This slow-cooker ham bone soup is a great way to use up any leftover ham from Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any time! The meat and veggie combo offers a main course loaded with nutrition, too!
Ham is a traditional meat served at many holidays. It’s also great for any family dinner, especially when you have a guests — so several mouths to feed!
We really like to have our Slow Cooker Apple Cider Hamevery now and then. It is delicious and can be served with so many sides, like our Crock Pot Mac and Cheeseor Crock Pot Green Bean Casserole. Plus, it leaves everyone at the table feeling satisfied.
I especially like it when leftovers from dinner lend themselves to a new recipe. We usually have a bit of ham leftover when I serve it, so it’s easy to make this slow cooker ham bone soup to serve for the next few lunches or dinners.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 6 hours
Serves: 16
Ingredients
1 meaty ham bone
3 potatoes, diced
2 cups carrots, sliced
2 small onions, diced
2 (15 oz) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
8 cups chicken broth or water
2 bay leaves
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp thyme leaves
½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
Combine all of the ingredients in a large slow cooker.
Stir everything around the ham bone to combine.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 9-10 hours or cook on the high setting for 4-6 hours.
Before serving, remove the ham bone and bay leaves. Remove the meat from the bone, cut the meat into bite size pieces, and return to the soup.
Variations
As with most soups and stews of this nature, you can add/remove/substitute any ingredient you like. The ingredients I have listed here work well for my family but you can adjust to suit you and yours however you like. Some popular items to add include pasta (bow-tie would work well here), kale or collard greens, cabbage, corn (frozen corn kernels), or rice. Most of these additions can go into the pot with 30 minutes left but check up on them regularly to ensure you don’t overcook them.
Yep. In a large pot, saute the vegetables for several minutes, then add everything else. Bring it to a boil then turn it down and let simmer for a couple of hours. That’s basically it. For the finer details, adapt the steps from the recipe above.
How can I thicken the soup?
You can mash a couple of potatoes and add it to the soup. Rice will work similarly. You can also puree some vegetables and add to the soup. You can also add cornstarch (mix it with cold water first) or mix flour (2 tbsp), melted butter (2 tbsp), and 1 cup of the soup broth together, then add it to the pot.
How To Store Slow-Cooker Ham Bone Soup
Cool the cooked soup and place in freezer safe bags or airtight containers for up to 3 months. To prepare from the freezer: For best results, thaw the soup in the refrigerator overnight. Warm in a stockpot over medium heat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Slow-Cooker Ham Bone Soup
About a Mom
This slow cooker ham bone soup recipe is a great way to use up any leftover ham from Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or anytime! The meat and veggie combo offers a healthy main course loaded with nutrition too!
Combine all of the ingredients in a large slow cooker. Stir everything around the hambone to combine.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 9 to 10 hours or cook on the high setting for 4 to 6 hours.
Before serving, remove the hambone and bay leaves. Remove the meat from the bone, cut the meat into bite size pieces, and return to the soup.
Notes
Freezer Tip:Cool the cooked soup and place in freezer safe bags or airtight containers for up to 3 months.To prepare: For best results, thaw the soup in the refrigerator overnight. Warm in a stockpot over medium heat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
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This is a Ham Bone Soup made using the slow cooker which is the most effortless way to cook leftover ham bone. Set, forget, fall apart meat, flavour infused soup! You'll love the creamy broth (but no cream!), and how the tender beans absorb the flavour.
A ham bone will keep in the freezer for at least a few months. That buys you some time to make full use of it and you have a few days to properly prepare it for long-term storage.
Slow cookers can transform a few simple ingredients into the most delicious soups by simmering them for hours. This low and slow cooking allows the flavors to mingle, creating rich, flavorful soups perfect for chilly days, nights, or any day you want to enjoy a bowl full of goodness.
Now, a new study has shown that ham bones contain peptides that could have cardioprotective effects. Drinking bone broth is a recent diet fad that proponents claim fights inflammation, eases joint pain and promotes gut health.
You can also add vegetables, herbs, or spices to your broth to enhance the flavor. Common additions include garlic, onion, celery, carrot, parsley, and thyme. You can add these in step one. Bone broth is made by simmering bones in water and vinegar.
You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.
They're not a super-fancy item only found at gourmet grocery stores—I buy mine at the local Safeway. If you can't find them, just ask. Both fresh and smoked ham bones need to be cooked thoroughly before eating and do best when simmered slowly for hours in a pot of soup.
The ham cooking instructions below cover all bases, but generally, a half ham will cook in 1½–2¼ hours, while a whole ham could need anywhere from 2½–4½ hours. Allow around 20 minutes per pound for an uncooked half ham; and 18–20 minutes per pound for an uncooked full ham.
"When a slow cooker is too full, it may not heat the food evenly," explains Leal. As a result, some parts of the dish may overcook, while others remain undercooked. "This can also increase the risk of foodborne illness, because the food might not reach a safe temperature throughout," she says.
That varies by what's inside the slow cooker and also by the appliance's setting and model, the experts say. Most recipes for all-day cooking call for 6 to 8 hours on low. Quality- (and safety-) wise, another 1 to 2 hours in 'keep warm' mode won't mess things up.
If you're cooking for yourself or for only two people, a 2 1/2 to 3 1/2-quart slow cooker might be large enough. It's great for smaller amounts of soups and stews. Many slow cooker recipes are written for 6-quart models and can simply be halved for this size.
The reason why Honey Baked Ham sells these, you know, a lot of times. you can go get lunch at Honey Baked Ham, and they don't throw away the bones, they sell them. So you can, 365 days of the year that they are open, go buy ham bone.
A ham bone and ham hock are two different parts of the pig. Ham bones typically come from the leg, while ham hocks come from the shank or bottom part of the leg, close to the ankle. Ham hocks are typically sold cured and smoked, so they provide more flavor than ham bones.
Put a tablespoon of either into a small bowl and stir in 2-3 tbsp of the soup until you have a smooth mixture. Stir this back into the soup and bring it to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes to allow the starch granules to burst to thicken, and to cook out any flour flavour.
The best bones for broth are full of connective tissue like joints or knuckle bones for beef and feet for chicken. Think about getting the big joints responsible for moving animals around. These are feet, hips and knees.
Is a ham hock the same as a ham bone? No, but they can definitely be used in the same way—both are usually smoked, so they add similar flavor to a dish. A ham bone will have more usable meat on it than a ham hock.
Convenient and easy to prepare, a fully cooked ham can be sliced and eaten cold, making it great for sandwiches and salads, but the flavor and texture are even better once reheated.
Introduction: My name is Greg O'Connell, I am a delightful, colorful, talented, kind, lively, modern, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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