Serves: 8 | Prep Time: 20 mins | Cook Time: 45 mins
| Quantity | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 6 strips | Bacon, thick-cut, chopped into 1/2" squares |
| 4-6 cloves | Garlic, minced or pressed |
| 1 | Onion, medium, diced |
| 3-4 ribs | Celery, diced |
| 4-5 | Carrots, peeled and diced |
| 1 tsp | Curry powder |
| 1 tsp | Cumin, ground |
| 1/2 tsp | Paprika, smoked |
| 1/4 tsp | Cayenne, ground |
| 1 tsp | Salt, kosher |
| 2 tbsp | Tomato Paste |
| 3 cups | Chicken broth |
| 1/2 cup | Beef broth |
| 1/2 cup | Chipotle broth |
| 2 cups | Water |
| 1 cup | Milk |
| 1/2 tsp | Liquid smoke |
| 1/2 tsp | Worchestershire sauce |
| 3 | Bay leaves |
| 1 tsp | Thyme, dried (or 2 tsp fresh) |
| 1 (15 oz) can | Blue Runner cream-style navy beans |
| 1/2 tbsp | Flour, all-purpose |
| 2 (15 oz) cans | Great Northern beans |
| To taste | Salt and Pepper |
- In a large heavy bottomed pan, cook the bacon over medium heat until cooked and the fat is foamy, about 4-5 minutes.
- Remove bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Add garlic. Stir to prevent burning. Cook until fragrant, about 30-60 seconds.
- Add onion, celery, and half of the carrots to pan and coat with the bacon fat.
- Add curry powder, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and kosher salt. Mix to combine.
- Boil other half of carrots in a separate small pot until soft. Drain and set aside.
- Allow main pot to cook until onions are translucent and carrots and celery are beginning to soften, 4-5 minutes.
- Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant and a darker shade of red, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add broths, water, milk, liquid smoke, Worchestershire sauce, bay leaves, thyme, the cream-style beans, and half of the bacon. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook, partially covered, for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
- After about 10 minutes of cooking, skim as much as you can off the soup into a heat-resistant mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in flour until the fatty soup becomes thick like pudding but not quite a paste. More or less flour may be needed depending on amount of fat. Add back to the soup pot.
- Remove the bay leaves.
- Puree the soup using either a hand-held immersion blender or a traditional blender.
- Add the remaining carrot, half the remaining bacon, and the great northern beans. Cook for another 5-10 minutes to let it all come together.
- Add salt and pepper to taste, garnish with remaining bacon.
Notes
- Preferred ingredient brands: Wright hickory smoked bacon, broths made from Better than Bouillon
- If you can't find the Blue Runner cream style beans just get another 2 cans of great northern beans and mash them up and use that instead.
- You can use just chicken broth, but flavor will likely be less interesting. Maybe add more cayenne or other hot stuff to make up for the lack of the chipotle broth.
- If you want to just skim the fat and not add back with flour to lower calories, it will definitely work, but reduce flavor. In that case, after disposing of the fat, take out a ladle full of soup and whisk the flour into that and add back to pot.
- When I used to make this from the canned condensed soup, I would garnish with lime juice as well, but it was so good without it, I didn't want to mess with it. Might be worth trying though.
Source
Found the below recipe to try it from scratch and altered it based on experience. The result is absolutely incredible, please try it.
