Lately I’ve had this fascination with cooking with beer.  First it was the pumpkin beer bread, and now it’s a potato bacon and beer soup.

I call this a healthier potato bacon and beer soup because while there is still bacon and beer, there’s also potatoes, carrots, celery and leeks.  There’s no cream or cheese, just lots of bacon and beer flavor.

When it came to selecting the right beer for this soup, I decided to go with Anchor Steam beer for a variety of reasons.  First off, this beer is corn-free which automatically makes it awesome in my book and second, it has a nice flavor that is strong but not too overpowering.  If you want a beer that doesn’t have as strong of a flavor, I would recommend a lighter wheat beer or pale ale.  Just no Coors or Bud Light please and thank you.

If you don’t like bacon, just leave it out!  And if you don’t like beer, well, I can’t help you there, but I’m sure a dry white wine would go nice with this recipe as well.  I’ve used wine in soup before and it is always fantastic.

Another thing that makes this soup great?  Some warm crusty bread served on the side slathered with some butter.  Just saying.

Potato Bacon and Beer Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced celery

1 cup diced leek

4-6 slices of bacon

3-4 red potatoes, chopped

1 sweet potato

1 bottle Anchor Steam Beer

4 cups water

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 tsp fresh rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Place your strips of bacon in the oven and cook for 20 minutes (depending on how crispy you want your bacon).

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add your carrots and celery and cook for 15-20 minutes.  Add your leek and potatoes to the pot and continue to boil until potatoes, leek, celery and carrots are soft.  Add your salt and pepper, thyme, rosemary and beer.

Chop up your bacon slices and add to the soup pot.  Continue to let the soup simmer for another 15-20 minutes.  Ladle into bowls, and serve with some crumbled bacon on top.  I also added some broccoli and green beans for a few extra veggies.

Super easy to make and quite delicious.  The perfect soup for fall.

What’s your favorite fall soup?