Slow Cooker Bean And Bacon Soup is a delicious and hearty set and forget recipe! With carrots, celery, onion, tomatoes, beans and bacon this fully loaded soup will tick all of the taste and texture boxes. Throw everything into the slow cooker in the morning and come home to bean and bacon soup that has cooked itself!
Recipes like the Chicken Barley Soup, Pumpkin Soup, Leek And Potato Soup and the Mushroom Soup are all slow cooker soup recipes.
The Braised Steak And Onions, Dry Rub Ribs, French Onion Pork Chops and the Roast Pork With Crackling are all family friendly slow cooker recipes.
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🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about this crockpot bean with bacon soup recipe in the points below:
- Simple ingredients: each of the ingredients needed to make the soup are year round available products that are easy to get your hands on. Your local grocery store will have everything you need!
- Minimal effort: the only 'hard work' needed for the recipe is the preparation of the onion, celery and carrots. Other than that all of the prep work is quick, easy and needing minimal effort.
- Lots of vegetables: one of the best things about soup is how many veggies you can throw into the mix! This soup is loaded with a ton of veggies, leaving you feeling satisfied by not overly full or like you have eaten a heavy meal.
- Budget friendly: another added bonus of this soup is that it uses inexpensive ingredients! You are not going to blow the budget with this one. It is an easy soup with grocery store ingredients that makes the perfect soup 👌.
- Freezer friendly: this bacon and bean soup is excellent to meal prep. So you can make a big batch of it on the weekends when you have time and know that you have a quick dinner that only needs heating up for the busy weeknight's when you will be short on time.
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make this easy recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Salt and pepper: we use salt and a little bit of black pepper for seasoning in the recipe. You can also use some black pepper when serving the soup.
- Garlic: you can use 2-3 fresh garlic cloves, chunky chopped garlic as you see in the photo above or minced garlic from a jar. Each option will work and you can choose the one that suits you best.
- Oregano: our dried herb of choice for the recipe!
- Onion: simply peeled and diced using a knife and cutting board.
- Diced tomatoes: these add a great chunky texture to the soup.
- Mixed beans: you will find these in the supermarket aisle with the canned vegetables. They are a great combination of a variety of beans of differing sizes.
- Cannellini beans: these are the white or cream coloured beans you see in the photo above. For these and the mixed beans we want to drain them into a colander and rinse them under tap water.
- Celery: cut the leaves and base off and then give these a chop into small pieces.
- Carrots: all we need to do for these is to use a vegetable peeler to peel them and then give them a rough chop into small pieces.
- Bacon: the best type of bacon to use for the recipe is diced bacon. This is because there is no fatty rind that drips off into the liquid. There is no prep work needed for it and we simply add it to the slow cooker as is.
- Vegetable stock: vegetable stock or vegetable broth is the primary liquid for the soup. During the cooking process this absorbs a lot of flavors from the other ingredients which helps to tie the overall soup flavor together!
Top Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making my recipes. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by adding the ingredients to the slow cooker insert.
- Add the diced onion (Photo 1)
- Then add the chopped carrots (Photo 2)
- Next add the celery (Photo 3)
- Then add the diced tomatoes (Photo 4)
👩🍳 How to Make Slow Cooker Bean And Bacon Soup
To make the bean and bacon soup, start by adding the diced onion to the slow cooker. After that add the chopped carrots and celery. Then pour in the 2 tins of diced tomatoes as you see me having done in the photos above 😉👌.
- Add the cannellini beans (Photo 5)
- Then add the mixed beans (Photo 6)
- Next add the diced bacon (Photo 7)
- Add the salt and pepper (Photo 8)
Next add in the cannellini beans, followed by the mixed beans and then the diced bacon.
Once done, sprinkle in the salt and pepper then add the garlic, dried oregano and vegetable stock.
- Add the garlic (Photo 9)
- Then add the oregano (Photo 10)
- Pour in the vegetable stock (Photo 11)
- Cook the soup (Photo 12)
Once you have added the vegetable stock to the slow cooker, you can use a wooden spoon to give everything a gently stir.
Then pop the lid on and set the timer and temperature. The soup can be cooked for 6-8 hours on low temperature of 3-4 hours on high temperature. Work with whichever time period suits you best.
When the cook time is up, you can remove the lid and get ready to portion and serve or leave it on the warm setting until you are ready for dinner.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Bread of course! Well duh you say 😂😂. Haha. Is there ever a better side to a steaming hot bowl of delicious soup than crusty bread. Nope me thinks not.
For a more indulgent bread side you can try the Tortilla Garlic Bread, Ciabatta Garlic Bread, Garlic Pizza Bread or the Turkish Garlic Bread.
Or you can keep it super simple and toast or air fry your favorite bread. Then shred it and get your dunk on with it sopping up some of the juices.
If you want to dollop a spoonful of sour cream or Greek yogurt on top, hey, I won't stop you!
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Allow the soup to fully cool. Then portion into sealed air tight containers and place in the fridge. They can be kept for 3-4 days and need to br reheated before being consumed.
How to Freeze
Or follow the step above to fully cool the soup and portion into containers. Then stack these in the freezer for up to 3 months.
How to Reheat
For refridgerated leftovers, transfer them to a bowl and then cover with cling wrap.
Place these into the microwave and reheat on high for 2-4 minutes until warmed through, stirring after the 1st 2 minutes.
For frozen soup, remove from the freezer and let it thaw. Then reheat folloing the method above. Thawed soup may take 1-2 minutes more to reheat than refridgerated soup.
😉 Substitutions and Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- You can use crushed tomatoes in place of the diced tomatoes if you wish too.
- For the dried herb you can use the equivalent amount of dried thyme, dried basil, Italian seasoning or parsley if you wish too.
- You can use shredded ham in place of the bacon if you would like to.
- For the beans, you can use alternatives such as butter beans, white beans, pinto beans, red kidney beans, navy beans, chick peas or lentils.
- I like to use vegetable stock for this recipe. Whilst the recipe is not vegetarian due to the bacon, I find this flavor stock brings out the best of the rest of the ingredients without overwhelming them with its own flavor. You can however, use chicken stock if you wish too. Or have it and not vegetable stock.
- If you want to add 1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste you can. The reason I don't is that I like the simplicity of using minimal ingredients to create a hearty soup for a cold winter day! This also means not adding this that and everything else in there 😉👌.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- I do like to use a good quality stock for this recipe ie not home brand, but a brand that you know is good quality. I think you can really taste the difference!
- For the tomatoes be they diced or crushed, opt for a variety that is plain with 'no Italian style' about it. This way we know exactly what is going into the soup with no extras.
- You don't have to add the ingredients in the exact same order as I am for this recipe. This one is all about adding the ingredients and then giving them a stir. So if you add one before the other, it will still work out ok.
- If you wish to thicken this soup you can use an immersion blender after it has cooked to blend some (not all) of it. Doing so allows you to keep the texture of the bacon, beans and veggies as well as having a thicker consistency to the rest of the soup.
- If you love slow cooker recipes then you might like to also try the Sausage And Peppers, Taco Mince, Dahl, Pork Chops With Apples, Pasta Bake, Curried Sausages or the Chicken Spaghetti 😉👌.
- Or if it is soup that makes it slurp worthy for you then you might also like the Chicken And Corn Soup, Chicken Corn Noodle Soup, Mexican Beef Soup or the Meatball Tomato Soup 😄👍.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can put raw bacon in the slow cooker. The best type to use is diced or chopped bacon where the rind has been removed. This reduces the amount of fat that will be in the slow cooker with the other ingredients.
For a slow cooker soup recipe there is no need to cook the bacon before adding it to the slow cooker.
Yes. Tinned beans need to be rinsed under running tap water and drained before being added to soup.
😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes
If you are looking for inspiration to make your dinners varied and something to look forward to both cooking and eating, then here are some ideas for you! These recipes have a range of cook times, proteins and methods.
- Thai Minced Pork
- Garlic Chicken Parmesan Pasta
- Chorizo Fried Rice
- Scallop Linguine
- Roast Pork Shoulder
- Greek Leg Of Lamb
- Crumbed Lamb Cutlets
- Pork Leg Roast
You can also find all of my soup recipes or dinner recipes in the one spot.
Adrianne
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📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Bean And Bacon Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion skin peeled and diced, Note 1
- 2 large carrots skin peeled and roughly chopped, Note 2
- 4 stalks celery base and leaves trimmed, finely sliced, Note 3
- 800 grams/ 28 oz diced tomatoes this is 2 standard tins, Note 4
- 400 grams/14 oz mixed beans this is 1 standard tin, Note 5
- 400 grams/14 oz cannelinni beans Note 6
- 2 cups bacon diced, Note 7
- ¼ teaspoon salt Note 8
- ½ teaspoon black pepper also Note 8
- 1 tablespoon garlic Note 9
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano Note 10
- 6 cups vegetable stock (vegetable broth) Note 11
To serve
- black pepper
- parsley
- crusty bread
Instructions
- Vegetables: add the diced onion, chopped carrot and celery pieces to the slow cooker insert. Then pour in the 2 tins of diced tomatoes.
- Beans: next add both the cannellini beans and mixed beans.
- Bacon: then pour in the diced bacon.
- Season: next add the salt, pepper, garlic and dried oregano.
- Stock: then pour in the vegetable stock and use a wooden spoon to give it a gentle stir.
- Cook: place the lid on the slow cooker and set the timer and temperature. You can cook the soup for 6-8 hours on low heat or 3-4 hours on high heat.
- To serve: once the soup is cooked, remove the lid of the slow cooker and give it a stir. Then portion into bowls, sprinkle with black pepper and fresh parsley and serve with crusty bread.
Notes
- Note 1 - Onion: simply peeled and diced using a knife and cutting board. I use a white onion with brown skin. I don't recommend using red onion for this soup.
- Note 2 - Carrots: all we need to do for these is to use a vegetable peeler to peel them and then give them a rough chop into small pieces.
- Note 3 - Celery: chop the leaves and base off and then give these a chop into small pieces.
- Note 4 - Diced tomatoes: these add a great chunky texture to the soup. We need 2 x standard tins. We add everything in the tin to the mix. You can use crushed tomatoes in their place. Opt for plain tins with no additional herbs or 'Italin style'. These add extra ingredients/flavours to the soup. But we are confident in our own conncotion 😉👌.
- Note 5 - Cannellini beans: these are the white or cream coloured beans you see in the photo above. For these and the mixed beans we want to drain them into a colander and rinse them under tap water.
- Note 6 - Mixed beans: you will find these in the supermarket aisle with the canned vegetables. They are a great combination of a variety of beans of differing sizes.
- Note 7 - Bacon: the best type of bacon to use for the recipe is diced bacon. This is because there is no fatty rind that drips off into the liquid. There is no prep work needed for it and we simply add it to the slow cooker as is.
- Note 8 - Salt and pepper: we use salt and a little bit of black pepper for seasoning in the recipe. You can also use some black pepper when serving the soup.
- Note 9 - Garlic: you can use 2-3 fresh garlic cloves, chunky chopped garlic as you see in the ingredients or minced garlic from a jar. Each option will work and you can choose the one that suits you best.
- Note 10 - Oregano: our dried herb of choice for the recipe! Alternatives are dried parsely, dried basil or Italian seasoning (equivalent amount).
- Note 11 - Vegetable stock: vegetable stock or vegetable broth is the primary liquid for the soup. During the cooking process this absorbs a lot of flavors from the other ingredients which helps to tie the overall soup flavor together! You can use liquid stock or make your own from stock cubes or stock powder. You can use chicken stock as an alternative.
Belinda says
Love it! Perfect for winter and so full of flavour.
Adrianne says
Thanks Belinda 😄.