Cheesy Bacon Bisque
NO CHEESE WAS HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS SOUP. That is to say, you won’t find any cheese (or even any dairy products at all) in this recipe. Okay, I’m really glad I got that off my chest. I considered putting quotation marks around the word “Cheesy,” so as not to mislead anybody, but that just seemed, well…cheesy (sorry, had to). As far as dairy is concerned, as a rule I only cook with ghee or grass-fed butter, because have you ever tried Kerrygold? I just can’t quit that stuff. At any rate, you won’t find any of that in this soup either. Not this time, butter addiction!
I think I’m doing this all backwards. Instead of telling you all the things this soup DOESN’T contain, I should be telling you all about its major selling points. Duh. Because let’s be honest. This soup doesn’t exactly sell itself. Soup is pretty difficult to photograph, especially if it’s all the same color and consistency as many bisques are.
My favorite thing about this soup is that all your standard soup vegetables are present, but your guests will be none the wiser because they’re all blended together into one great big bisque-like consistency. Genius. You’re still getting all the nutrients but all you can taste is bacon. Bacon and cheese, because somehow nutritional yeast works its sorcery once again inside of this soup. Still a mystery to me.
I’m abnormal, and I love leftovers. At this point in my life I know that soup in the refrigerator only gets better with time as the flavors continue to meld day after day. I like making a big pot of soup on Sunday and then eating it Tuesday and for the rest of the week. I rarely eat soup on the day I make it. I did make an exception for this soup, because do you see that glorious bowl of secret veggies, BACON, and parsley? I wasn’t letting that go to waste. Absolutely not. I scarfed it down in five seconds flat I liked it so much. One of the joys of food blogging is that whatever food object you’re photographing is no longer whatever temperature you would normally eat it at after you finally finish taking 7,068 photos of it. That’s what allowed me to wolf this soup down so quickly like the animal I am.
I wrote this recipe to be Whole30 compliant, and it’s so different from anything I ate when I did my first round of Whole30. I did my first round in January, too, so it’s a real bummer I hadn’t created this filling, comforting soup quite yet. I’ll be making it on my next round for sure, and probably a few times before then too!
Cheesy Bacon Bisque
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Press the saute button on your Instant Pot and add the bacon. Stir occasionally for 10-15 minutes until bacon is crispy. Press the cancel button. Remove bacon from pot with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate. I left all of the rendered bacon fat, but you could empty the insert and just leave 2 tbsp of the bacon fat if you wish.
- Press the saute button again and add the garlic, carrots, celery, and onion. Stir to coat with the bacon fat, scraping the bottom of the pot as well. Saute for 7 minutes until vegetables start to soften and onion is translucent. Press the cancel button.
- Add in the cauliflower, chicken broth, sea salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and be sure that the valve is positioned to "sealing." Press the soup/broth button. This will set the cook time to 30 minutes once the pot gets up to pressure.
- When the soup is done pressure cooking, carefully move the valve from "sealing" to "venting." When the pressure button indicator drops, remove the lid from the pot. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup to a bisque-like consistency.
- Press the saute button and add in the canned coconut milk, nutritional yeast, and bacon. Reserve some bacon to put on top of the soup if you wish. Stir occasionally for five minutes, and then press the cancel button. Ladle into bowls, garnish with dried parsley, and enjoy!
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