Ham and bean soup is an incredibly comforting, flavorful, and easy to make soup. My simple and delicious version features smoked ham bones, dried navy beans, vegetables and a few simple seasonings.
Table of contents
This is a wonderfully cozy and hearty soup that doesn’t take much effort on your part. All you will need to do is get the ingredients in the pot and then let it cook for a few hours!
There are a couple of secrets to this flavorful ham and bean soup:
- I highly recommend that you use smoked ham bones like the smoked neck bones or smoked ham hock. That flavor transfers into the soup and beans. (My personal recommendation is neck bones because there is still meat on those you can add to soup. That’s what I use in my split pea soup as well.)
- This is a great recipe to use the leftover ham bone (aka ham shank) from your holiday dinner, and you will get that delicious flavor into your soup.
- Using dried beans will result in deep, rich flavors, thicker and heartier soup, and a pleasant texture of the beans. (P.S. it’s cheaper and less sodium as well.)
Ingredients
Full list of ingredients and measurements are in the recipe card below.
How To Make Ham and Bean Soup
- Prepare your veggies and rinse the dried beans under some cold running water.
- Sauté the onions, carrots, and celery in a soup pot with some oil until the veggies start to brown. Add in pressed garlic and let it sauté until fragrant.
- Add the the ham boned, diced ham, beans, and seasoning.
- Pour in the water and let the soup come to boil over medium to medium-high heat.
- Lower the heat to low, cover with a lid (but leave a crack for the steam to escape) and let the soup cook for about 1.5-2 hours. Take the lid off and cook another 1.5-2 hours. Remember to stir from time to time.
- Discard the bay leaves. Take the bones out (take the meat off the bones if using bones with meat still on it and add the meat back to the soup).
Storing and Freezing Leftover Soup
Store cooled cooked soup in an airtight food storage container, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it should last for up to 5-7 days. Make sure you always use a clean ladle when getting a serving out of the container. This will help ensure longer shelf life.
Reheating this soup is simple: you can reheat individual portions in the microwave or in a small sauce pot over medium heat.
How to freeze ham and bean soup?
- Once ham and bean soup is cooled to room temperature, portion it into freezer zip-lock bags. Get the air out and seal. Label and date each bag and lay them flat on a cutting board. Place it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- It’s easier to freeze soup in freezer bags because you can easily stack flat bags of frozen soup. This will save you a lot of room.
- Thaw the soup slowly, overnight in the refrigerator (or for up to 24 hours depending on the amount).
Is It Necessary to Soak Beans?
Short answer: no, it’s not necessary. Personally, with small beans like navy beans and great northern, I haven’t noticed texture difference between soaked and not soaked beans.
When you don’t soak the beans beforehand, it will take a little longer to cook, about an hour or so. So if you forgot to soak the beans, it’s not a big deal. (Half the time, I don’t bother with smaller beans.)
Some More Soup Recipes To Make
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Ham and Bean Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp avocado oil to sauté veggies
- 1 yellow onion
- 2-3 celery ribs
- 3 medium carrots
- 5-6 garlic cloves
- 1.5 lbs smoked ham bones (neck or hock) or leftover ham bone
- 14 oz ham
- 1 lb dried navy beans
- 2 bay leaves
- 1-2 tsp coarse salt to taste
- 1 tsp black pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 10 cups water
Instructions
- Dice ham and onion, and slice carrots and celery. Transfer dried beans into a mesh strainer and rinse them under the cold running water. Set aside.
- Preheat a large pot over medium heat and add oil once preheated.
- Sauté onions, carrots, and celery until they start to brown. Stir in pressed garlic and let it sauté until fragrant (a few seconds.)
- Add the ham bones to the pot and then add ham, beans, and seasonings. Pour in the water and stir well.
- Let the soup come to a gentle boil and lower the heat to low.
- Cover the pot with a lid but leave a small space for the steam to escape. Cook covered for 1.5-2 hours and take off the lid. Cook uncovered for another 1.5-2 hours. Remember to stir from time to time.
- At the end, discard the bay leaves and the pork bones. (Note that if there is meat left on any bones, you can take it off and add back to the soup. Just be thorough to sift through the meat for any bone pieces.)
Notes
- Slow Cooker – while the final result will not be quite the same, you can definitely make this soup in a slow cooker. Sauté the veggies in the pan and then add them to the slow cooker. (Use a large slow cooker, 5 qt. or larger.) Add remaining ingredients and cook on LOW for 8 hours (or on HIGH for 4 hours.)
- Beans – note that soaking the beans is optional. It would reduce cook time slightly and for larger beans, it softens the skin.
You can use navy beans, great northern beans, or cannellini beans in this soup. (Note that larger beans will have a little longer cook time.) - Ham bones – I recommend using smoked ham bones for more flavor, like smoked neck bones or ham hock. You can also use leftover ham shank.
- Storing – store leftovers in an air-tight container, in the refrigerator, for 5-7 days.
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