The Best Old Fashioned Ham and Bean Soup

Old fashioned ham and bean soup is a hearty, smoky, and delectable soup that the entire family will enjoy during fall and winter months.

Serves: 6-8 Time: 1.5-2 hrs Cookbook: How to Cook Everything: The Basics

When summer days fade away and the crisp cool air of fall ushers in the start of colder months, our thoughts turn to classic recipes that warm the body and soul. We’re talking about soups, of course.

Soups are the perfect all-in-one meal. On cold days when everyone is home, they can simmer away on the stove and fill the house with delicious aromas. They first announce their presence by making everyone realize how hungry they are, then they please family and friends alike by delighting the tastebuds with every spoonful.

Today’s soup is a classic one that can be found in recipe books as old as America. We’re talking about the classic ham and bean soup. This is standard fare that used garden vegetables, hearty staples, and leftover pieces of meat that might not otherwise have any use. Mark Bittman nailed this classic, old-fashioned recipe, and it’s his original recipe that we bring to you today.

Jump Ahead:

• ❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• 🍲 Ingredients Needed to Make Old Fashioned Ham and Bean Soup
• 🍴 Equipment You’ll Need in the Kitchen
• 🥄 How to Make Ol Fashioned Ham and Bean Soup
• ♾️ Variations on Ham and Bean Soup
• ❓ Ham and Bean Soup Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Exceptionally Easy: This ham and bean soup recipe only requires three basic steps. Add ingredients, simmer, and serve. Most of the cook time is unattended, leaving you with multitasking time to get chores done, hang out with your family, help your children with homework, or take a blessed happy moment for you time. That’s what we call an easy recipe.

Especially Flavorful:  Cooking with the ham hocks makes a wonderfully flavorful soup. The beans, veggies, and hocks all simmer away and impart their unique flavors to all the other ingredients. This is a hearty soup for the soul.

Full of Nutrients: This soup is full of vitamins and minerals, protein, and carbohydrates. It’s well-balanced nutritionally and will leave you feeling full and satisfied.

Ingredients Needed to Make Old Fashioned Ham and Bean Soup

• Red Beans: You can use dried red beans or any variety. Before dumping them into the pot, you’ll want to be sure and rinse them. Pick through them and discard imperfect beans.
• Smoked Ham Hocks: Ham hocks or ham shanks are traditionally used for a soup like this. They lend a wonderfully smoky flavor to soups and you can get them at a grocery store or a butcher. Substitutes, such as a leftover ham bone or country ham pieces, will also lend great flavor and seasoning to soups.
• Onion: You’ll want a medium-sized, white or yellow onion for this.
• Carrots: Get two nice-sized carrots, and remove the skin.
• Celery Stalks: Two celery stalks are all you need.
• Bay Leaves: Dried bay leaves add a flavor all their own to soups.
• Fresh Thyme or Rosemary: Fresh herbs are amazing in this soup. If fresh isn’t available, use a pinch of dried, instead.
• Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper: You’ll want these when you season the soup at the very end. Sea or kosher salt and fresh black pepper are perfect.

Equipment Needed In the Kitchen

Stock Pot

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Chef Knife

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• Stockpot: A large pot or dutch oven is perfect for this recipe.
• Chef Knife: You’ll be doing a fair amount of cutting, so a good sharp chef knife is a must.

How to Make Old Fashioned Ham and Bean Soup

We love soups that we can set and forget. This is one of them. While the soup cooks, you’ll enjoy all the savory scents that waft from your kitchen into the rest of your home. By the end of cooking, your whole family will be ready to gather around the dinner table for this hearty ham and bean soup.

Prep the beans and veggies

First, wash and rinse the beans. Pick through them to remove any stones.

Next, prep your veggies by dicing the onion, carrots, and celery stalks.

Add ingredients to a stockpot

Add the beans, vegetables, ham hocks, spices, and 2 quarts of water to the stockpot. Place on medium-high heat and bring to a boil. When it reaches a boil, turn it down to medium heat or medium-low heat, where it will simmer and gently bubble.

Let the soup simmer

Let the soup simmer and gently bubble until the beans are tender and the ham easily pulls away from the bone. This will take around 60 to 90 minutes.

Stir the soup occasionally while it cooks. If the water reduces too much, add 1/2 cup of water as it cooks. The soup should be fairly liquid and not overly thick.

Note: If you want to extend the cooking time, you can make this in a crock pot instead of the stove top. To make slow cooker ham and bean soup, set it to high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8. Check progress as it cooks for doneness.

To shorten the cook time, an instant pot or pressure cooker can be utilized. You’ll want to check your instant pot manual for instructions on cooking a ham and bean soup to determine exact cooking times.

Finish the soup

Once the beans are tender and the ham easily pulls away from the bone, remove the ham hocks from the pot. Allow to cool enough to handle, then remove the fat, and chop the ham. Return the ham to the pot and stir to incorporate.

Bring the soup to a boil one final time. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. You can serve the soup as-is, mash the beans with a potato masher to make it thicker, or blend with an immersion blender to make it creamier.

Serve hot or refrigerate overnight and serve the next day to allow all the flavors to blend even more.

Variations on Ham and Bean Soup

We love this robust and hearty soup. We also enjoy playing around with it and making it our own. Here are some variations we enjoy.

Ham, Tomato, and Bean Soup: Add 6 fresh diced tomatoes or 1 can of diced tomatoes (about 16 oz) and 1/2 pound, diced, of any cooked leftover ham. Follow the rest of the recipe as written.

Ham and Vegetable Soup: Use chicken broth instead of water. Add the juice of one lemon, 2 tomatoes (diced), 4 carrots (diced), 2 shallots (diced), 1 clove garlic (minced), and 2 cups spinach. Add the tomatoes and spinach during the last 10 minutes of cooking, and the rest of the ingredients at the beginning. Follow the rest of the recipe as written.

Ham and Bean Soup Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

More Soup Recipes

In love with soups? Here are a few more to try when the weather cools down.

• Sausage Corn Chowder: Delicious corn and sausage in a fall-favorite soup.
• Marcella Hazan’s Lentil Soup: Hearty and healthy lentil soup Italian-style.
• Mark Bittman’s Deconstructed Chinese Chicken Soup: Chicken soup with a Chinese twist.
• Tomato Cabbage Soup: A savory veg-forward soup with pork for heartiness and flavor.

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