When the depths of winter plow through the depths of your pantry, you get soups that are hearty, simple, and filling like this. Irish Cabbage Bacon and Potato Soup is a straightforward no-fuss recipe that brings warmth, comfort, and satiation to your dinner table on weekdays and weekends alike.
Here this Irish Cabbage Bacon and Potato Soup throws no curve balls. Back in the day, these ingredients would’ve have been some of the last foods left in a food cellar after a long winter. But frugal doesn’t mean flavorless, as this simple soup eats like a full meal. Rendered bacon adds flavor and a touch of fat which is economically used to sauté the onions and carrots. Cabbage and potatoes add texture and bulk to fill you up.
There’s no weird or shocking ingredient here. Carrots, onions, cabbage, bacon, and potatoes are the star ingredients and only ingredients. To cut back on cooking time, the potatoes are microwaved whole and with the skin on. Parcooking the potatoes while you’re prepping your other vegetables makes for a speedy supper. Once the potatoes are easy to handle (without burning), you can peel off the skin and chop them into chunks.
This one-pot meal starts by rendering bacon in a pot. You want to cook the bacon on a low heat, that way the fat renders out of the meat. Depending on the bacon, there may be more or less fat. You’ll want to leave two tablespoons in the pot.
Remove the bacon and add in the carrots and onions. As you’re sautéing the carrots and onions, you’ll want to scrape the sides and bottom of the pot, because you’ll want to get all of the flavorful brown bits off of the pot and into your soup.
When you smell the fragrance of the onions, go ahead and add in your stock, cabbage, bacon, potatoes, and bay leaf. Stir to combine and then bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, cooking for twenty to twenty-five minutes.
While many recipes call for salting and peppering your soup as you go, wait until the end to add salt, as the bacon (depending on the brand) may have different salt levels.
Once the cabbage is cooked through, you’re ready to serve!
Garnished with some fresh parsley, this recipe is good to go.
Varying textures of the vegetables makes for delightful bite. The savory meatiness of the bacon and the fragrant aromatic vegetables create a complex but ready-to-drink broth, that’ll cut through any winter weather chill or seasonal cold.
It’s a great budget-friendly meal, making use of the more affordable side of the produce aisle, and using only a touch of meat.
Irish Cabbage Bacon and Potato Soup is hearty without being heavy, making for a soup you can make literally any time of year.
Ingredients
1/2 lb (about 2) potatoes, washed
1/2 lb bacon, cut in quarter pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely sliced
4 to 5 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 cabbage, roughly chopped
Parsley, chopped (for garnish)
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
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