1 cup or more dry Navy Beans (soak overnight)

2 to 3 tablespoons Tomato Paste

1/2 pound Smoked Bacon or Bacon Ends

4 grated Carrots (or more)

1 teaspoon Kosher or Sea Salt

1 teaspoon Cane Sugar (or Brown Sugar)

2 Sweet Onions, grated fine

1 cup finely crushed Fried Pork Skins or more

1/2 teaspoon Beef Soup Base Paste, or a beef bouillon cube, dissolved

(Optional): 1/2 teaspoon Smoke Flavoring

Wash, then soak the navy beans overnight in the fridge. Rinse again and drain before adding to the pot to cook. For now set the clean, soaked, drained navy beans aside.

Chill the bacon (or bacon ends and pieces) in the freezer until firm, (but not solid frozen), slice bacon into spoon sized chunks, set aside.

Peel and grate the carrots, set aside. These, the bacon and tomato paste are the main flavors of bean and bacon soup. The carrots give it the characteristic color.

Grate the sweet onions, set aside.

Crush the fried pork skins, (or crushed chicharrons). Set aside.

Begin browning the sliced bacon in a heavy dutch oven on medium heat. Stir to break up pieces from sticking together or the pot. Cook bacon until halfway cooked (don't cook until crispy).

Drain off all the bacon grease. Add to the cooking bacon the grated onions and cook until translucent and just beginning to caramelize. Now add the grated carrots and stir to incorporate, simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Do not brown the carrots, just get them slightly toasty.

Dissolve the tomato paste in a little water with the salt and sugar, stir until all is dissolved.

Now add everything to the dutch oven, and fill with enough water (or chicken broth), to just cover everything. Give it a gentle stir to mix everything up.

Bring to a boil, allow to boil for about 15 minutes, then reduce heat, cover and simmer on medium low heat until the beans mash easily with a fork. Add more water as needed to keep the beans from cooking dry.

After the beans are very soft, remove about 1/2 cup of the cooked beans from the pot and mash until they're pureed. Add them back to the dutch oven and stir in well. Let this simmer on low heat until it's slightly thickened.

You can also mash all the ingredients in the dutch oven to puree the carrots, onions and beans if you choose, or leave some beans whole, your choice.

I like this as a thick soup, so I only add enough water or broth throughout cooking to keep the beans from cooking dry. Add more water or broth if you want a soupier soup.

Options:

Ketchup or pureed tomatoes could be substituted for the tomato paste, but this changes the texture, and flavors will change slightly.

This can be cooked in a Crock-Pot if desired. Be sure to brown the bacon and onions in a skillet before adding to the Crock-Pot.

Any onions could be used, it's your choice, I use Sweet Onions as they have that rich, slightly sweet flavor and caramelize better than regular onions.

Liquid Smoke isn't strictly needed, especially if the bacon is already pretty smokey.

Pre-grated carrots in the bag could be used. Though they tend to be a thicker cut than when grating it yourself, and will take longer to cook to a puree.

I leave the amount of beans variable as some beans will cook very tender long before other white beans will. And some white beans will not swell up very much once tender, while other kinds of white beans will almost double in size once fully cooked.

For this soup you can use Navy Beans, Great Northern Beans, or almost any white bean variety you like. I've never cooked this with Butter Beans or Jumbo Limas, as they cook up wetter and can go mushy long before the other ingredients become tender or puree.

Navy Beans and Great Northerns tend to work best. I know there's other types of white beans, but I've only used Navies and Great Northerns. I'm unfamiliar with how other types of white beans will cook up in this dish.

When needing to cook a large pot of this, I've used an entire one pound bag of Navy or Great Northern Beans and a pound of bacon, and up to six carrots. It freezes well in smaller portions for future heat and serve meals.

When I was a child, my Dad would scoop canned Campbell's Bean with Bacon soup out and spread it on slices of white bread to make a toasty and filling breakfast. Bean and Bacon Toast was always a popular breakfast food in our family. Paired with a side of scrambled or fried eggs it becomes a filling meal that keeps you warm and satisfied on cold mornings.

This is my version of Campbell's Condensed Bean with Bacon Soup. I've cooked it countless times over the years. It's a welcome comfort food, especially during the cold months of the year.