This Creamy White Bean Soup with Roasted Garlic and Bacon is a comforting and flavourful starter for a cosy Christmas dinner. Its rich, silky texture and subtle nod to a “White Christmas” in colour make it a delightful addition to your holiday table. Best of all, it’s straightforward to prepare—especially in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot—and budget-friendly, making it ideal for the festive season.
If you’re looking for an affordable yet impressive Christmas menu, I’ve got you covered. Start with this creamy soup, follow it with my Christmas Chicken Tagine as the main course, and finish with a refreshing Sugar Free Raspberry Sorbet for dessert. This three-course meal is not only delicious but also low-cost, low-carb, and free from gluten and dairy—perfect for hosting guests with a variety of dietary needs!
Make This Soup Ahead and Keep Christmas Stress-Free
When hosting a crowd during the holidays, I like to make life as easy as possible—and preparing food ahead of time is one of my favourite tricks.
This rich and flavourful soup is delicious served fresh, but it’s just as good made in advance and reheated right before serving.
Ingredients Needed to Make Creamy White Bean Soup with Roasted Garlic and Honey Bacon
- 300g dried white beans
- 2 heads of garlic
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1.5 l chicken stock
- 2 tsp salt
- Olive oil for roasting and frying
- 1 sprig rosemary (optional)
- 300 g smoked bacon (optional)
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White Beans
I prefer to use dried white beans for this recipe, especially since cooking them in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker means that they don’t need to be soaked first. However, you can also use tinned white beans. This recipe requires 2 400g cans of beans. Simply drain and rinse them before adding them to the stock and reduce the cooking time to 10 mins.
Some varieties of white beans that would be good in this recipe are: navy beans, cannellini beans, baby lima beans, butter beans. For reference, I have only tried this recipe with navy beans which tend to be the only white bean we can easily come by here in France. Let me know if you try another variety!
Note: Some people say that soaking beans before cooking helps to improve their digestibility. If you have guests or family members who are sensitive, you may prefer to soak your beans overnight, even if you intend to cook them in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
Garlic
You can use either pink or white garlic in the recipe, but you do need to make sure that it is very fresh as it will be roasted whole.
Onions
Onions are essential in any soup recipe. For this soup, I use yellow or white onions to preserve its pure white colour.
Chicken Stock
I love to use homemade bone broth for its flavour and health benefits. Check out my recipe here.
If you decide to use shop bought broth, bouillon or stock cubes, you will need to reduce the amount of salt in the recipe.
Rosemary
I love the flavour that rosemary brings to this soup. In order to get the flavour without the texture of tough rosemary leaves, I place a whole sprig in the pot with the onions, beans and stock which I then remove before blending.
Bacon
I love to use bacon bits, but you can cut up streaky bacon or cook it until it is brittle and then crumble it into the soup.
Smoked bacon gives the best flavour in this recipe, but if you prefer, you can use unsmoked.
If you’re looking for a vegetarian option, simply omit the bacon—the soup will be just as delicious. This also helps reduce the cost while keeping it special.
How to make Creamy White Bean Soup With Roasted Garlic and Bacon
Roast the Garlic
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut both heads of garlic in half, place in some tin foil, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with some salt. Wrap the garlic in the tin foil, place in a small oven proof dish and bake in the preheated oven at 180°C for 45min-1hr. The garlic is done when it is a light brown colour and soft all the way through. I like to use a knife to check that it is fully cooked.
Prepare the Soup
Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the soup. Fry the onions in a little olive oil directly in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Be careful not to let them brown, they should be soft and translucent. This will help to keep the soup that gorgeous white colour that we are looking for.
Rinse the white beans before adding them to the pot with the sprig of rosemary, chicken broth and salt.
If using the Instant Pot, set to high pressure for 30 mins. If using a stove top pressure cooker, bring up to pressure and then reduce the heat and allow to cook for 30 mins.
Fry the Bacon
While the soup is cooking, fry your bacon bits until crispy. Remove from the pan onto a plate lined with an absorbant paper towel.
Assemble the Soup and Serve
When the soup is cooked, allow the pressure to release naturally, and remove the sprig of rosemary.
Next, add the roasted garlic by squeezing the head into the soup. The cloves will be soft and tender, slipping out easily.
For this next step, there are two options. You can either blend the soup directly in the pot with a hand blender, or you can allow it to cool and transfer it to a standing blender. You can then pour it back into the pot to reheat it before serving.
Taste the soup and add more salt if necessary.
Serve in small bowls topped with crispy bacon bits and a sprinkle of fresh parsley if you have it!
Making Creamy White Bean Soup With Roasted Garlic and Bacon Ahead of Time
This soup reheats very well and, if you are looking to reduce the stress of cooking Christmas dinner, it would be a great idea to make it the day before.
Be aware that the soup thickens as it cools, so you may need to add a little water or chicken stock when reheating to maintain the silky texture, rather than ending up with a bean purée. Add the water or stock gradually to preserve the flavour without diluting the soup too much.
You can even prepare the bacon in advance and quickly warm it up in a pan before serving, or even serve cold since the soup will heat it up!
Vegetarian or Vegans Options
This soup can easily be made vegan by swapping the chicken stock for vegetable stock and omitting the bacon. I promise it will still be delicious, special, and enjoyed by everyone!
How to Serve Creamy White Bean Soup with Roasted Garlic and Bacon
This soup is best served in small portions, as it is quite filling and can be a little heavy on the stomach if eaten in large quantities.
I like to serve it in a small bowl, topped with crispy bacon. A sprinkle of chopped parsley adds a festive touch and a pop of colour.
To make this starter even more decadent, serve with my Caramelised Onion and Brie Sourdough Focaccia, they go together perfectly!
Just How Low Cost is this White Bean Soup?
By buying all of the ingredients from my local supermarket, I can make this soup for 7,85 € which comes out at 0,98 € per person.
If you need an even more affordable option, leave out the bacon and the total will be more like 3,85 € total and 0,48 € per person.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve made this creamy winter soup! Did it make it onto your Christmas menu? I’d love to hear from you!
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I love my Instant Pot, and it makes preparing this Creamy White Bean Soup with Roasted Garlic and Bacon and absolute breeze! I have linked the one I like below if you are interested in purchasing one.
Click on the country you are ordering from: France | US | UK (Amazon UK does not have the size I own, so I have linked a smaller size)
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Creamy White Bean Soup with Roasted Garlic and Bacon
Ingredients
- 300 g white beans
- 2 bulbs of garlic
- 2 onions chopped
- 1.5 l chicken stock
- 2 tsp salt
- Olive oil for roasting and frying
- 1 sprig rosemary optional
- 300 g smoked bacon optional
Instructions
Roast the Garlic
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut both heads of garlic in half, place in some tin foil, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with some salt. Wrap the garlic in the tin foil, place in a small oven proof dish and bake in the preheated oven at 180°C for 45min-1hr. The garlic is done when it is a light brown colour and soft all the way through. I like to use a knife to check that it is fully cooked.
Prepare the Soup
- Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the soup. Fry the onions directly in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker in 1tbsp olive oil. Be careful not to let them brown, they should be soft and translucent. This will help to keep the soup that gorgeous white colour that we are looking for.
- Rinse the white beans before adding them to the pot with the sprig of rosemary, chicken broth and salt.
- If using the Instant Pot, set to high pressure for 30 mins. If using a stove top pressure cooker, bring up to pressure and then reduce the heat and allow to cook for 30 mins.
Fry the Bacon
- While the soup is cooking, fry your bacon bits until crispy. Remove from the pan onto a plate lined with an absorbant paper towel.
Assemble the Soup and Serve
- When the soup is cooked, allow the pressure to release naturally, and remove the sprig of rosemary.
- Next, add the roasted garlic by squeezing the head into the soup. The cloves will be soft and tender, slipping out easily.
- For this next step, there are two options. You can either blend the soup directly in the pot with a hand blender, or you can allow it to cool and transfer it to a standing blender. You can then pour it back into the pot to reheat it before serving.
- Taste the soup and add more salt if necessary.
- Serve in small bowls topped with crispy bacon bits and a sprinkle of fresh parsley if you have it!
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