Description
Make a soul-satisfying ham and bean soup using your leftover holiday ham bone for a comforting, frugal meal.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 large leftover ham bone (with meat attached)
- 1 pound dried navy beans or Great Northern beans, rinsed and picked over
- 8 cups water or low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup diced leftover ham (optional, for later)
Instructions
- If you have time, soak the dried beans in water overnight. Drain them before starting the soup. If you skip soaking, you will need to increase the simmer time.
- Place the ham bone, rinsed beans, water or broth, onion, carrots, celery, bay leaves, and thyme into a large stockpot or Dutch oven.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat immediately to low, cover the pot partially, and let it simmer gently.
- Simmer for 2 to 3 hours, or until the beans are completely tender. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
- Remove the ham bone from the pot. Once cool enough to handle, shred any remaining meat from the bone and discard the bone. Return the shredded ham meat to the soup.
- Stir in the black pepper and any additional salt if needed (the ham bone adds a lot of salt already).
- For a thicker soup, mash about 1 cup of the cooked beans against the side of the pot with a spoon, then stir them back in.
- Simmer for another 10 minutes to allow flavors to meld. Serve this navy bean stew hot with cornbread.
Notes
- Soaking the beans reduces the cooking time significantly.
- Taste before adding extra salt; the ham bone releases a lot of sodium.
- This leftover ham bone soup freezes well for future meals.
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 3 hr
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop Simmering
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cups
- Calories: 350
- Sugar: 5
- Sodium: 750
- Fat: 5
- Saturated Fat: 2
- Unsaturated Fat: 3
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 55
- Fiber: 18
- Protein: 25
- Cholesterol: 30