Plus, it’s ready in just 30 minutes.
With the holidays behind us, it’s time for easy, comforting meals that can carry us through the rest of the gloomy winter. This cozy bean soup is my recent go-to for a nourishing meal ASAP. It comes together in half an hour with only five ingredients—bacon, leeks, canned beans, thyme, and broth—plus it’s easily adaptable if you need to swap something out.
Pork and beans are a classic pairing for a reason—the rich saltiness of the meat compliments the starchy legumes without being overly decadent. Here the bacon is cooked first until crisp and the fat is rendered. The leeks and thyme fry in the rendered fat and porky fond until soft and golden. Finally, a couple cans of beans are added along with some broth, and the soup is simmered for 15 minutes (or longer, if you have the time) to allow the flavors to meld. I like to mash the beans a little bit as the soup simmers to release some of their starches into the broth, thickening it slightly.
While this soup only calls for a handful of ingredients, it’s still easy to customize based on what you have on hand. For example, I prefer this soup with navy beans—I love their petite size and tender, creamy texture—but cannellini, Great Northern, or even pinto beans would work well too. The bacon is easily replaced with another salty pork product, such as pancetta or diced ham (if using ham, I’ll add a pat of butter for extra fat), and the leeks can be swapped with a yellow onion or even a large bunch of scallions. The thyme adds a lovely earthy fragrance, but nearly any woody herb will work—try rosemary, sage, or oregano.
My absolute favorite way to finish off this soup is with a drizzle of olive oil. This is a great time to use the fancy stuff, if you happen to have any on hand, as a fruitier-tasting oil really stands out against the smokiness of the soup. Yes, that makes this a six-ingredient soup if you’re a stickler for the rules. A thick slice of sourdough toast makes seven, but it’s perfect for dipping into the velvety broth. I don’t want to get caught up in the numbers, but I can promise you that this soup is definitely worth more than the sum of its parts—and that’s what really counts.