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Yum, bean with bacon soup! The perfect soup for a cold and dreary day. Creamy navy beans, smoky bacon and paprika, and tender carrots in a thick and tangy tomato-infused broth. It was meant to be a friendly nod toward (and a copycat recipe of) good old Campbell’s Bean with Bacon soup. But it turned out to be SO much better!
This is one of those soup recipes that slow you down and fill you up in the best of ways. And your friend the Instant Pot pressure cooker is the fast track to getting there.
Grab your Instant Pot and soup bowls and let’s make some!
Please note: A bean soak is one of the steps (even though it is an instant pot recipe), but please trust me on this one - it’s worth this extra step for the best results!
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What to Eat With Bean and Bacon Soup
On a cold day, I like to bake up a batch of cornbread while I’m cooking the soup in the Instant Pot. Cornbread and white bean soup is a comfort food meal that will feed your whole family for not much money. But if you’re looking for something with less carbs - a cold, crisp salad is a delicious contrast that pairs well with homemade bean and bacon soup. I like to pull out my salad bar while the soup is cooking. Apple Cider salad dressing goes so well with bean and bacon soup, whether you toss it with a green salad or my Healthy 8 salad mix.
Why You should Make Your Own (instead of buy the canned soup)
- It’s one of those easy soup recipes that you’ll make again and again
- You can probably do without the preservatives and MSG found in canned soup.
- You can make a lot more soup for less money
- The leftovers taste even better after spending the night in the fridge (one of the great things about homemade soup!)
- A hot pot of soup is so nice to come home to on a cold day. Compare that to how you feel coming home to soup in a can.
- The Instant Pot can make this soup in a fraction of the time it would take to cook dried beans on the stove. Once you set it, you truly can walk away from it. It will just be right there, keeping your soup warm until you are ready to eat it.
- If you need to use the stove top to prep some other food, the Instant Pot can stay out of your way on a countertop or table.
- You can feed 6 people from one batch. But I highly recommend trying to store some leftovers - it’s better the next day!
Ingredients to Make Bean with Bacon Soup
- Navy beans - dry beans, not canned. These are the smallest white beans, and are the most similar to Campbell’s. Learn more about different kinds of white beans below.
- Broth - beef broth or chicken broth are both good in this recipe.
- Bacon - the smoky bacon flavor is the perfect touch in this delicious soup. You can use regular bacon or turkey bacon - either makes a hearty soup.
- Fresh garlic, shallots, and carrots - simple ingredients that add a lot of flavor.
- The seasonings- Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and celery seed. If you have celery salt you can use that, but reduce the salt in the recipe.
- Tomatoes - you can read about why I love heirloom garden tomatoes so much (which is what you see in the photo). But you can also use canned tomatoes from your local grocery store, if you have to settle. 🙂
A Word About Instant Pots
This is the IP that I have used and loved for years. It’s big enough to feed my whole family when they all come to visit, but I often make dinner for just the three of us that live at home now using this magical machine. I love it for so many recipes! Low Carb Half Calorie rice, low carb mashed potatoes, and gluten free mac and cheese are just a few. You can buy one for right around 100 bucks and it will pay for itself many times over! Go see by clicking this link:
My Favorite Instant Pot
Buy Now → How to Prep the Beans
- In a colander, run the beans under water and rinse until clean.
- Add to a large pot. Cover with about 2 inches of fresh water.
- Bring the pot to a boil, add the lid, and turn off the heat. Let soak for at least 1 hour.
- Drain the water right before adding to the Instant Pot along with the carrots, broth, and spices.
Cooking Dry Beans in an Instant Pot - the Rules
- Don’t salt beans before they’re cooked. Otherwise they won’t soften.
- Don’t add tomatoes until later, for the same reason. The acid in the tomatoes prevents the beans from softening, so is best added at the end of the cooking time.
- Soak the beans before cooking - it takes away the stomach upset. Me and my sensitive stomach have learned this the hard way. Follow my advice and soak the beans as described above for the best results.
Bean with Bacon Soup - Step by Step
Step 1. Prepare beans as described in the “How to Prep Beans” section
Step 2. Turn on Instant Pot to Sauté setting. Chop bacon into small pieces and add to the pot.
Step 3. Add minced garlic and shallots, cook until softened and bacon is starting to brown.
Step 4. Add carrots, broth, spices and beans. Turn off the Instant Pot
Step 5. Now add the lid and lock it. Choose the Bean/Chili setting for 42 minutes at high pressure.
Step 6. Turn off, release the pressure. Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper. If you want a thicker soup, heat using the Sauté setting and mash some of the soup with an immersion blender.
Types of White Beans
I typically come across these three dried white beans in my local grocery stores. They all look similar, but if you want soup that looks and tastes the most like Campbell’s Bean and Bacon soup, you need to make sure you use Navy Beans.
Here are the three types of beans and their differences:
| Dried Beans | Size | Texture | Taste | Features |
| Cannellini beans | large | meaty, with thick skins | earthy and nutty | Also called white kidney beans |
| Great Northern Beans | Medium, smaller than cannellini but larger than navy | Hearty and a little grainy | Very mild, can fill in for navy beans if the larger size works | Good for casseroles and stews |
| Navy Beans | The smallest - perfect for this recipe | soft and creamy texture | Nutty and sweet, perfect for bean and bacon soup! | Good for creamy soups, blends well for dips |
Instant Pot Bean with Bacon Soup - Campbell's Copycat
Bean with bacon soup is made with creamy navy beans, smoky bacon and paprika, and tender carrots in a thick and tangy tomato-infused broth. This is one of those soup recipes that slow you down and fill you up in the best of ways. And your friend the Instant Pot pressure cooker is the fast track to getting there.
- Total Time: 1 hour 42 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups (16 oz. ) dried navy beans
- 6 cups broth - beef broth (chicken broth is also good)
- ½ pound raw bacon
- 2 Tablespoons (or 3 cloves) garlic, minced or grated
- 2 Tablespoons shallot, minced
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 can (28 oz.) petite diced tomatoes, or one quart peeled and diced garden tomatoes
Instructions
Prepare the beans -
- Rinse dried beans, place in a pot. Add enough water to cover beans about 2 inches.
- Bring to a boil, remove from heat, place lid on. Let sit for an hour to soften beans.
- Drain the soaking water and rinse the beans again before adding to the soup.
Make the soup -
- In Instant Pot, choose the Sauté setting.
- Chop bacon into small pieces and add to the Instant Pot.
- Add garlic and shallot.
- Cook and stir until garlic and shallot is softened, and the bacon is a little crispy and browned to your liking.
- Add the carrots, broth, celery seed, paprika,Worcestershire sauce and beans. Stir and scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot.
- Turn off the Instant Pot, add the lid and lock it.
- Now select the Bean/Chili setting for 42 minutes cooking time.
- After it finishes cooking, release the pressure. Use either the quick release or natural release method.
- Remove the lid, add the tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Salt may not be needed based on how salty the bacon is.
Notes
Note: If the tomatoes just don’t taste very tangy, you can add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, or an amount to your taste. Heirloom garden tomatoes are ideal for this recipe. But if you use canned tomatoes or a different kind of tomato, apple cider vinegar can really help enhance the flavors in this soup.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 42 minutes
- Category: dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Diet: Gluten Free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cups
- Calories: 267
- Sugar: 6.5 g
- Sodium: 1057.3 mg
- Fat: 15.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 13.4 g
- Cholesterol: 24.6 mg
Canned bean and bacon soup is not a bad choice as far as calories, protein, fat, and carbs are concerned. But canned soup often contains MSG and nitrites, which you may want to avoid. Homemade bean with bacon soup is your best bet if you want to avoid added chemicals and preservatives.
You can add raw bacon to soup. As the soup cooks it will cook the bacon, but it will be more like boiled bacon, which is unappetizing. It would be better to brown the bacon first and then add the other soup ingredients.
My Instant Pot Bean Soup has a hearty 2 cup serving size, for only 267 calories. Check out the nutrition info in the recipe card of this post.
