Skip the canned version of Campbell’s delicious soup and go for this Slow Cooker Bean and Bacon Soup copycat recipe. It’s a hearty soup made with white beans, carrots, tomatoes, and bacon (of course!). This is a soup your family is sure to enjoy.
If you like white beans and want to use them in a different recipe, try them in my Slow Cooker Sausage White Bean Soup.
Does this taste like Campbell’s bean and bacon soup?
Pretty darn close! Campbell’s bean with bacon soup is known for its full-flavored blend, which can often be hard to copy. But with this homemade soup recipe, I’ve pulled out those flavors for you to recreate using basic kitchen and pantry staples.
Cooked bacon, hickory liquid smoke, and chicken bouillon cubes add so much flavor. Earthy flavors are drawn in from dried thyme, tomatoes, and onion… making the original recipe come to life in your crock pot. This wonderful recipe is worth a try, especially if you’re looking to feed a large family or crowd.
Recipe Ingredients
- White Beans: This recipe calls for small white beans, also known as navy beans. To tell them apart from other similar beans (like great northern beans or cannellini beans), they are ivory-colored, oval-shaped, and have a smooth texture.
- Vegetables: Carrots, tomatoes, and a white onion are diced and added to give this hearty soup a chunky texture.
- Cooked Bacon: Although the bacon is cooked prior to adding, it adds a smoky flavor and whatever bacon fat is left from cooking enhances the soup.
- Chicken Boullion Cubes: These are used to make the soup’s flavorful chicken stock base.
- Hickory Liquid Smoke: A little goes a long way when using liquid smoke, so you’ll only use a half teaspoon to add a touch of smoke flavor.
- Seasonings: Dried thyme, salt, and black pepper are traditional seasonings to use in a good soup.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Add the dried navy beans, chicken bouillon cubes, liquid smoke, onion, tomatoes, carrots, thyme, pepper, and cooked and chopped bacon.
Step Two – Pour in the water.
Step Three – Stir everything together until well combined.
Step Four – Cover and cook on HIGH for 6-7 hours, without opening the lid during the cooking time. Serve and enjoy!
How to serve?
- One of the best ways to serve bean and bacon soup is with a slice of cornbread and soft butter.
- Just before serving, consider adding a dash of red pepper flakes to give it a bit of heat and a sprinkle of fresh herbs, like parsley.
- Soups like this also pair well with a small side salad, collard greens, garlic bread, or even a nice helping of butternut squash.
Recipe FAQs and Variations
No. That is not necessary for this recipe. Not soaking them will help maintain the texture of the beans during the cooking process.
For creamier bean soup, use an immersion blender to mash about 1/4 of the beans. It makes the texture absolutely delicious.
You can add diced ham along with the bacon or in addition. For even more flavor, cook the soup with a ham bone as well.
Pinto beans, kidney beans, white beans, or black beans are all great substitutions. People that have tried these variations have said other beans tasted great. Canned beans are okay to use as well.
No, this recipe is meant for dried beans. Using canned beans would call for an entirely different set of liquid and cooking time.
Add any remaining soup into an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Beyond the original seasonings this recipe calls for, you can add onion powder, crushed red pepper, a bay leaf (remove before serving), and smoked paprika.
Instead of the water and boullion cube mix, you can use chicken broth, veggie broth, or bone broth.
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Slow Cooker Bean and Bacon Soup
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. dried small white beans (navy beans)
- 8 slices thick-cut apple wood smoked bacon cooked and chopped (I use a 10 oz. package of Hempler's brand)
- ½ tsp. hickory liquid smoke
- 4 chicken bouillon cubes
- 1 white onion diced
- 3 Roma Tomatoes diced
- 2 carrots peeled and chopped
- ½ tsp. dried thyme
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 6 cups water
- salt to taste add when done
Instructions:
- Add the beans, chicken bouillon cubes, hickory liquid smoke, onion, tomatoes, carrots, thyme, pepper, and cooked and chopped bacon.
- Add the water. Stir.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 6-7 hours, without opening the lid during the cooking time. You want the beans to be very soft.
- When the cooking time is up, check to see if it needs salt.
- For creamier beans, mash about 1/4 of the beans.
- Serve with cornbread and butter.
Recipe Notes:
- There is no need to presoak your navy beans for this recipe. As long as you use the high setting on your slow cooker, they will cook up perfectly.
- Pinto beans, kidney beans, white beans, or black beans are all great substitutions. People that have tried these variations have said other beans tasted great. Canned beans are okay to use as well.
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
The Bacon made this – use good quality bacon. So flavorful
I made this soup yesterday, it was so delicious. Thank you for the time you took to post this wonderful recipe.
Thank you for making it Ed!
So easy to make and delicious! Thanks
I made this with 2 ham hocks because that’s how the grocery store packaged them. This soup was amazingly delicious and rich. I’m making it for guests this weekend. Thanks for this recipe – 5 stars.
Can you recommend something that supplies the pork flavor of the ham hock, but without the hock? Do the think the bacon would give enough ham flavor and add a little liquid smoke if we wanted a Smokey flavor?
You could do diced ham too? Or just bacon and maybe a half teaspoon of liquid smoke.
We are prepping this now to put in the pot in the am so it will be ready when we get home from work. Thank you for sharing and looking forward to the yum!! Woot!
Let me know how you like it Lee!
I don’t like reviews that say it looks good or whatever! I like when they describe the yummyness of it! So here I am, stomach growling telling you how good it sounds and so forth (shame on me…)! I WILL be making this first thing in the morning! I have everything in my pantry and am so happy thinking about the yummy goodness! Thank you for sharing❣
Thank you, Sarah for the wonderful recipe and photography! I was wondering if my church could use the soup photo for our “soup and cornbread supper” announcement slide Sunday morning? It’s perfectly thematic!
That’s fine James. 🙂
Thank you so much!
We made this for tonight–it was great! Plenty of flavor! I sprinkled shaved Parmesan on top when I served it, and I saved a few exta slices of bacon so we could sprinkle that too.
My entire family liked this, which is a rare thing, so it will be added to the meal rotation. The only change I made was that I only used bacon, not a ham hock. Otherwise made it just as written, and it turned out perfect.