Great Northern beans are soaked, then cooked slowly with caramelized leeks, ham, and bacon to make a bean soup from scratch that's bursting with flavor.
Preparation Time
30 mins
Cooking Time
6 hr
Total Time
6 hr 30 mins
Calories
459 Calories
Recipe Instructions
Step 1
Place the beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Drain and rinse before using.
Step 2
Combine the soaked beans, 4 cups of water, celery, onion, bay leaves, cumin, garlic powder, and parsley into a slow cooker.
Step 3
Melt the butter with the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir the leeks in the butter mixture until tender and the smaller pieces start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the leeks to the slow cooker. In the same pan, cook and stir the ham until the edges start to brown; stir into the soup. Place the bacon into the hot skillet, and pan-fry until the bacon is crisp, about 10 minutes. Cut the bacon into bite-size pieces and stir into the soup. Pour the chicken stock into the hot skillet, and stir to dissolve any brown flavor bits from the skillet; pour the chicken stock into the soup. Season with sea salt and pepper.
Step 4
Set the cooker to Low cook the soup until the beans are very tender, 6 to 8 hours. Roughly mash about half the beans with a potato masher to thicken the soup.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon garlic powder
4 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 small onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups chicken stock
5 slices bacon
¼ cup celery, chopped
1 pinch sea salt to taste
1 pinch Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 pound cooked ham, cut into bite-size pieces
1 pound dried Great Northern beans, sorted and rinsed
