pairing

Bright, citrusy Albariño.

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Food & Wine Member

02/12/2021

Adding 3 tablespoons of the reserved bacon fat into soup didn't work. It made the soup really greasy. Most of the time I refrigerate my homemade broth to set the fat and remove it from the top before using. Adding bacon grease back in seemed counter-intuitive, but I followed the directions. It didn't turn out well and I'll not follow that advice in the future.

steve gorges

06/28/2018

A family favorite3 cans of great northern, rinsed and draineddoubled the garlic / bay leaves8 cups of stockdash of red pepper flakesthick cut black peppered baconMrs Dash in lieu of saltall else per recipe

Travel and Beach

01/11/2018

This was really good! I halved it. I used two cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed. Also, I like soups like this pureed. When I make it again, I will decrease the stock from five cups (half of recipe) to four cups so it stays a little thicker.

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White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs

Gallery

Recipe Summary test

Ingredients

Directions

Make Ahead

Suggested Pairing

Reviews (3)

All Reviews for White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs

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White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs

Gallery

Recipe Summary test

Ingredients

Directions

Make Ahead

Suggested Pairing

Reviews (3)

All Reviews for White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs