Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup

Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup is nourishing and flavour-packed. Using tinned cannellini beans speeds up the process and each bowlful will give you three to four portions of vegetables. Perfect comfort food for Autumn and Winter.

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As if the fact that Autumn is definitely here needed underlining, I’m sitting typing this with a sore throat, a thick, woozy head, a mug of herb tea with honey by my side.

Yes, people. It’s soup (and coughs and sneezes) season again.

Oh how I wish I had a bowl of this Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup right now. But the one you see in these images I made last weekend and it was eaten up straight away.

Now I’m in no fit state to start cooking, I’m kicking myself (or would be if I could summon the energy) that I didn’t make a double batch and freeze some.

Hey ho, we are where we are. Just do yourself a favour and make a big pot of this nourishing, comforting, flavour-packed soup.

Piggy Bean Soups

There must be umpteen different versions of this soup across western Europe. From Italian ribollita and French garbure to Spanish caldo, they all have in common beans and leafy greens. Most also include some piggy ingredient like ham, bacon or sausage.

In medieval Britain, all classes would have eaten the thick vegetable soup pottage, although only the rich would always have meat in it. But I still think of this soup as very British too. Also, our Split Pea & Ham Soup may not have cabbage in it, but the underlying principle of flavouring economical vegetables and pulses with a bit of pig is the same.

Actually, Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup always reminds me of lines from G K Chesterton’s The Englishman:

But since he stood for England

And knew what England means,

Unless you give him bacon,

You mustn’t give him beans.

I came across these words in one of the first cookery books I ever bought, back in the 1980s: Rose Elliot’s The Bean Book. As a vegetarian, Rose didn’t approve of the bacon – but then she also thinks astrology is a science.

Anyway, although I wouldn’t go so far as to always insist on bacon with my beans, I do think they’re a winning combination in this hearty soup.

THE BEANS

My favourite beans for this soup are the mild tasting, creamy textured cannellini beans. But you could use any white bean such as haricot or butter beans. For convenience, I open up a tin which means this soup can be made pretty quickly.

THE BACON

When I have it, my favourite bacon to use in soups and stews is this herby, smoky Tuscany-style pancetta from the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse.

I get it from markets like the monthly Stone Farmers Market or from Denstone Hall Farm Shop. But any good smoked bacon is fine.

Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup

I like shredded dark green savoy cabbage in this soup as it doesn’t go mushy. But if we have some cavolo nero or Tuscan kale in the garden, then I’ll use that instead.

The other main ingredients you’ll need for Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup are: olive oil, onions, garlic, celery, leek, a small potato plus chicken or vegetable stock. I like a little fresh rosemary, but that’s entirely optional.

All you do to make the soup is saute the bacon and veg (minus the cabbage: that’s added near the end so it doesn’t overcook) and then stir in your stock and simmer everything for about 15 minutes.

Then it’s in with the cabbage and some parsley for a final few minutes until the greens are nice and soft too.

You could leave the soup chunky or liquidize it all until smooth. But I prefer the halfway house of going in with a stick immersion blender and just whizzing up around half of it.

This results in a slightly creamy-textured soup, but leaves enough of the ingredients still discernable which I think gives more interest to your bowl.

SERVING THE SOUP

To make the soup a little more special, you could gently heat it with a little double cream. But I usually have it just as it is, sometimes with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan.

The amounts shown in the recipe will serve two people very generously. But if you want to serve it with bread then it might stretch to three.

To add crunch, make some croutons while the soup’s cooking.

In my recipe for Creamy White Bean Soup you’ll find instructions for some wonderful garlic and rosemary croutons which would also go great with Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup.

Have you made this soup? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

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Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup

Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup, using tinned cannellini beans, is nourishing and flavour-packed with 3 to 4 four portions of vegetables in each bowl. Perfect comfort food for Autumn and Winter.

Course Soup

Cuisine French, Italian, British

Servings 2 people generously

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 100 g pancetta or smoked bacon diced small
• 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 2 medium onions roughly chopped
• 1 stick celery finely chopped
• 1 small leek roughly chopped
• salt & pepper
• 1 small potato (approx 150g) peeled or unpeeled, diced small
• 240 g cooked cannellini beans a standard 400g tin, after draining & rinsing, gives this approximate amount
• 2 tsp fresh rosemary (optional) finely chopped
• 900 ml hot chicken or vegetable stock
• 160 g savoy cabbage roughly chopped or shredded
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan then add the pancetta or bacon. Fry until starting to crisp.

2. Add the prepared garlic, onions, celery and leek to the saucepan, season lightly with salt and plenty of pepper.

3. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are starting to soften and brown (10-15 min).

4. Stir in the potato, cannellini beans and rosemary plus more black pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes.

5. Stir in the hot stock, put a lid on and bring to a boil. Immediately turn down the heat and simmer until the potato is tender.

6. Stir in the cabbage and parsley then simmer until all the vegetables are soft.

7. Remove from the heat and liquidize approximately half of the soup (a stick or immersion blender is easiest).

8. Check whether more salt or pepper is needed and, if necessary, gently reheat the soup before serving.

Recipe Notes

A little grated Parmesan sprinkled over each bowl is nice.

To make garlic & rosemary croutons to serve with this soup, see my recipe for Creamy White Bean Soup

For a creamier soup, add 2 tbsp double cream after liquidizing and reheat if necessary.