Crock Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup

You’ve got a leftover ham bone so let’s make some soup. There is nothing much more classic then ham and white bean soup. Use up that holiday ham bone with this traditional soup.

Editor’s Note: Originally Published December 13, 2014. This is one of the most popular recipes on the site, but it needed a buff-up with re-edited pictures and cleaned up text along with an expanded discussion of options. Please enjoy this wonderful soup.

This is my take on traditional Senate Bean Soup. It is a simple soup made with navy beans, ham hocks, and onion. It is always on the menu in the dining room of the United States Senate. There are two versions with one using mashed potatoes to thicken the soup.

I combined about five recipes and methods so no specific inspiration piece other than the Senate recipe. Most recipes use chicken broth for all or part of the liquid.

As pointed out to me by some commenters on Ham Bone Vegetable Soup – Crock Pot Edition cooking the ham bone like this is making your own ham broth. So chicken broth is not needed plus it saves on the sodium.

Some of the recipes suggested 8 hour cooking times on low even with non-soaked beans. It took the full 10 hours with the overnight soaked beans to be the right consistency.

Lastly, the amount of liquid varied from 6 cups to 12 cups. Many commenters thought the high end was just too much liquid. I suggest 6 cups. It did not completely cover the ham but was just right. They, like me, want a thicker bean soup.

Other Ham Bone Soup Options

Puerto Rican Chuletón Soup AKA Xmas Ham Bone Soup

Ham Bone Vegetable Soup – Crock Pot Edition

Pre-Week of Soup Recipes

1. Easy Crock Pot French Onion Soup
2. Crock Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup

Week of Soups Recipes

1. Extra Thick Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup
2. Easy One Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup
3. Simple Crock Pot Chicken Stew
4. Old Fashion Vegetable Beef Soup
5. Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
6.  Excellent Taco Soup in a Crock Pot
7. The Best Crock Pot Beef Stew

My Rating
A low five for us ham and bean soup lovers. A nice 4 for everybody else.

Pro Tips: Recipe notes on Crock Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup

The Ham

The ham in the recipe is THE huge variable. Start with a “meaty” bone. If you stripped it, you would have no meat.

All hams have a huge amount of salt. Many of our hams have been covered with honey or other sweet products. Also, you have a large amount of fat, much of it on the surface.

All those things are a problem that could ruin your soup. So the preparation of the ham is critically important.

Use running water to remove surface sugar. Scrape off any fat that you can. And be careful with the sodium.

The Beans

This was a great recipe to start using dry beans. And if you’re on a budget, it makes this soup extremely cheap considering you were going to toss that ham bone.

Can I use precooked beans?
This recipe will be fine with precooked beans if you don’t want to go the dried bean route. The 1 pound of dry will equal approximately three cans or one 48 oz jar of precooked beans.

You should drain the beans and rinse them well to decrease any added salt. Of course, use low sodium products and cooking time will decrease a few hours.

Why Soak Dry Beans?

About soaking dry beans. It was always done in the “good old days.” A nice overnight soak was always done. Also, picking through the beans for pebbles and rocks was important. We frequent found them.

You will find recipes that don’t soak. There is also a “rapid soak” method that involves bringing them to a boil for a few minutes then allowing to rest for an hour  (Check Epicurious.com).

So does soaking the dry beans do anything?
The no-soak crowd apparently think soaking is a waste of time. Tradition says less gas and more even cooking.

Well, our friends at Cooks Illustrated in The Science of Good Cooking have done some testing and find that there is less gas.

Let me explain. There are some simple carbohydrates in beans that humans can not digest. But your intestinal bacteria can digest them which produce a lot of gas.

Soaking decreases these carbohydrates some but the rapid method even more.  But neither method comes anywhere close to eliminating them. Now, don’t you feel smarter?

A Final Note on Salt:
So just as a reminder if you didn’t read all the above, most hams have LOTS of salt. Don’t add any until you’re sure you need it.

A veggie note:
The carrot and celery are an option, but I thought made it more interesting.

A nice meaty ham bone and some simple ingredients are all that’s needed. Dry beans are in the picture but see the discussion above or the recipe card below for canned or jarred beans.

Rinse 1 pound of navy or great northern dry beans. Pick through the beans for any stones or pebbles. Cover with water and allow to soak overnight. See notes if using precooked beans.

Under running water rinse any coating off a meaty ham bone. Also, scrape off any surface fat that you can. Add to a larger crock pot.

Dice 2 medium carrots, two stalks celery, and one medium onion. Carrot and celery are options but recommended.

Add the drained beans, carrots, celery and onion to the crock pot. Add 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and one bay leaf. Add 6 cups water.

Cook on low for 10 hours total but at about 8 hours remove ham bone to a cutting board. Allow the bone to cool for 10-15 minutes. Then remove all meat from the bone. Discard bone and any fat and waste. Place meat back into the cooker and finish cooking. This is a good point to taste test for adding salt if needed. Note: Cooking time can be decreased a few hours if using precooked beans.

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4.12 from 446 votes

Crock Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup

You've got a leftover ham bone so let's make some soup. There is nothing much more classic then ham and white bean soup. Use up that holiday ham bone with this traditional soup.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time10 hrs

Total Time10 hrs 15 mins

Author: Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

Course : Soup

Cuisine : American

Keyword : Crock Pot Soup, Ham and Bean Soup, Ham Bone Soup

Servings/Adjust Amount: 6

6

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry navy beans - or great northern; see note about precooked beans
• 1 ham bone - meaty
• 2 carrots - medium - diced - optional
• 2 stalks celery - - diced - optional
• 1 onion - medium - diced
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Rinse 1 pound of navy or great northern dry beans. Pick through the beans for any stones or pebbles. Cover with water and allow to soak overnight. See notes if using precooked beans.
• Under running water rinse any coating off a meaty ham bone. Also, scrape off any surface fat that you can. Add to a larger crock pot.
• Dice 2 medium carrots, two stalks celery, and one medium onion. Carrot and celery are options but recommended.
• Add the drained beans, carrots, celery and onion to the crock pot. Add 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and one bay leaf. Add 6 cups water.
• Cook on low for 10 hours total but at about 8 hours remove ham bone to a cutting board. Allow the bone to cool for 10-15 minutes. Then remove all meat from the bone. Discard bone and any fat and waste. Place meat back into the cooker and finish cooking. This is a good point to taste test for adding salt if needed. Note: Cooking time can be decreased a few hours if using precooked beans.

Recipe Notes

Pro Tips:

1. Hambones (and hams) vary a lot. So this is like many recipes... guidelines and not rules.
2. If yours is honey coated or spiced heavily, you need to rinse as much of that off as possible.
3. Salt note: Most hams have LOTS of salt. Don't add any until you're sure you need it and use low sodium products if possible.
4. Can I use precooked beans?
   This recipe will be fine with precooked beans if you don't want to go the dried bean route. The 1 pound of dry beans will equal approximately three cans or one 48 oz jar of precooked beans. You should drain and rinse the beans. Please use low sodium beans if possible. And the cooking time will decrease a few hours.
5. If you seem to have a fatty ham, cook then refrigerate to cool then skim the fat.

Nutrition is always somewhat of a guess, but the fat here is so variable. This is my best guess.

Nutrition Facts

Crock Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup

Amount Per Serving

Calories 311 Calories from Fat 153

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 17g 26%

Saturated Fat 5g 25%

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3g

Monounsaturated Fat 0.01g

Cholesterol 93mg 31%

Sodium 1570mg 65%

Potassium 296mg 8%

Total Carbohydrates 14g 5%

Dietary Fiber 4g 16%

Sugars 2g

Protein 29g 58%

Vitamin A 69%

Vitamin C 5%

Calcium 4%

Iron 7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Have a question or something not clear? Ask in the comments.

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Nutrition is for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.

All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

If you like this recipe or find it useful, the pleasure of a nice 4 or 5 rating would be greatly appreciated.

Originally Published December 13, 2014
Nutrition is always somewhat of a guess, but the fat here is so variable. This is my best guess.