This slow cooker ham and potato soup is a cool weather staple around here and it’s easy to make.
This is a simple, quick, and creamy potato soup loaded with sweet carrots and tender ham cooks—it’s so easy that it practically cooks itself.
Few things are as comforting as coming home to dinner after a busy day of work or errands!
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights For Ham & Potato Soup
- Flavor: This slow cooker ham and potato soup is creamy with a homestyle flavor and a slight tang from the sour cream.
- Consistency: This recipe is a soup, and while it’s thicker than many soups, it’s not as thick as a chowder. It can be thickened according to the notes below.
- Difficulty: Super easy! This is a great soup for beginners.
- Recommended tools: To save prep time, I use this chopper for the carrots and onions. It’s one of my favorite kitchen tools.
- Flavor booster: If you have a ham bone from leftover baked ham, add it to the slow cooker for extra flavor.
- Leftovers: This soup tastes just as good leftover as it does the day you made it-perfect for lunches all week.
- Serving suggestions: Pair it with 30 Minute Dinner Rolls or crusty bread.
Ham for Soup
Use leftovers if you have them from either baked ham or Crock Pot Ham. If you’ve got a ham bone, add that as well.
If you don’t have leftovers, ham steaks are an inexpensive option.
How To Thicken Potato Soup
This slow cooker ham and potato soup recipe is not quite as thick as a potato chowder but easy to thicken. I use the vegetables in the soup to thicken it without adding a lot of heavy cream or butter.
- Mash veggies – Remove two to three cups of potatoes and carrots and mash them before adding them back to the soup Crock Pot.
- Option: Potato flakes – If you’d like to thicken it further, add some potato flakes which are great to have on hand for thickening all kinds of things!
- Option: Cornstarch – You can also create a cornstarch slurry (equal parts cornstarch and water), stir it in, and let it simmer in the crock pot for 15 minutes on high.
Leftovers and Freezing
Store leftover soup in the fridge for up to four days. This Ham and Potato soup recipe freezes well. Cool it completely, transfer it to freezer bags or an airtight container, and freeze for up to four months.
Thaw in the fridge overnight and heat in the microwave or stovetop.
More Slow Cooker Recipes You'll Love
Did you enjoy this Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup? Leave a comment and rating below.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds potatoes about 7 cups diced
- 2 to 3 cups diced ham
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 large carrot chopped
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup milk or cream
- ½ cup sour cream
- potato flakes for thickening, optional*
Instructions
- If using russet or baking potatoes, peel the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into ¾-inch pieces.
- In a 6qt slow cooker, add potatoes, ham, onion, carrot, ham, parsley, thyme and salt and pepper. Pour the broth overtop.
- Cook on low for 7 hours or high for 3 hours or until the potatoes are tender.
- Transfer 2 to 3 cups of the potatoes and carrots to a bowl. Mash them and return the mashed mixture to the slow cooker.
- Add the milk and sour cream. Stir and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Soup
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Question: If I’m using my leftover ham and ham bone from Christmas, do you think it’s a good idea to add the ham bone to my crockpot and use let’s say 3 cups of water and 2 cups chicken broth? That way as it’s slow cooking for 7 hours the soup will get a lot of flavor from the cooked ham bone? I’m making this today so I don’t have time to make a bone broth first and plus when I look up ham broth recipes they call for onion, carrots, water so it’s like I’m doing a 2 in 1 am I right?
I think the ham bone would give this great flavor!! It may have a little more salt so the addition of water (and low sodium) broth should work perfectly. Let us know how it goes!
You think you can substitute white sweet potatoes?
I haven’t tried it but I can’t see any reason it wouldn’t work. Let us know how it goes!
Great soup
An absolutely great soup, no fuss no muss with some great tips. One of the best leek and potato soups that I have made
I will certainly back for more recipes
B
Hi! Any dairy free ingredients you suggest? This looks delish but we are dairy sensitive. Not sure of the best replacements for milk and sour cream to keep the integrity of the recipe. Thanks!
Cook the soup as directed skipping the dairy at the end. You can mash some of the potatoes for a creamier consistency. If you have a non-dairy milk/sour cream you like you could also try that although they can change the flavor somewhat.
Y’all have thing that my wife & I can enjoy without having a ton of left overs. Two retire”s in their early 70’s don’t eat 15lb hams no matter how you cook it and on a limited budget! Keep up the good work
I usually just get a ham steak from the market. Come prepackaged from the supplier of the hams.
Hi James try Smithfield Anytime Favorites they have a cubed selection 8oz per package, I’ve used in mine and it was delicious .
I cooked mine on stove top, brought to boil and then simmered for 90 minutes, then added my dairy and simmered another 30. I also like to toss in a couple of Knorr chicken boullion for a little depth, be sure to not salt till the end if adding the boullion may not need much of any salt.
I am on a very limited budget – and your recipes are budget friendly and very delicious!!! I love comfort food – and you have it down for sure! Thank You!!!
Thank you Susan. We are so happy to share these recipes with you!
Delicious recipe!!! And easy. Wasn’t looking forward to chopping all the veggies but looking forward to a new recipe, I forgot about the chopping. Thanks!!! Kathleen
Thank you Kathleen. So glad you enjoyed it!
This is how I make my potato soup, I use cauliflower for the potatoes (frozen is quicker) ,my husband and I are diabetics and can’t have the starch, it tastes the same and is soooo good!
So glad you enjoy it Jamie! It’s one of our favorites too.
Made this today and used a huge sweet potato and a mixture of russets and Dutch Yellows. Also added leeks, parsnips, and garlic to the onion, carrots and celery. Sautéed these first,in a large cast iron Dutch Oven, then added the potatoes continued for another five minutes or so. Added the broth and seasoned with salt, freshly ground pepper and a dash of cayenne. I waited to add ham (leftover and frozen) cubed, after I puréed with my immersion blender. Lastly I used half n half and tempered sour cream.
I would suggest to those who either said it was bland…to aggressively seasoned and if thyme is not your thing choose herbs or spices that you like.
Thank you for sharing your additions Diane, sounds delish!
You changed the whole thing? Annoying
Woke up to curdled milk. Can I save this? Or throw out the whole thing and start over? I’m so bummed out, wanted some for breakfast.
If the milk is spoiled I would suggest remaking the dish. Hopefully it turns out just as good!
I put the sour cream and milk in at the beginning and I don’t have ingredients to te make
How do you manage to separate the potatoes and carrot chunks from the ham? I’m having the worst time with it.
I don’t separate them completely, I just try to get mostly the potatoes out. If you mash gently with a potato masher, any ham pieces should stay intact. Enjoy the soup!
I just made two crock pots full of this soup!! I made a pot full of broth from our Easter ham. I chilled the broth and skimmed off the fat. It made enough broth for 2 pot fulls! I used the chopped square hasbrown potatoes and cooked it on low for 7 hours. I was also able to mash some of the veggies in the pots, so no extra mess! Mine does look more like a chowder. We are so pleased with the results! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Toni!
Awesome recipe! Tasted great. I did add 1 sweet potato because I have some and that based a lot of good flavor!
That sounds like a yummy addition! I am so glad that you enjoyed the recipe!
Made this tonight with leftover Christmas ham. I added a bay leaf, about a tsp. of thyme and some corn. I accidentally put in more chicken broth than the recipe called for so I added about 1/2 cup of potato flakes to the cream/flour/sour cream mixture at the end. It turned out fabulous! Everyone went back for seconds! Thanks for the awesome recipe. Will definitely make this one again!
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe!
This potato soup was delicious. I didn’t have an onion or a carrot so I put in 2 cups of frozen mixed veggies. Since I cooked mine on high, after two hours cooking, I added the veggies. Also added one teaspoon of nutmeg. Used leftover ham from Christmas dinner. Also added 1/4 cup of flour to the milk and sour cream and whisked them very well before adding to the soup. Then I turned my crock pot down and stirred the milk/flour mixture into it. Also did not have chicken broth so I just threw in 5 chicken bouillon cubes and 5 cups of water. It was soooo goood! Thanks for the recipe.
I am so glad you were able to make this work with what you had on hand!
Can this recipe Be made with skipping mashing the potatoes and just have diced potatoes?
Is there a purpose that you mash some and then put them back in the slow cooker?
I asked this question before but never received a reply back.
You can leave them as is. Mashing slightly will thicken the soup but it’s not required.
Do you think this would freeze well?
I also added peas and corn.
How do you make this budget friendly, i.e. what source of ham do you use? The ham I found that was already cooled cost me about $10, which seems more than the idea of the recipe calls for.
This is a great way to use up leftovers. You can also check for ham bones or purchase an inexpensive ham steak.