Ham and Bean Soup – Easy Homemade Soup Recipe

Ham and Bean Soup is a very easy recipe for a savory soup filled with healthy ingredients and simple flavor. It’s the perfect comfort food for chilly winter meals!

Super Easy Ham and Bean Soup

I love this ham and bean soup recipe because it’s very easy to make! Dump everything in a pot and let it cook.

Not only is it easy, but it’s actually got a lot of healthy ingredients in it, too.

A few more of my favorite recipes for soup are Chicken Corn Noodle Soup, Vegetable Beef Soup, and Taco Soup; they’re so perfect for the chilly fall and winter months. There’s nothing more cozy and comforting than a bowl of hot soup on a cold, winter day!

And to be honest, I make soup in the summer time too sometimes! Because, why not? It’s good, and it’s good for you, and soup is a great way (and a delicious way!) to use ingredients you have on hand that need to be eaten.

This great recipe for ham and bean soup makes a good-sized batch of soup, so you can be sure you’ll have enough for dinner for the whole family.💛

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List of supplies we used

• Large soup pot – we have this one, and I use it’s my favorite for making soup!
  
• Measuring cups and spoons
  
• Chopper – a vegetable chopper makes dicing vegetables super easy and precise. (For some reason it gives me great satisfaction to have neat little veggie blocks in my soup!) A knife and cutting board work just fine, too.
  
• Wooden utensils – or something to stir the soup with.
  
• Strainer – or a colander works great to drain and rinse the beans.

Ham and Bean Soup Ingredients List

Ham broth – I like to use homemade ham broth I made from a ham bone; however, you can quickly make ham broth by mixing ham base and water according to package instructions. Or, you can substitute with chicken broth or even plain water. (Though if you use water you might want to add some ham bouillon for flavor.)

Tomato juice – you can buy tomato juice at the grocery store, or I have already just thinned tomato paste or tomato sauce with some water until it reaches juice consistency when I was out of tomato juice. (I know, I know, if I’d always meal plan ahead, then grocery shop, I wouldn’t have that problem!)

Diced ham – you can either use leftover ham from a roast (or leftover holiday ham), or like I did this time, bought cooked and sliced ham that I cut into blocks.

Great Northern beans – this recipe uses canned beans which is very handy. (If you’re wanting to use dry beans, you’ll want to soak them for a long time before adding them to the soup.)

Black beans – when it comes to the canned beans, you can use whichever kind of beans you wish. I like to use Great Northern and black beans, but there’s also cannellini, kidney, pinto, and navy beans, to name a few. Beans are a great source of protein and fiber, and you can even add extra beans to this recipe!

Carrots – regular carrots, diced into little chunks.

Onion – add another healthy vegetable into the soup with a diced onion. Cool thing about making soup, you can literally add whatever you wish, whether it’s celery, spinach, or whatever is about to go bad in the fridge.

Lemon juice – this might be unexpected, but lemon juice (bottled or fresh) adds a fresh zest to the soup, balancing out the saltiness from the ham. 

Brown sugar – this balances out the acidity of the tomatoes and lemon juice, adding just a touch of sweetness. (You can also skip this one if you’d like.)

Salt – as always, taste before you add salt. Depending on your ham broth, you may not want to add as much salt as the recipe calls for!

Pepper – add a little kick with some ground black pepper.

⬇Find the full instructions along with the ingredient quantities on a handy little printable recipe card attached below!⬇

How to make Ham and Bean Soup

Wash and dice the medium onion and carrots, and dice the ham if necessary. 

Drain and rinse both cans of beans, then add all of the ingredients into a large pot and simmer on the stove top for at least 30 minutes (or more) on low to medium heat until the vegetables are nice and soft.

Serve and enjoy.💛

How do I store Ham and Bean Soup?

Store the ham and bean soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days, or in the freezer for a few months. 

When you’re ready to reheat, thaw (if necessary) in the fridge overnight then return the soup to the soup pot and heat on the stovetop or heat in a microwave safe dish in the microwave until the soup is good and hot. You can also reheat ham and bean soup in a slow cooker for a couple hours. (This soup is just as good, if not better, when reheated the next day!)

Notes

This is the perfect recipe to make if you have a leftover ham bone! An easy way to do this is to slow cook the ham bone in water in a crock pot for a couple hours or all day (cooking time can vary) on low heat, which gives you a tasty, rich broth with the best ham flavor; then remove the ham bone and the leftover ham should easily pick right off the bone to add to the ham soup. I always like to strain my homemade broths through a strainer to remove any little pieces.

Even More Amazing, Hearty Soup Recipes

• Cheeseburger Soup
  
• Cheesy Chicken Chowder
  
• Chicken Chili

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’til next time, we love you and we’ll be praying for you,

-Julie