Slow Cooker Bean with Bacon Soup with Canned Beans and Fresh Herbs
Slow cooker bean with bacon soup has become a constant in our household. The melding of many savory and delicious flavors simmered in a crock pot never disappoints our crew. Enjoy this soup recipe perfected over many years.
Slow Cooker Bean with Bacon soup
Ingredients
- 6 slices thick-cut bacon (try our "baked" bacon idea)
- 1 medium yellow onion (diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 cans low sodium pinto beans-14.5oz (drained and rinsed)
- 1 can low sodium garbanzo beans-14.5oz (drained and rinsed)
- 1 can low sodium petite diced tomatoes-14.5oz (with juices)
- 4 cups low sodium broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable)
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (for flavor)
- 1 tsp vinegar-Apple Cider or Balsamic (for flavor)
Optional Ingredients – Veggies
- 2 medium carrots (peeled and chopped)
- 2 stalks celery (cut into small pieces)
- 1 cup baby spinach (finely chopped)
Optional Ingredients – Flavorings
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (zingy flavor)
- 1 tbsp Miso (savory flavor)
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (salty flavor)
- 1 tbsp steak sauce (beefy flavor)
Instructions
Bacon Prep
- Preheat oven to 300 F
- Lay 6 strips of bacon flat in an edged baking sheet. Works even better if you use a wire rack inside the sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven.
- Flip bacon slices over and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and place bacon slices on paper towels to drain excess grease. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- Chop bacon into small chunks. (Approximately 1/2 inch squares)
Cooking Instructions
- In a 4 quart or more slow cooker, add onion, garlic, 1 cup of broth, paprika, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar. Add any "optional flavorings". Stir together until combined.
- Add tomatoes and 1 cup of broth. Stir together until combined.
- Add rinsed beans, 2 cups of broth, bacon chunks, and any "optional veggies". Stir together until combined.
- Set crockpot to High (4 hours) or Low (8 hours). Place lid on slow cooker.
- After prescribed time, taste the mixture. Add additional pepper and salt to your taste.
Serving Instructions
- Ladle soup into bowls and allow to cool for 1 to 3 minutes. Serve warm.
Notes
Cook’s Thoughts
- We have found that most people enjoy a hearty and mild taste. Adding hot spices and peppers tends to overwhelm the flavor of this savory homemade bean and bacon soup.
- Using canned beans is considered in poor taste by many respected cooks. We do not. The key is rinsing your canned beans before using them. Finding low sodium varieties is good too.
- The question of “cheese or no cheese” is often asked. Again, we like the rich taste of the soup itself. However, topping the soup with some shredded cheese is definitely acceptable.
- Our favorite soup recipe guru of all kinds is Pioneer Women (Ree Drummond)
As per the “No BS” pledge here at Webtop Cook, the recipe comes first. (see above) You know though, this soup recipe wasn’t always perfect. Read the hilarious tale behind my first attempt at making slow cooker bean with bacon soup. It certainly was an interesting day.
I Tried to Make Bean and Bacon Soup in a Slow Cooker and Accidentally Summoned the Pioneer Woman
Look, I’ll be honest with you.
I embarked on this bacon and bean soup recipe journey not because I was craving soup, but because I had exactly three things in my pantry: a bag of dried beans, a half-used pack of bacon, and an old, slightly judgmental slow cooker I inherited from my Aunt Cheryl. It has one job and somehow manages to underperform even at that. But I was determined. I would make a bean and bacon soup crock pot miracle happen, come hell or high simmer.
So there I was, Googling around with greasy fingers—because of course I was snacking on the bacon while researching—and that’s when I fell into the black hole of soup blogs. People have opinions about homemade bean and bacon soup, let me tell you. They speak of “umami depth” and “flavor layering” like they’re brewing potions, not lunch.
And then—like a smoky, pork-scented oracle—she appeared: the Pioneer Woman. Glorious. Rustic. Full of hope. And garnished with enough fresh herbs to make my local grocery store cry.
I took one look at that recipe and thought: I can do this. I can be a Pioneer Person. Spoiler Alert: I could not.
Act I: The Beans That Wouldn’t Quit
Did you know that dried beans require soaking? You probably did. I, however, did not. At 8 a.m., bleary-eyed and wearing pajama pants covered in little breakfast tacos (ironic, considering what I was making), I opened the bag of dried pinto beans and poured them straight into the crock pot like I was some kind of confident bean whisperer.
Wrong.
By noon, I had what could best be described as “legumes with commitment issues.” They were neither raw nor cooked, just floating there like they’d made peace with never being edible. I Googled “bean with bacon soup slow cooker” and every post screamed the same thing:
“SOAK YOUR BEANS, YOU WILD ANIMAL.”
So I did what any self-respecting person would do: I scooped them out and dumped them into a mixing bowl filled with hot water, hoping they’d somehow speed-soak. Did it work? Sort of. Was it scientifically sound? Absolutely not. But we’re not here for science—we’re here for soup.
Act II: Bacon Makes Everything Better (Except When It Doesn’t)
Ah, bacon. Salty, crispy, irresistible. If bacon had a fan club, I would be the overly enthusiastic treasurer. For this bacon bean soup recipe, I decided to get fancy and fry up the bacon before adding it to the slow cooker.
This was my first win.
The smell of bacon frying is the universal language of “something good is happening.” Unfortunately, I was too busy enjoying the aroma to notice that I’d put the heat on way too high. The first few slices crisped up nicely. The next batch turned into charcoal strips that could be used in medieval fencing.
No problem, I thought, scraping carbonized bacon from the pan. I’ll just chop up the good stuff and toss it in. And I did. Along with the onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and a level of hope I had no right to feel at that point in the recipe.
Then came the moment: combining everything into the crock pot. Beans (now semi-soft!), veggies, bacon, seasonings, and enough broth to drown a hobbit. I slapped the lid on that bad boy, turned the dial to “LOW,” and walked away like I’d just won Top Chef: Midwest Casserole Edition.
Act III: Soup Watching
Now, I don’t know what it is about slow cookers, but they mess with your mind. You start off calm, like, “This is great! I have the whole day to do other things while dinner magically makes itself!”
Three hours later, you’re hovering over it like a jealous ex.
I kept peeking in. The beans were slowly transforming into something edible. The bacon was sharing its smoky gospel with every bite. And the broth—oh baby—the broth was turning golden and rich, like the liquid version of a bear hug.
This was going to be the slow cooker bean with bacon soup of dreams. I was sure of it. I even started prepping garnishes. I’m talking parsley sprigs, cracked pepper, and a very show-offy swirl of sour cream.
Then, I made a fatal error. I tasted it.
Act IV: The Great Salt Incident
Remember how I fried the bacon? And didn’t drain it?
Yeah. Turns out bacon grease has… a lot of flavor. Like, an alarming amount of flavor. The kind that creeps up on you and then grabs you by the tastebuds yelling, “TOO MUCH, TOO MUCH!”
One bite of the soup, and my face involuntarily puckered like I’d just licked the Dead Sea. I scrambled for fixes—watered it down, added more beans, cried a little. Eventually, after a bit of lemon juice and a whispered apology to my ancestors, it balanced out. Not perfect, but edible.
Somehow, through sheer stubbornness and possibly black magic, I ended up with a decent pot of bacon and bean soup recipe goodness. It wasn’t Pioneer Woman level, but it wasn’t a total war crime either.
Act V: The Reveal (Also Known As Dinner)
When it was finally time to serve my bean and bacon soup crock pot masterpiece, I called my family to the table with the proud energy of a grandmother presenting her 12th holiday roast.
They were suspicious, of course. Past cooking attempts have included things like “lava lasagna” and “muffins that fought back.”
But this time? They actually liked it. My partner had seconds. The teenager didn’t fake a cough and ask for cereal. Even the dog licked the air appreciatively (or maybe that was the bacon grease on my sleeve—who’s to say?).
And me? I sat there in my taco-print pajamas, sipping my homemade bean and bacon soup, and feeling—dare I say—like the Pioneer Woman herself.
Closing Thoughts: Tips from a Soup Survivor
If you’re tempted to try this slow cooker bean with bacon soup yourself, let me leave you with a few hard-won tips:
Pioneer Woman Bean Bacon Soup Recipe
Click Here if you don’t see the link
It is tremendously good—full of flavor, super satisfying, and it’ll remind you of the bean with bacon soup you ate as a little girl. Bliss. Absolute bliss. And it tastes exactly—I mean exactly—like the soup I remember eating as a child.
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