Paula Deen’s Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

I saw this in Paula’s magazine and I thought, “This woman is crazy. I love her!” I was afraid to try it because there is no low fat version of cheddar cheese soup. I’m all about the substitutions, you know! But I took a look at the soup and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. And with how much soup this makes, the fat would be well distributed. But what about the bacon? Well, I got creative on this one… Enjoy!

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BACON CHEESEBURGER SOUP – Anthony J. Caruso

INGREDIENTS

Olive oil cooking spray

2 lbs 95% lean or higher ground beef

1 onion, chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic

3 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1 (11 oz) jar reduced fat real bacon pieces

1 (14.5 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes

1 (10.75 oz.) can cheddar cheese soup

1/4 cup dill pickle relish, plus more for garnish

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS

In a large Dutch oven, spray wtih cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add ground chuck, onion, and garlic; cook for 6 to 8 minutes, or until beef is browned and crumbly. Drain well. Add chicken broth, bacon, tomatoes, soup, relish and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until soup is heated through. Garnish with relish.

Here’s the skinny:

Paula called for 10 slices of fried bacon, and then to cook everything else in the bacon grease. That alone makes this a heart attack in a bowl. Instead of cooking the beef, onoins and garlic in bacon fat, I cooked it in a little bit of heart healthy EVOO. I then used a jar of reduced fat bacon pieces. It’s bacon that’s been cooked and crumbled, just like Paula wants, but with a fraction of the fat. This way you get bacon and bacon flavor without all the artery clogging.

Next, I used extra lean ground beef. You can save a lot of fat and cholesterol by getting ground beef that has had the fat trimmed from it before it was ground. It makes a huge difference.

I also used cooking spray instead of olive oil, cutting down on fat and calories.

Lastly, I changed the garnish. Paula calls for french fried onions. They are delicious, and fine in low amounts, but instead of those, I substituted more of the relish. When the relish cooks down, you don’t really taste it. This way, you get the added crunch that you’re missing from the onions, but also getting a little cool down with the hot soup.

I hope you enjoy this as much as Steve and I did!

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