Slow Simmered White Bean and Ham Soup
This slow simmered white bean and ham soup is one of our favorite soups in my home. My entire family just loves this soup. I have a quick and easy version of this soup here but when I have time, I make this slow-simmered version. It just tastes so comforting, flavorful, and delicious. I soak the beans overnight (or do a quick soak) then simmer it all afternoon long with veggies and a ham hock. By the end of the day, the soup is creamy, smoky, thick, and hearty. I serve it with my House Salad and freshly baked biscuits. This soup is always a hit in my home and the leftovers are fantastic.
How to Make Slow Simmered White Bean and Ham Soup
Overnight Soak: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of cold water to 1 pound of dried beans. Let stand overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse the beans. Side Note: If you don’t have time to do an overnight soak, try the quick soak method: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of water to 1 pound of dried beans. Bring water to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat; cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans.
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, & celery. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30-60 seconds before adding stock, drained white beans, ham hock, bay leaf, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Cover and cook over low heat for at least 3 1/2-4 hours, stirring occasionally. Slowly break up the ham from the bone a little every time you stir the soup then remove any fat or bone from the ham hock along the way.
Remove the lid from the pan for 30 minutes prior to serving, making sure all fat and bone have been removed from the soup. Taste and re-season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Remove the bay leaf and ladle it into bowls. Serve with salad and bread if desired. Enjoy.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb of dried white beans
- 6-8 cups of water
- 1-2 tsp olive oil
- 1 small sweet yellow onion diced
- 3 carrots peeled and diced
- 3 stalks of celery diced
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 ham hock extra fat removed from the outside of the hock
- 6 cups of chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Overnight Soak: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of cold water to 1 pound of dried beans. Let stand overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse the beans. Side Note: If you don't have time to do an overnight soak, try the quick soak method: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of water to 1 pound of dried beans. Bring water to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat; cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans.
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, & celery. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30-60 seconds before adding stock, drained white beans, ham hock, bay leaf, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper, to taste.
- Cover and cook over low heat for at least 3 1/2-4 hours, stirring occasionally. Slowly break up the ham from the bone a little every time you stir the soup then remove any fat or bone from the ham hock along the way.
- Remove the lid from the pan for 30 minutes prior to serving, making sure all fat and bone have been removed from the soup. Taste and re-season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Remove the bay leaf and ladle it into bowls.
- Serve with salad and bread if desired. Enjoy.
A BIG THANK YOU!!
I received a gift package yesterday from The Pampered Chef and couldn’t wait to see all of the new products they sent to me. While oohing and ahhing over my new gadgets, my daughter said, “They sure know how to pamper a chef”. I couldn’t have said it any better. Thank you Pampered Chef!
Ham and bean soup is a winter time favorite here!
You sure got a lot of nice goodies from Pampered Chef. I love their products, and have a lot of them!
xo Kris
What a hearty and comforting soup! I love ham and white bean soup. This sounds totally delicious. And lucky you getting a nice early Christmas present from Pampered Chef! 🙂
What a comforting and creamy soup.. I can see why it would be a family favorite!!
And what a fantastic gift from pampered chef!!
This sounds like the perfect winter soup!
This is one of my all-time favorite soups. When I was a teenager, I candy-striped at a hospital on Thursdays because that the was the day they made this soup!
One of my favorites and yours looks delicious
Bit fan of bean soups, especially in those cold months. Yours looks fantastic. And ham, yes…it adds a lot of flavor. Delicious 🙂 ela
Ham and beans…a satisfying and delicious soup, Pam.
p.s I baked your ginger molasses cookies and they are so GOOD!
How did you know I was craving this? I was just saying I wanted ham and bean soup last night, thanks for listening! 🙂 Looks great!
So delicious and comforting your soup Pam!!
Lovely gifts!
Chers,
Lia.
One of my all time favorite soups, and I can’t wait for that leftover ham bone to make a batch after Christmas.
perfect soup for these cold days.
There’s nothing like a good soup!
Slow simmering should definitely be required for a soup like this! Low and slow is the way to go!
this is one of my favorite soups, especially if i can eat it out of a bread bowl. terrific recipe!
Copied to my recipe database and can’t wait to try on the next cold day. This looks absofreakingtastic. As a teen I had a thing for Campbell’s bean and bacon soup, this should open some great food memories.
I love a good navy bean soup! Your recipe looks so delicious, Pam! I think my New Year’s resolution is going to be cooking a For The Love Of Cooking blog recipe every day until I catch up on everything I’ve missed! And then I will need to go on a diet from eating all of the deliciousness! 🙂
Excellent Soup. Pretty similar to bean soup parents made but this is more creamy (like i like it). Perfect soup for tonight when the high was 5 and the low is going to be -15 (-40 wind chill). I cooked the beans on low for 4-1/2 hours which for me was perfect. I love my beans really creamy. IT warmed up my whole body 🙂
Soup looks delicious. Could I replace the ham hock with leftover ham? I’d so, how much would you suggest. Love your blog. Pics are perfect.
Yes, you can… I would had a 1 1/2 – 2 cups of diced lean ham.
Pam
Thank you!
Can this be cooked in a slow cooker? I plan to cook tomorrow but need to cook it in a slow cooker as I’m gone all day.
Claudia,
Using the slow co9ker on low all day will be just fine.
Pam
This soup was absolutely delicious! I added some ditalini pasta and that really finished it off. Will definitely make this again and again.
We loved this soup. I didn’t have ham so I cooked bacon and then put in the beans and stock. Absolutely delicious. Everyone loved it and since winter seems to be going on forever here in Ontario, it is a perfect cold day meal. No vcant wait to make it again.
Seven years later and I am still making this soup. It’s the best. Thanks so much Pam for all your great recipes.
Lynn,
This comment made my day! I’m so happy you love this soup…it’s one of my favorites. Thank you for taking the time to let me know & for being a loyal reader.
-Pam
I really like this recipe. I made a few adjustments and cook it in the crockpot. It is one of my families favorite soups.
Can’t wait to try bean and ham soup.
thank you for posting this… I will try it in my slow cooker
This recipe looks amazing! Question: What if using canned beans? Should I wait until later in the process?
Jamison,
If you want a quick ham and bean soup that uses canned beans, here is the link to it.
https://www.fortheloveofcooking.net/2008/09/white-bean-and-ham-soup.html
Cheers,
Pam
I made this with the ham bone and leftover ham that I froze from Christmas. It’s delicious and I love it!
I like your white bean and ham hock soup. The problem with yours and other online recipes is that there is no listing of carbs, protein, fat etc. amounts. I have Type 1 diabetes and must count the amount of carbs in all of my foods before injecting insulin. I’m not interested in calories only carbs in one cup of soup.
I think this looks like the best bean and ham soup! I’ve made some of your other soups in past and loved them, especially your split pea. I have leftover ham on bone and want to make this. When you say “dry white beans” do you mean navy beans or cannellini beans? I am guessing you used navy? I love how creamy your soup looks. Looking forward to making this!
Robin,
Thanks for your kind words–this soup is one of my very favorites. You can use whatever white bean you have…navy bean, great Northern bean (which is what I used here), or white cannellini beans. I hope you enjoy the soup.
-Pam