Black Bean and Bacon Soup
During November and December, I feel like the Internet is overrun with treat recipes (and my real life is overrun with treats as well) and what I really need is actual real food.
I made this recipe fairly often YEARS ago, and then hadn’t made it in probably four years. Last week, when all of Bart’s family was in town, I made a giant pot of it and Bart took one bite and said, “I LOVE this soup. You haven’t made this in forever.”
That’s the kind of reaction you like when you made such a huge batch that there were lots of leftovers.
I put it all together early in the day and then just let it simmer for the whole afternoon while we headed out on some adventures, and it was delightful to come home, whip up some biscuits, and have dinner ready to go for a crowd of thirteen.
Plus, since you’ve had some real food, you can definitely enjoy a plateful of goodies brought over by your kind neighbors/co-workers/self.
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Bean and Bacon Soup
Black-Bean Soup
Perfect hearty and simple soup for fall and winter (and reheats really well, so it's great to make ahead!)
Ingredients
- 12-16 ounces bacon chopped
- 3/4 cup celery chopped
- 3/4 cup onion chopped
- 3/4 cup carrots chopped
- 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic minced
- 1 jalapeno chili minced, seeds removed
- 4 cups 2 cans cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 large tomato chopped
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
Instructions
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Cook bacon in heavy large pot over medium heat until cooked but not quite crispy, about 8 minutes. Do not drain.
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Saute the vegetables, garlic and chili with the bacon and then add the beans, broth, chopped tomato, vinegar and cumin.
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Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer soup, stirring occasionally, about 1-2 hours.
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Before serving, process in a blender or with an immersion blender until mostly smooth.
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Salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.
Recipe Notes
(adapted from It's So Tasty Too)
I love soup season! I definitely need to try this recipe. It sounds delicious!
A) I love soup. B) I love making soup. C) I think this soup sounds FABULOUS and shall be trying it soon. D) I had no idea an Immersion Blender existed, and now it has sky-rocketed on my “Want!” list. So thank you for that. 😉
This sounds wonderful, so I will make it. However, I doubt I’d bother to blend it. Just “makes for” more dishes to wash.
Oh, a pastry cutter (I have a deep U shaped one) or a mixer would work to blend this.
Also, don’t bother to soak beans. Sort, rinse, bring to boil, and then turn down the heat to let them simmer. Easy. No pouring off leached vitamins and minerals, either.
Immersion blenders are totally worth it – especially if you get the kind that has some extras so that it works pretty much as a regular blender. My mom has one, and I use it for soups, but also for chopping nuts (for cakes or dinner or whatever), for crushing bananas for banana bread, for making salsa…
seriously, go buy one.
Immersion blenders are totally worth it. I think they are pretty cheap as appliances go (I think we got ours for about $30?). They are fun and very easy to use and clean. They are helpful for ANYTHING you would blend, but I have only used ours on soups. Soups that I would not have made if I did not have an immersion blender because it is just too annoying any other way (both because of the transferring and the cleaning of the blender). So, for me, totally worth it.