Slow Cooker Bacon And Pumpkin Soup

Slow cooker bacon and pumpkin soup is a wonderful and simple combination of flavours. Why not serve with a low carb grain free bread and lashings of butter. See below for the recipes.

After I published my low carb chocolate pumpkin pie and it was an absolute hit, it got me to thinking of new ways to serve pumpkin.  My slow cooker bacon and pumpkin soup just gets thrown together in the slow cooker for an easy family meal – a really easy set and forget meal.

Slow cooker bacon and pumpkin soup

If you have been following Ditch The Carbs for a while, you will know how much I rely on my slow cooker. You just bung everything in (no I don’t pre cook, fry, sauté or any other time wasting nonsense), turn it on, and you have the most wonderful dinner to come home to.

What is a bacon hock?

I have used bacon hock and bacon bones before in recipes but my American followers are confused. The picture below shows what I can buy here in New Zealand. By definition, bacon hock is similar to ham hock.

They are the same joint from the pig but bacon is cured and salted, whereas ham is salted and cooked.

The confusion arises because bacon is generally made from a flank of meat with no bone. If you can’t find a bacon hock where you live, ask your butcher for a ham hock or some other similar cured joint of meat. Let us know in the comments at the end what you have found in your country.

In reality, any meat bones would be lovely in this recipe, but you may need to add salt and flavourings if the meat is not cured in any way. I don’t add salt or herbs to this recipe because the bacon hock imparts a lovely salty smokey flavour.

If you were to use chicken bones for example, you might want to add some rosemary, garlic or other herbs and seasoning to taste. Remember to remove all the bones before serving, especially chicken bones which are tiny. Why not keep the bones from roast dinners in the freezer, ready for when you want to make slow cooker soups?

Removing the meat from the bones

Bacon hock is so cheap and so tasty. Once it has been cooking in the slow cooker for a few hours, remove the joint of meat from the slow cooker and place it on a chopping board to start pulling the meat away from the bones.

All the collagen, gelatine and amazing nutrients will have been boiled into the soup so you may discard the bones now and place the meat back into the slow cooker dish.

You can serve the pumpkin and bacon soup as it is, rustic, lumpy and pieces of meat clearly visible. Personally, I like to make it smooth with my stick/immersion blender. It’s completely up to you.

Print

Slow Cooker Bacon And Pumpkin Soup

Slow cooker bacon and pumpkin soup is perfect for popping on in the morning, and you come home to home cooked soup. Serve with cream cheese or sour cream if desired.

Course Dinner, Lunch, Snacks

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 5 minutes

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

• 1 bacon hock
• 900 g pumpkin diced
• boiling water

Metric grams - US measurements

Instructions

1. Place the bacon hock and diced pumpkin in the slow cooker.
2. Cover with boiling water.
3. Cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours or LOW for 6-10 hours.
4. Cooking times are approximate as each slow cooker varies and generally you can keep this cooking for extremely long periods which just makes the bacon meat more tender.
5. After you see the meat coming away from the bones, remove the joint carefully and place on a chopping board. Gently pull the meat away from the bones and place the meat back into the slow cooker. Discard the bones.
6. When ready to serve, it can be left as it is, or it can be pureed until smooth.
7. Serve with sour cream or cream cheese (optional if not paleo).

No nutritional values are given because each bacon hock will vary in size, each bacon hock will vary with what is has been cured with (avoid those with high sugars), how much water will fit in the slow cooker and hence dilute the soup.

Pumpkin is 6.5g net carbs per 100g
Bacon is negligible carbs depending on whether it has been cured using sugars

Why not serve with a low carb focaccia bread? This can be made as one loaf or rolled out to become a flatbread. Simply slice and serve with lashings of butter or toast before serving.

You can also add garlic butter. Either to the bread, or as a garnish to the bacon and pumpkin soup.

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