Hey wait a minute! Don’t click away just yet! I know the word Campbell’s and Experiment in the same line might lead you to run away in culinary terror, but this was a mission. A mission to replicate this red and white childhood favorite can of good ole’ American soup without all the nasties in it. Well, as many as I possibly could without compromising the original goal. I kind of crack myself up, as the tomato soup’s goal last week was to NOT taste like the canned version. No wonder my husband never understands me.
If you look up recipes for “copycat” Campbell’s bean with bacon soup, you will find in the recipe comments that many readers say it didn’t taste anything like the soup in the can. Then if you look at the ingredients they used, then the ingredients on the can, it’s no wonder.
I printed out the ingredients label and studied it to come up with a reasonable facsimile. Besides water, pea beans is the first ingredient. According to Wikipidia: “in the USA the name ‘pea bean’ is also used to describe small white common beans.” Well the beans from my local bulk food store section seemed to fit this perfectly, as the name on the bin was “small white beans.”
Tomato puree was a no-brainer, I used tomato paste and water. Bacon and carrots? Yep, I can do that. I skipped over all the unknown and nasty stuff, and then saw dehydrated onions. I had a whole spice jar of those! Most other recipes used fresh onion, in addition to celery and garlic. As much as I wanted to use all of those, I had to stick to my guns on this one.
Another thing unique to the canned variety is that the carrots and bacon are just wee bits in the soup, not huge chunks.
With that in mind, I pulsed both the carrots
and bacon into minced bits in my Ninja processor before cooking together. I didn’t bother rinsing the Ninja before adding the bacon.
Sugar is also mentioned twice, so decided to some add brown sugar too, but not too much.
My last dilemma was yeast extract (Marmite anyone?) and natural smoke flavoring. A bit of googling told me that soy sauce has the same umami and flavor profile as yeast extract. My bottle of liquid smoke wasn’t as “natural” in ingredients as I would have desired, but it was Stubb’s so I gave myself a pass on that. I left those out until all the other ingredients had a chance to meld in the slow cooker all day, then would do a taste test. Plus bacon has a smoky flavor, and I used ham stock instead of water, which also has a smoky flavoring. Time would tell.
The Results? Drum roll please…
Close — VERY close! The texture was not quite right as I should have removed some beans before pureeing the soup, but I was so excited to use my new immersion blender that I totally bypassed that step.
But when you crunchle in a bunch of saltine crackers, the texture doesn’t matter much at that point because the soup is Mmm, Mmm, Good!
Campbell’s Bean with Bacon Soup Experiment
1 pound small dried white beans, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
1 cup finely minced carrots
6 slices bacon, finely minced
2 tablespoons dehydrated minced onion
3 tablespoons tomato paste plus one cup water
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
4 cups homemade ham stock, or water
Low-sodium soy sauce, to taste
Stubb’s liquid smoke (or other brand), to taste
Cook the minced carrots and bacon together in a skillet over medium heat until the bacon starts to crisp, about 15 minutes. It kind of freaked me out because the bacon fat never really released, did the carrots soak it up? At this point add the minced onion then cook for a few more minutes, stirring.
Once the onions look fairly hydrated, add the tomato paste and water, plus the brown sugar and stir to combine.
Pour the mixture (which vaguely resembles baby food) into a large slow cooker, then add the ham stock or water, and beans. Stir to combine then cover and cook on low 8 to 10 hours, or high on 4 to 6 hours until the beans are tender. Add additional water as needed. At this point the bacon grease did release, which I removed from the top. It was only about 2 tablespoons.
Using an immersion blender, puree about half the soup. You can also do this in batches in a blender. For a really smooth consistency for the base, remove some of the beans before pureeing, then add them back in.
At this point I did a taste test. It still needed some smoky flavoring, so alternated a few dashes at a time between soy sauce and liquid smoke. I stirred and tasted, ate a saltine cracker in between, until I found the right balance. Use caution with liquid smoke, as it is very strong. I might have added one drop too much.
Serve hot in bowls, with lots of saltine crackers on the side. I assembled a quick Caesar salad on the side since this was our dinner. If anyone makes this, please let me know what you think. Did this even come close to your expectations?
This is good to know. I’ve been experimenting with the Bean w/ Bacon Soup recipe for years. Yes, I too own that same guilty pleasure. Thank you for your research and your experiment. It helps me more than you know.
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Thanks Adam, and I used Stubb’s, which I feel you would appreciate. 🙂
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Yummy! I love that you remade a childhood favorite with good stuff!
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Thanks Marci! It turned out better than I expected. 🙂
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Very creative!
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Thank you!
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My surprise was to learn that there are so many devotees of bean with bacon soup. My favorite as a child was chicken alphabet soup. It always got cold as I tried to spell things. Your image of the final result was excellent. Keep on experimenting.
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Thank you Darryl. Funny, my husband said he had never had a can of it before, so he had no expectations.
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Lol KR-you do definitely crack me up! Hope you had fun with this one! xoxoxo ccc
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Yes, I did have fun with it, thanks! 😀 xoxoxo
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You’re right that the title of this post is cringe-worthy! But knowing you, I laughed and read on. Great job recreating the canned soup without all the nasty chemicals and unintelligible ingredients. Perfect for this rainy gray day! 😀
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Thank you Diana, I’m glad you appreciate my twisted humor. 😉
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You deserve a drum roll and 👏 for a job well done👍🏻
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Thank you Bernadette so much!
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My eyes just bugged out of my head when I saw this because I LOVE Campbell’s Bean with Bacon soup but have been trying to eat cleaner on a very limited budget and hadn’t a clue how to get homemade to taste similar. I only have a 3 qt slow cooker so will need to figure out ratios, and I don’t actually know how to use liquid smoke so have never bough any, but I definitely want to try this! Thank you Kathryn!
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You are so very welcome Cathy! I think the three quart would fit this but it would be pretty full. You could just halve the recipe! Liquid smoke is found in the BBQ sauce section. 🙂
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You know I totally forgot that soup exists and it’s one I used to love as a child. Your copy cat recipe sounds and looks great. Do you think navy beans would work? They are small white beans. Love it Kathryn!!
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Yes, I am sure any small white beans would work Suzanne! Thanks so much!
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I really enjoyed reading about your experiment! The soup looks very tasty! 🙂
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Thank you Ronit, it was quite fun!
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Kathryn, your intro for this cracked me up. That would have been enough, but you just kept the humor going. Then to top it off, the soup sounds delicious! Terrific post. Tasty soup. Mega hugs!
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Wow thank you so much Teagan! I was hoping people “got” the humor in all this. 🙂 Hugs back!
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This is too much Kathryn, what a great idea. You deserve more than a drum roll, how about a star on your forehead. I love it.
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Gosh thank you so much Gerlinde. It was a fun (and tasty!) experiment. 🙂
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I’m quite fond of the Campbell’s Bean & Bacon soup. Good to know a better alternative is out there! Thanks for the recipe.
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You are most welcome!
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Can you believe I’ve never heard of Campbell’s Bean and Bacon Soup? I thought I knew all of the Campbell’s soup varieties…. Is it still sold? I must look for.. LOL! I love how this one is supposed to taste like the canned version, but the tomato soup was not to – I can just see your hubby’s quizzical face. I, on the other hand, TOTALLY get it! 🙂
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LOL thanks so much Jodi, and yes, it is still made and sold!! My husband by the way has never had it before either, (he’s from Vermont) so maybe it’s a Southern thing 🙂
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have to remember to look for it! 🙂
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Definitely not a Southern thing. I’m from the Great Lakes area and I’ve loved Campbell’s bean with bacon soup since I was a kid. With crackers, over bread (which may be just a family preference). Either way, it’s great! 🙂
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Then I guess it is All-American, right? Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
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I’m from Vermont, and I ate this stuff all the time as a kid – can’t wait to try your recipe.
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Hey, thanks a lot Tim!
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Though the texture may be off I bet yours tastes much better!
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Yes indeed, Michelle, thanks!!
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I never had this soup Kathryn, but I am sure your homemade version is much better. I only eat Campbell’s tomato soup (when I don’t make my own) and the others – no thanks!
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Thanks Judi! My husband never had this one either. 🙂
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What you tried to recreate is not worth the effort. But what you have achieved certainly is. Well done my dear.
Best,
C
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Thank you so much Conor!
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Looks really good!
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Thank you Karina!
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🙂
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Great job Kathryn! I’ve never had the Campbell’s version but would certainly eat your soup…Looks delish!! XOXO
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Thank you Linda!!!
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You can’t beat the combination of beans and bacon and what you have made is likely lots better than what was in the can.
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Thank you again Lulu, I do think it was better than the canned version, both health-wise and taste-wise!
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I do that – read ingredients on shop products and create my own versions, I like being able to control the flavour as well as the experimenting!
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Thank you Elaine, it is a very good practice to engage in. 🙂
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I also wanted to tell you that I tagged you for the 2016/2017 tag! I hope you will answer the tag’s questions. I am hoping that this short link worked! http://wp.me/p3GhIj-135.
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Thank you, I’ll check it out!
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Wonderful!
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I don’t know the original, but this doesn’t seem bad at all.
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Thank you Stefan, I appreciate it.
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Your soup looks delicious, love that it is homemade. Bean and bacon sounds like a delicious combo. I enjoy re-creating store bought things that I like, working on lowering my salt intake.
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Thank you Cheri, and eliminating canned soups is a great place to start!
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Awesome experiment! Love it mmmmm
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Thank you Lynn!
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yumm
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Wonderful!! I love how you puzzled this out. My Dad would absolutely LOVE this soup! He used to like to put a dollop of ketchup on top and stir it in.
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No comment, lol! Just saltines for me! 😀
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Yep, no ketchup for me!! Only with grilled cheese.
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Grilled cheese with tomato soup, only crackers with Bean w/Bacon for me! 😉
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lol!! I’m an only saltines with soup, too. Unless it’s tomato. Then it’s tomato and grilled cheese. With ketchup. I don’t know where I got grilled cheese and ketchup from, but I HATE ketchup with anything else Weird. 🙂
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Those of us “of a certain age” remember when those red and white cans were the basis of everything from casseroles to sauces…. 🙂 I don’t ever remember having this soup out of the can but would love to try your rendition!
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Thank you Elliott, and I am one of those “of a certain again” that’s for sure. (Plus a house with six kids, the red and white cans were definitely a staple!)
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That is wonderful you remaking a childhood favorite to be a bit healthier homemade. I love it.
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Thank you so much Sandy! It was a fun (and good) experiment!
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Good posts, beautiful blog.
Congratulations.
Welcome to see my creations:
paintdigi.com
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Thank you so much!
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You’r welcome , friend
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It’s fun to read about your bean with bacon soup experiment, and it’s good to hear that it was a success.
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Thank you Sheryl!
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That’s fantastic that you got so close to the original flavor! Perseverance pays off. 😊
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In this case, yes! 🙂
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Thanx SO MUCH for this recipe!! I made it in my Instant Pot (no soaking required) today, and it was WONDERFUL! Always my favourite as a kid, but I have been avoiding it due to the high sodium content….. This yummy and much healthier version is now “on the menu”☺
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Wow, I am so glad you were able to find this in my archives Gaylene. Thank you for the feedback, I was hoping others could benefit. Awesome!
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I stumbled across this by chance this weekend when I was looking for a bean soup recipe to try, and Bean with Bacon is of course a favorite of mine! Instead of ham stock or water, I used low sodium vegetable broth, and you weren’t kidding about the flavor being very close to the canned version! WOW! You really could have fooled me in a blind taste test, no joke. I can’t say enough about how blown away I am, and I can’t thank you enough for figuring it out! This has officially made it into my recipe box as a go-to soup. Thank you, thank you!!!
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Wow, thank you so much for your feedback!!! It was a rare experiment that actually turned out ok! 🙂
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This recipe is so good! The only things I did different were to cook on top of the stove, used Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce instead of soy sauce, and added some granulated garlic because my grandmother always added garlic to the canned beans! Thank you so much.
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I only made a half batch to try, but followed ingredients as your recipe calls for. Next batch is a full recipe! Mt husband and I both love bean with bacon soup and decided this is a keeper! So close for a copy cat we would have to eat them side by side to tell the difference!
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Yes it is excellent. Tastes like I hopped. My only difference was the beans. Had only navy beans. My next batch will be the kind in the recipe.
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I have a pot of your recipe simmering on the cooktop now, its smells divine .When my son (now 45 years old) was a baby he and I would eat Campbells Bean with Bacon soup often, we both loved it. I stopped buying canned soup many many years ago and had all but forgotten the soup. While searching for recipes to use the dried northern beans I have on hand I found your Blog, I am so excited and cannot wait to have a bowl with some crusty French bread on this cold damp night . Have to add the soy sauce and the liquid smoke yet after the beans soften and the flavors meld . Thank you for the blog !
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This looks delicious! I love the Campbells Bean with bacon. My sister loves trying new and recreating soup recipes. I might have to have her try this.
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