Pressure Cooker Bean and Bacon Soup

White beans lend a creamy texture to this hearty, flavorful soup.  Smoky bacon and a classic vegetable trio round out the flavors.  It’s filling and nourishing, and perfect for dunking a chunk of crusty bread or a toasty sandwich.  Cooking it in an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot) makes it quick and easy!  Scroll past recipe for step-by-step photos and instructions on how to make my Pressure Cooker Bean and Bacon Soup.

This soup is full of flavor and so comforting.  We love to dip grilled cheese sandwiches, or eat it with a loaf of the best overnight crusty artisan bread.

Ingredients Needed

• Bacon
• Carrot
• Celery
• Onion
• Fresh garlic
• Beef or chicken broth
• Dry white beans – White beans are not only nourishing, but they add in incredible creaminess to the finished soup.  Two popular white beans are cannellini and Great Northern.  Either variety will work great here.  Sometimes there are bags of beans labeled simply, “White Beans” and that should be fine, too!  You’ll want to rinse them in cool water first and remove any impurities that sometimes sneak into the bags.
• Salt and pepper
• Smoked paprika
• Dried thyme
• Worcestershire sauce
• Liquid smoke
• Green onions 

How to Make Bean and Bacon Soup

1. This bean and bacon soup starts, appropriately, with bacon.  After cooking the bacon, you’ll pull it out and sauté your vegetables in the rendered fat.  This imparts smoky bacon flavor throughout the dish.
2. In goes some water and broth, your rinsed dry beans, pepper, smoked paprika, thyme, and salt. Then you’ll add your bacon back in. One of the best features of an electric pressure cooker is its ability to cook beans so quickly.  I process this soup at high pressure for 40 minutes.  I do not soak my beans ahead of time because I don’t usually plan that far in advance!  If you do choose to soak your beans for 8+ hours, the soup would cook much faster. 
3. When it’s done, I like to take my immersion blender and pulse it around a little until it’s slightly smoother and thicker. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you could transfer half the soup into a blender and puree and then return it to the pot. This soup is full of flavor and so comforting.  We love to dip grilled cheese sandwiches, or eat it with a loaf of the best overnight crusty artisan bread.

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Pressure Cooker Bean and Bacon Soup

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Creamy white beans and smoky bacon are the stars of this hearty, nourishing soup. Perfect for dunking a chunk of crusty bread or a toasted sandwich.

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Resting TIme 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

ServingsServings6 servings

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Equipment

• 1 pressure cooker

Ingredients

• 8 oz bacon diced in small pieces (cook extra if you'd like to save some to sprinkle on after for a garnish)
• 1 carrot, medium-large diced small
• 2 celery ribs diced small
• 1 onion, small or ½ large, diced small
• 4 cloves garlic
• 6 cups broth beef or chicken
• 1 cup water
• 1 lb white beans, dry cannellini or great northern; see notes
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke optional, more if desired
• green onions, sliced optional

Instructions

• Place beans in a colander, remove any impurities and rinse them with cold water.
• Turn pressure cooker to saute mode. Cook bacon until crisp and use a slotted spoon to remove and drain on paper towel. Leave about 4 tablespoons of the bacon fat in the pan. Add carrot, celery, and onion and saute for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
• Add broth and water, beans, pepper, smoked paprika, thyme, and salt. Add cooked bacon back into pan. Cook for 45 minutes on high pressure. Note: quite a few people have said they needed 60 minutes cook time. This can all be impacted by elevation and other factors, but to be safe you may want to shoot for 60!
• When finished, let pressure cooker rest for 10-15 minutes before releasing pressure, stir in Worcestershire and liquid smoke. Use an immersion blender to partially blend soup to thicken. Alternately, you could take 2-3 cups of soup and pulse in a blender and then add back into pot.
• Garnish with green onions if desired.

Notes

• Some have reported that the beans in this soup come out a little undercooked. This could be due to differences in pressure cookers, or other individual factors. Other readers have responded that adding a pinch of baking soda, increasing the cooking time, or soaking the beans overnight prior to cooking work well. If you choose to soak overnight, note that the soup will cook much faster, so be sure to adjust the cooking time accordingly. Please note that these methods have not been tested and verified by Our Best Bites.

Nutrition

Calories: 306kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 21g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 37mg, Sodium: 1978mg, Potassium: 661mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 607IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 85mg, Iron: 3mg

Course: Main Courses, Soups

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bean and bacon soup, Pressure Cooker Bean and Bacon Soup, pressure cooker beans

Calories: 306kcal

Author: Sara Wells

Cost: $8

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