I wanted to make a bacon cheddar soup to bring to a party, and didn't want to use beer as an ingredient since there were going to be a lot of kids there (yes, I know it can cook out - just didn't want to deal with it...)
I found some good recipes out there, but none that I loved so I decided to improvise off of a few recipes. Neither of these had bacon: Apple Cheese Soup and Cheddar Apple Soup. And Apple-Cheddar Soup With Bacon used a potato, which adds a different flavor than what I was going for. (If you wanted to do this gluten-free, the potato would be a good substitute for the flour!)
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound slab bacon, diced
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 3 apples, peeled, cored and diced - I used Gala apples. Granny Smith would be good, but a little more tart.
- 2-4 tablespoons of butter
- 3/4 cup flour
- 5 cup chicken stock (hot, but not boiling)
- 3 tablespoons mustard powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Few dashes of hot sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (for flavor, not heat...)
- 3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Directions
- Sautee bacon in large pot over medium heat for 5-8 minutes until cooked, but still soft. Remove back from pot and save for end of recipe- leave bacon grease in pot.
- Add onions, sautee for 5 minutes.
- Add apples to onions, and sautee for 3-5 more minutes until they start to brown.
- Add butter and flour, stir to make a roux.
- When roux starts to darken, add chicken stock and bring to boil. Once boiling, lower to simmer.
- Add mustard powder, salt, pepper, cayenne and a few dashes of hot sauce.
- Blend with immersion blender on high setting until smooth and a little frothy.
- Lower immersion blender to low setting, and slowly add cheddar cheese to soup until melted and smooth
- Add cooked bacon back to soup. I decided I wanted small bacon pieces, so I did a quick pulse blend to make them smaller.
- Serve!
Bread, especially pretzel bread, is a great pairing. We brought this to a party, and someone brought fresh Philly pretzels, which ended up as an accidentally amazing accompaniment.
Copyright 2017 - David Etue