White Bean Soup with Crumbled Bacon and Spiced Brown Butter.
My soup game has been severely lacking this winter.
It’s a shame too, because I love a good soup backstroke. Look at that silky bowl!
I almost always make one new soup recipe a week come Fall, but we had cahrazy weather here, with it feeling like summer on Christmas, so I’m blaming it on that. I promise I’ll stop talking about the weather now, k.
Let’s make up for it now!
P.S. last Friday night I made this lasagna soup (I know, I’m so wild) and holy cow was it fantastic. Insane. Add it to your list, and make both this weekend. Done and done. I made your plans!
So. This white bean soup is almost too easy to share with you. It’s too easy for it’s own good. I used canned white beans, a big change from using dried beans, which I almost ALWAYS did before having a baby and found myself with what was apparently loads of time on my hands. As well as a working brain that remembered to do things such as soak beans.
Not minding one bit though, because this soup can come together in 30 minutes. It is pure SILK. It’s creamy and dreamy and gives you the most melt-in-your-mouth feel.
By the way, how do we feel about the term (expression?) “mouth feel?” I’m not exactly a fan.
It starts with bacon, comes together with the beans and finishes with spiced brown butter.
This butter. UGH. This butter. It’s so wonderful.
I’ve talked about it before. The curry brown butter itself is originally from Heidi’s green lentil soup, which may be one of my favorite recipes of all time. I’ve made that butter countless times (and used it on things like grilled cheese) – it takes brown butter to another level entirely. I mean, if you thought you liked brown butter before?
Just wait.
This is off the charts. So I added just a pinch of cardamom for more warming winter spice.
The best part about this is that you just need a tiny drizzle. It adds so much depth of flavor to the bowl, you won’t even believe it! Then top it with some crunchy bacon, some fresh herbs, maybe a crouton from your salad that you weren’t sure was a good idea but that ended up being an awesome idea – one big, rustic crouton is enough.
Unless you’re like me and want a bowl solely for dipping. Uhhh… YEP.
White Bean Soup with Bacon and Spiced Brown Butter
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 (14-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup half and half
spiced brown butter
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 pinch of ground cardamom
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until crispy and all the fat is rendered. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and place it on a paper towel to drain any excess grease. Add the onions and garlic to the pot and stir. Stir in the basil, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook until the onions begin to caramelize, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Stir in the beans and stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, carefully transfer the mixture to a blender. Blend until pureed completely, then pour back in the pot. Season with the salt and taste again – you may need to season more, but remember you are topping it with bacon! Stir in the half and half right before serving.
- Serve topped with the bacon crumbles and drizzles of spiced brown butter.
spiced brown butter
- Heat the butter over medium heat in a saucepan, whisking constantly. Cook until it bubbles and the brown bits appear on the bottom (about 4 to 5 minutes) then quickly stir in the curry and cardamom and remove it from the heat. Whisk for another 10 seconds. Drizzle and drop the butter on the soup before serving.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Be sure to follow @howsweeteats on instagram and tag #howsweeteats. You can also post a photo of your recipe to our facebook page.
I appreciate you so much!
isn’t that heaven itself?!
71 Comments on “White Bean Soup with Crumbled Bacon and Spiced Brown Butter.”
This may truly be my favorite simple soup ever. Luxurious but oh so easy. Although my soup didn’t look as rich and thick as the photos, the flavor was perfect! That browned butter/bacon topping was key.
Made this last night for dinner and it was very good! I will say that mine was not nearly as pretty as the photo, it turned out much more brown due to the caramelization of the garlic and onion. Frankly, it looked terrible but tasted great! I didn’t have any problem with it being too thin or lacking creaminess. I’m not the biggest curry fan, but still loved the browned butter, as it’s a very, very subtle flavor. For anyone wondering about serving size, I used only 3 slices of bacon to cut down on some calories, and used 9 ounces of dried Great Northern beans (4.5 ounces roughly equals 1 can of beans) and will get about 3 meal-sized soup bowls out of it. Served with homemade Asiago cheese rolls, it was great for a cold evening!
Pingback: 70 Fall Soup Recipes You Haven’t Tried Before | Famish
I’m surprised so many people love this. While the flavor was good, I found the consistency to be very weird. Mine came out super thick, even though I used about half a cup more stock than what is called for.
The butter is indeed spicy. Taste test before you add much. Good soup, but makes only four smallish servings. I’ll double next time as I like to have leftovers for lunch.
Today I’m digging into my archives to retrieve this recipe which I found for the first time last year. This is such a tasty soup that I made it several times over the winter before filing it away. Easy to make, incredibly tasty. No wonder it has five stars!