White Bean and Ham Soup

White Bean and Ham soup is one of my all time favorite soups! Easy, simple but yet a really deep flavor profile. It is so tasty on day one but is also one of those soups that really shines the next day! The perfect next day recipe! 

This recipe is especially great for after a holiday when you have leftover ham that you don’t know what to do with. 

I feel like so often we reserve ham for holidays or deli meat. But it is such a great ingredient to work with. A simple fried ham sandwich with mustard is one of my husband’s favorites. He would want to clarify here-good mustard, haha! 

If you are looking for more simple, one-pot wonder soup recipes like this check out this recipe for 30 minute Sausage and Potato Soup!

Ingredients

• 1 Large Onion, Diced
• 4 Stalks Celery, Diced
• 2 Carrots, Diced
• 3 or 4 cloves Garlic, or ½ tsp garlic powder 
• 2 cups diced Ham 
• 3 cans White Beans, Cannellini or Navy
• 1 ½ to 2 cups Chicken Broth

How to Make White Bean and Ham Soup

Prep

Dice up your onion, celery and carrots. I like to use about an equal amount of all veggies. A traditional mirepoix (french cooking term) has two parts onion and one part each of celery and carrots. But I love getting some extra veggies into this soup so I use, roughly, equal amounts!

Dice up your Ham. I used a boneless quarter ham in this recipe and diced it into cubes. If using a bone-in ham simply cut around the bone and dice into similar sized pieces. Save the bone! Since you are not cutting the ham to cook through at the same time  (almost all ham sold in the US is cooked already) it’s not as imperative to get them all the same size! 

Last to cut up is your garlic, if using fresh. Also, garlic amounts in recipes are almost always subjective to personal taste. I often add more garlic than a recipe says! 

Prep your cans. Open all three cans of white beans, I use cannellini beans. Drain and rinse two of the cans and leave one can undrained. That canned liquid is liquid gold to a thick brothy soup!

Get the chicken broth ready. It’s good to have your chicken broth (or chicken base plus water like I use) prepped early. Even amazing cooks will have times when the pot gets too hot, you add your seasonings, like garlic, they start to burn and you will want to add water/broth quickly to stop the burning! 

Cook

• Heat a dutch oven or large pot on the stove top to medium high heat. 
• Add a glug of olive oil, roughly 1 tbps, and the veggies. 
• Season lightly with a pinch of salt. Go lighter on the salt here because of the ham you will add later. 
• Cook the veggies, stirring often, till the onions are softened and translucent. Roughly 3-4 minutes. 
• Add the diced ham and garlic. 
• Cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute stirring often. You are wanting the garlic to get some heat on it to open up the flavor. Be careful to not burn the garlic or you will be left with a bitter taste. 

• Add your beans. 1 can add with the liquid and the other 2 rinse before adding. 
• Add your chicken broth till it just covers all the beans and veggies. If you have a ham bone add it in.
• Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer for at least 20 minutes (I usually shoot for around 30-40 minutes here but feel free to go longer). The longer you allow it to simmer the more those flavors will marry. Simmer with the lid slightly off center.
• Taste and season with salt and pepper. Make sure to taste first! Ham is salty so it can be very easy to overuse the salt. 

Top Tips

Go light on the salt. I am someone who is always adding a little bit of salt while cooking. Which is good! You want to season as you go while cooking rather than adding all the salt at the end. But, when cooking with ham you need to start small. Ham, usually, has a higher salt content. While it simmers in the soup it will really start to bring that flavor out! 

Use the liquid from the canned beans. I know there is not a ton of times where you keep that liquid. But this is one of them! That canned liquid is full of nutrients, starch and has a great thick viscosity. By adding a can of beans with the liquid it helps your soup to have that great thicker broth you are wanting for this kind of soup. I only loosely drain the other two cans as well! 

If you have bone-in ham then throw the ham bone into the soup! It will really up the flavor and give it an even nicer texture. Simply remove prior to serving. 

Remember to make the recipe your own! I use three cans of beans here but I know others might stop at two. We love beans in our family so three, or even four, cans here is perfect for us. Add more of what you love! 

Chicken Base is my favorite chicken broth to use and I use it here. I love love love using chicken base (or beef or vegetable). So handy to simply have in the fridge and use when needed. Great flavor and I love the option to choose how much chicken base to add depending on how prominent I want that flavor.  I always have a backup jar in my pantry as well. 

Get Cooking and Make Extra!

I served this white bean and ham soup with focaccia that I made using this recipe from Gimmie Some Oven. If you have never made bread before I highly recommend this recipe. So simple and tasty! Focaccia really goes great with this soup. 

This recipe makes anywhere from 5-8 servings, depending on how much you serve. Which is perfect! Because of how great this soup is on day two you will for sure want leftovers!