Ah, potato soup – yes, even including the bacon grease (as opposed to rendered lard) – is my “go to” soup when I need something warm, comforting and delicious for dinner at a moment’s notice. This soup is also a great way to get loads of healthy fats into your friends and family without them even knowing what is happening!
Some of you may gasp about the several ounces of bacon grease included in this recipe. There is a perpetual myth in our culture that bacon is somehow bad for us and that bacon grease is the worst of the worst. On the contrary, bacon grease is a very healthy, traditional fat particularly when it comes from pastured animals that have access to fresh air and sunshine.
Bacon grease is loaded with Vitamin D when the pigs are allowed to run around outside! Considering that 90% of people are vitamin D deficient in the USA alone, need I say more?
The parent of one of the kids in my child’s class told me on a field trip recently that his mother used to drink a small glass of bacon grease every morning with breakfast. He indicated with facial expressions how gross this was to him, but my question back was, “Uh, and how old did she live to be?”   The answer was somewhere in the 90’s range (I’ll bet she wasn’t overweight or dropped dead of a heart attack either).
Case closed on the bacon grease!
This soup is so delicious, you won’t believe it and it’s the bacon grease that makes all the difference to the amazing flavor! When a whole food has this much amazing flavor naturally, this means loads of nutrition, so eat up and enjoy!
Potato and Bacon Soup (made using ALL the bacon grease)
makes about 3 quarts of soup
Ingredients
2 quarts homemade chicken stock (where to find)
6 organic, medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes
2 large organic, white onions
3 Tbl grassfed butter (where to find)
8 thick slices pastured bacon, broiled with bacon grease reserved
Sea salt to taste
Instructions
Bring chicken stock to a boil in a large pot. Add sliced potatoes and simmer. Meanwhile, chop onions and saute in butter until caramelized and broil the bacon in a baking dish in the oven until crispy, turning every few minutes as necessary.
Add the caramelized onions to the simmering chicken stock and potatoes. Pour all the bacon grease into the chicken stock mixture once the bacon is done. Once the bacon has cooled (just a few minutes), crumble into small pieces and add to the chicken stock mixture.
Puree with a handheld blender. Add sea salt to taste.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Hi Sarah,
The soup looks great! I love bacon and bacon fat. I use it for browning meats for stew or pot roast. It really adds flavor. And I also cook my chicken livers in it and add it to the pate. It really makes it taste good!
I remember my sis keeping a cup of the grease out all the time on her stove. Is bacon grease stable to keep out like that or should it go in the fridge? Generally, how long does it last and safe to consume? Sounds super yummy 😉 I’ll have to research pork more … I read not too long ago (on mercola) advising to refrain from consuming pork. I’m not sold on that … esp after your report of that 90 yr old woman 😉
As always, thank you for your wonderful info.
Hi Cara, I always refrigerate my bacon grease. It turns nice and hard in the fridge and easier to scoop out and use for cooking veggies and the like. Boy, does it make veggies yummy and kids don’t complain about eating them up.
Pork is like anything else .. get a good local, clean source and its fine, otherwise, CAFO pork is of course best to avoid.
are you implying then that if it’s left out we should discard it? i have some on the counter and it’s been there for several weeks. i haven’t used it for cooking and really hadn’t planned on it. i just didn’t want it to go down the drain. but if it’s ok to use that old, perhaps i will.
what is CAFO pork? (sorry, new to all these WAP stuff)
We leave our bacon grease out all of the time, and we’re just fine!
Wish the question(s) were answered entirely as well. If I had to guess, I’d say the bacon grease left out will keep just fine.
Yes! Yes! and another big YES! I use bacon drippings to scramble eggs. I use it to flavor cruciferous veggies after steaming. Even to make a delicious warm salad dressing!! TEAM BACON!!
I Wish There Were A Like Button for your Comment! LIKE!!!
yep, big LIKE here too 🙂 We love using it for our scrambled eggs!!
about canola oil — people should read the article on Weston A Price Foundation website — called the big CON-ola. very eye opening!
Here’s the link to that eye opener article:
The Great Con-ola
Jul 28, 2002 … How unhealthy canola oil came to be widely accepted as a healthy salad and cooking oil.
http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/559-the-great-con-ola.html
I made bacon the other night for omelettes. i used the grease to fry the eggs. the omelettes came out so perfectly browned and so wonderfully flavored.
Sorry, but I hope no one is sneaking bacon grease into my soup! Thats nasty.
I’ll tell you what’s nasty .. the canola oil they use in restaurants to cook just about everything and is in practically every single store bought salad dressing (even healthfood stores). Canola oil (short for “Canadian oil”) is genetically modified and is one of the most horrible, health stealing fats that I can think of.
True. Maybe I should change my cooker oil… I do like olive oil though.
I don’t think it’s genetically modified… It’s just extracted from rape seed; no one wants to sell rape oil. The problem is that it’s partially hydrogenated, which results in trans fats. This is true of all vegetable oils.
Olives, unlike vegetables and seeds, are actually oily. The extraction process does not result in unnatural trans fat.
hmm… I think you’re on the wrong blog if you think that’s nasty. 🙂
Growing up, I remember using a piece of bread to sop-up the bacon grease left on the plate after breakfast—I do no recommend doing so now as that is a bit of a fat overload. Also, we eat very little pork anymore because of farming practices and we try to stick with The Maker’s Diet as much as we can, though we do occasionally eat bacon 🙂
Hi Judy, not sure you can have a fat overload! LOL
Yum yum yum! Can’t wait to make this!
Sarah,, this recipe looks great! And so healthy.
Love me some bacon grease!! I use bacon wherever I can!!
I would love to try this soup! What can I use instead of butter? I am allergic to dairy. Coconut oil?
Thanks!
HI Raquel, yes .. just saute those onions in coconut oil. I would use expeller pressed coconut oil as it doesn’t have the coconut-y flavor like the virgin. You could also saute them in a bit of bacon grease if you cook the bacon first.
Sarah,
This is my kind of eating. I would love this soup. Is there a certain brand of bacon you buy? I have only found bacon that is preservative & nitrate free ( grassfed pork?) Not sure where to buy or look for it?
Thanks!