Hearty, rich, tangy, herbal: this soup has it all. This Romanian Bacon Soup is just the thing for cold days and nights. Navy beans, bacon, dill, and a special ingredient make this soup a stunning dinnertime fixture that comes together in only about half an hour.

The first thing you want to do is to chop and cook 12 ounces of bacon. You want small pieces that can cook quickly. If you don’t have bacon then ham or guanciale would also work.

Fry up the bacon then use just a spoonful of the grease to cook the veggies in a separate pan. Cooking them separately ensures that you can keep a close eye on everything.

Once the bacon and veggies are partially cooked combine them with the beans and stock to form the base of the soup. We’re using canned white navy beans, but any white beans will work here. You can also soak the beans overnight and then cook them in the broth for 35-45 minutes until tender if you prefer.

The secret ingredient and one that is common to Central and Eastern Europe is a little bit of vinegar. You can use white wine or apple cider varieties. It might sound weird but it makes the bacon much more delicious as it offsets that fattiness in this pork soup. It’s not unlike the vinegar dressing used in Austrian potato salad with bacon or a hot bacon salad dressing. It’s a pairing that works so well!

White beans are a staple of Romanian cooking along with the next ingredient: sour cream. To help prevent the sour cream from breaking in the hot soup remove the stockpot from the heat and pour 2 ladles of soup into a heat-safe bowl. Stir the sour cream into the hot soup to temper it before adding the bowl to the rest of the soup.

You can pulse with a stick blender to make this soup creamier looking, but this is optional. I find it helps to incorporate the sour cream better, but since I prefer a chunkier soup I only do a few passes with the immersion blender.

The final step (with the pan removed from heat) is to stir in yet another trademark of Eastern European cooking: some chopped fresh dill. This herb gives a fresh, green flavor to any dish you put it into and here it helps to offset the rich bacon, just like the vinegar.

You might not expect that these ingredients together could make such an amazing soup, but this dish really hits the spot. This Romanian Bacon Soup is so filling and delicious that it has no problem being the star of dinner. Just add a slice of good bread and you’re ready to dig in, Romanian style!