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Our weeknight version of the beloved Bean and Ham Soup is just as flavorful and mouthwatering as any version slowly simmered for hours on the stove top. Loaded with large chunks of vegetables, shreds of salty ham and creamy white beans, this soup is a true delight.
Simple Ham Bean Soup Recipe
This soup recipe is part of our SOUP-er Simple Series! This means it has a short ingredient list, quick cook time, and loads of flavor. The goal is to give you more than enough soup recipes to get you through cold weeknights when all you want is something savory and steaming on the table in 30 minutes or so.
In order to be apart of the SOUP-er Simple Series, each recipe needs to hit these three criteria:
- 10 ingredients or less
- Ready in under 45 minutes
- Taste like it took hours
Why You’ll Love This Recipe For Ham and Bean Soup
Most Ham and Bean soup recipes utilize a ham hock, ham shanks, or ham bone for infusing the soup with savory, smoky flavor. And when we’re making a long-simmered soup on Sunday, we will too. But for this recipe we were tasked in creating a ham and bean soup that tasted like it simmered for hours but in actuality it was simmered for just 20 minutes or so.
To achieve layers of deep flavor we relied on one of our favorite shortcuts—Better than Bouillon. And frankly, we used to snub Better than Bouillon, thinking it was a shortcut for people who didn’t like to cook. We couldn’t have been more wrong.
If you’re thinking dry powder or bouillon cubes, that’s not what we’re using here. Instead of underwhelming and overly-salty powders, Better than Bouillon is made from simmered meat, vegetables and spices.
To enhance the bouillon even further, we cook it briefly in unsalted butter to lightly brown it, which infuses the broth with even more flavor.
And finally, we like large chunks of veg, so we keep the celery and carrot pretty big.
Ham Bean Soup Ingredients
Better than Bouillon
Look for Better than Bouillon paste in the broth and soup section of your grocery store. We prefer the Roasted Chicken Base for this recipe. Do not substitute with bouillon powder or cubes.
Ham
Seek out a large packaged ham steak or head over to your deli counter and ask them to slice you a ham steak (at least ½ inch thick). Simply tell them you need it for a ham soup recipe and they should know how thick to slice it.
For the best texture, we prefer to tear the ham steak into chunks instead of dicing it. The craggy edges hold onto the broth, ensuring each bite is loaded with flavor.
This soup is also a great way to use leftover ham from a holiday meal or roasted ham dinner!
White Beans
To keep this weeknight-friendly, use canned beans instead of soaking and cooking dried beans. We like the small size and creaminess of Great Northern beans, but you can use any white beans you have on hand or prefer such as navy beans, cannellini beans, and chickpeas. Don’t drain them! Add the beans and their liquid to the soup for an extra-silky broth and slightly thicker soup.
How to make Ham and Bean Soup
- Start by toasting the Better than Bouillon in some butter until fragrant. Then add the large chunks of celery, carrot and onion; season with some salt and cook until the vegetables just start to soften.
TIP: you don’t want them to soften too much at this step, they will soften as the soup simmers. - Add the dried Italian seasoning and fresh minced garlic and cook briefly, just to unlock and toast the flavors.
- Add water and some salt and bring to a boil. Add the chunks of ham and cabbage, bring back to a simmer, and cook until all of the vegetables are tender, this will take about 6 minutes.
- Stir in the canned beans (and their juices) and cook just to warm through then add a splash of vinegar and serve.
TIP: don’t drain and discard the canned bean juices! Those thick juices add a nice silky texture to the broth.
Tips For Making Bean and Ham Soup
- To make the prep of this soup even faster, you can prep the veggies ahead of time. Cut the carrots, celery, onion, and cabbage up to 3 days in advance. Store the carrots, celery and onions together in a large glass container with a tight fitting lid in the refrigerator. Store the cabbage separately, in an airtight container in the refrigerator as well.
- This soup makes A LOT—16 cups! Be sure you use the large pot or Dutch oven you have on hand.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Leftovers can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
- This soup is a meal in and of itself. However, we like to top each bowl of soup with a chunk of crusty bread for soaking up the golden broth.
What to Serve With Ham and Bean Soup
This soup is an all-in-one meal, so I like to keep the side dish simple—serve it with my Buttermilk Biscuits or Cheese Biscuits. Or for something a bit more hands-off, make my quick no-knead Focaccia.
Storing Bean and Ham Soup
This soup will last up to 1 week when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Can you freeze Ham and Bean Soup?
Yes! Place the soup in an airtight container or freezer bag and freeze it for up to 3 months. Allow the soup to thaw overnight in the fridge before gently reheating it in a saucepan on the stovetop over medium-low, or in a bowl in the microwave.
FAQs
We haven’t tested this, but you should be able to, no problem. We anticipate it won’t be as flavorful as you aren’t browning the bouillon, but it will still be delicious. You’ll need 8 cups chicken broth.
Make a quick mix of the dried herbs you have on hand! The majority of the mix should be basil, parsley and oregano. Thyme and rosemary should also be added, but in smaller amounts. This is a great homemade Italian Seasoning recipe.
Sure, we haven’t tested this but potatoes should work fine. Cut them into 1/2-inch cubes and add them with the celery.
Fresh parsley would be our first choice, but chives or thyme would also be delicious. For even more flavor, you can drop a couple bay leaves into the soup while it simmers.
More Soup Recipes to
- Chicken Pot Pie Soup is a creamy veggie-heavy soup featuring the tastiest puff pastry croutons.
Caldo Verde is one of my favorite soups and I think it’ll become one of yours as well. It features a silky smooth paprika broth, tender chink of potato, smoked andouille sausage and kale. Simple, comforting and satisfying! - For a hands-off soup, try this Broccoli Feta Soup. Everything is roasted in the oven and then blended until smooth.
- My Chicken and Rice Soup is the perfect dinner to bridge the gap between winter and spring. Cozy and comforting but still bright in flavor.
White Bean and Ham Soup
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base
- 6 stalks celery, cut into 1 ½-inch chunks (3 ½ cups)
- 3 large carrots, cut into ½-inch pieces (1 ½ cups)
- 1 small onion, finely diced (2 cups)
- Morton kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons dried Italian seasoning
- 1 heaping tablespoon minced fresh garlic
- 1 ¼ pounds ham steak, torn into 1-inch pieces (4 heaping cups)
- ½ pound green cabbage, cut into chunks (6-7 cups)
- 2 (14.5-ounce) cans white beans (such as Great Northern)
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Instructions
- Heat butter in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium. Add Better than Bouillon, increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and bouillon starts to stick to pan, about 2 minutes.
- Add celery, carrots, and onion to drippings; season with 2 teaspoons kosher salt. Reduce heat to medium and cook until vegetables start to soften and there’s a good amount of liquid in bottom of pot (scant 1 cup), about 10 minutes.
- Stir in Italian seasoning and garlic; cook 2 minutes.
- Add 8 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt; increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium then stir in ham and cabbage; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes.
- Stir in beans and their juices; simmer just until warmed through.
- Stir in vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste.
So good! I added kale because that’s what I had and a pinch of chili flakes. It was delicious.
A family favorite (even for our little kids)!
Hi Sarah! So glad the kids love this recipe too!! 🙂