by Holly
Ham Bone Soup is the perfect way to use up your leftover Christmas ham. This easy recipe takes just a few minutes to put into the slow cooker and the results are amazing!
The slow cooker makes for an effortless meal! A flavorful ham infused broth filled with beans and vegetables is like a hug in a bowl.
Serve it with some easy dinner rolls or homemade bread for the perfect anytime meal!
An Easy Soup for Leftovers
We love soups around the holidays. They are not only easy, but so comforting, warm, and cozy.
- This ham bone vegetable soup recipes is so easy to make.
- You probably have all of the ingredients on hand, which means no special trip to the store!
- Add the ingredients to your CrockPot and set it and forget. Let it work its magic.
- This recipe can also be cooked in a dutch oven on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot/pressure cooker if you’d prefer.
- Can be frozen for easy meals.
Ingredients in Ham Bone Soup
Start with a ham bone of course! Save the bone from your leftover holiday ham or spiral ham (just toss it in the freezer until you’re ready). If you don’t have a ham bone, use a smoked ham hock in place.
Broth or some broth and some water will work in this recipe. If you want to boost the flavor even more add in any kind of leftover gravy, and/or homemade turkey stock or chicken stock. Keep in mind ham already has quite a bit of salt so if you’re adding broth, I’d suggest a low sodium or no sodium version.
Canned beans make this easy but you can certainly rehydrate and cook dried beans if you’d like. Use fresh or frozen veggies, I add any veggies I have leftover from my turkey dinner! Sweet potatoes, green beans, navy beans, peas, corn, carrots, squash…. almost anything goes!
What To Do With Ham Bone
Because a leftover ham bone has already been cooked, it will have a ton of flavor.
- Remove most of the meat from the bone to use in leftover ham recipes. I leave a little ham on the bone to flavor soups and also so I can pick it off and add it to the soup.
- Keep the bone in the freezer until you’re ready to make soup. I place it in the slow cooker right from frozen since it’s already cooked.
- Cook it right in the soup below and then before serving, remove it from the soup and pick off any meat. Add the meat back to the soup and discard the bone.
- Do not use the bone for more than one soup, I find it doesn’t have enough flavor left to use it again.
If you have a ham bone to use, making a ham and bean soup or split pea soup are the best ways to put it to good use! With a ham bone, you can easily put it in the freezer after your holiday meal and then just put it directly in the Crock Pot from frozen to make this ham bone soup.
How To Make Ham Bone Soup
This is the best ham bone soup and since it is made in a slow cooker, all you really need to do is a tiny bit of prep.
- Dice, chop, and slice your veggies.
- Add all ingredients to the slow cooker and cook until tender.
- Remove meat from the bone and add back into the soup.
It really is one of the simplest soups you will ever make. Enjoy!
More Recipes You’ll Love
- Crock Pot Ham (Video)
- Easy Crock Pot Ham and Potato Soup
- Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze
- Ham & Cheese Slider Bake
- Broccoli Cheese Casserole with Ham
Ham Bone Soup (Slow Cooker)
Prep Time 5 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 meaty ham bone
- 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes diced
- 3 carrots sliced
- 2 ribs celery sliced
- 1 cup corn
- 1 large onion diced
- 15 ounces cannellini beans drained and rinsed (white kidney beans)
- 7 cups chicken broth or water
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ¼ cup fresh parsley
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Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker.
- Cover soup and cook on high 6 hours or low 9-10 hours.
- Remove ham bone, bay leaves and thyme stems (if using fresh thyme).
- Chop meat from the bone and add back into the soup. Stir and serve.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
easy to make. so good!
I made this yesterday, it was so easy and so good! I used some broth and some water, the flavor was amazing!
Delicious – loved the soup and the corn just adds more texture & flavor! I used chicken broth instead of water and a side of homemade cornbread muffins.
So glad you loved this recipe Mary! Homemade cornbread muffins would be a delicious side to this soup!
I think the author means “ribs of celery” and not “stalks of celery”…otherwise, it would be celery soup with all that celery!
Oh dear, you are correct. We do mean 2 ribs of celery. But we have a delicious celery soup recipe if you want to use up a few stalks of celery
What a great recipe. I modified the recipe a bit based on what I had at home. I used black beans instead of white beans. Also, no bay leaves or thyme, but I used basil and added garlic. Also, I split 50/50 the water and chicken broth. I was amazed how the meat fell of the bone at the 6 hour mark on low. I cut up the ham, put it back in the soup, and then put the bone back on for the last 2 hours. Thank you so much.
So happy you loved this recipe, Rick! Your substitutions sound delicious.
should I put all the ingredients in at the same time? just worry about some things over cooking
I do them all at the same time, you could certainly add them later if you’d like. If adding them later, this will bring the temperature of the broth down and you might need to add a little of extra cooking time.
Hi, this sounds Great!! However we don’t care for corn in soup. Can we just leave it out? Or substitute with something? Perhaps some type of tomatoes? Thank you.
The corn can be left out of this recipe.
Thank you for a great base recipe! Substituted the beans for some cabbage (kiddo with reflux that can’t do beans).
You’re welcome. So happy to hear that you love the soup!
If you use a stock pot instead of the slow cooker how long do you think I should cook it for?
Hi Melissa, I would let it simmer over medium-low heat for roughly 1 ½ hours or more until vegetables are fully cooked and beans are soft.
I was crunched for time so that is what I did. 1 1/2 hours simmering on the stovetop is perfect. I sauteed the onions, carrots and celery in a little butter before adding the other ingredients. I used water, not chicken broth, and just a little black pepper. No salt needed. My whole family loved it.
Thanks for sharing your stovetop tips, Christine! That sounds delicious.
I am wondering what other bean I could use? My crew is not a fan of white kidney beans.
If you prefer you can swap them out for dark red kidney beans, Nora.
Does this freeze well?
Yes it does!
Delicious!!! I made it just as the recipe called for. Didn’t have yukon gold potatoes so I used russet – still delicious. I also used 5 C. Chicken stock and 2 C. Water. Had cornbread as a side. This recipe’s a keeper! Thanks so much for sharing!
You’re welcome Anne! So happy to hear how much you love the ham bone soup!
Yes! Just add broth before cooking!
Would this be okay to prepare the night before and then start the crockpot in the morning?
I don’t see why not Tiffany. It may take a little bit longer to cook since all ingredients will be cold.
I really wish a lot of cooks on Pinterest would learn and use the proper word for the amt of Celery to use. A stalk is the whole darn stalk of Celery with multiple ribs on it. A rib of Celery is one if the sticks you remove from the stalk.
Does this recipe use a whole stalk of celery? Thank you.
Hi Denise, sorry for the confusion. For this recipe, we use 2 ribs of celery.
Next time ask for clarification without sounding so mean.
Agree with Kat.
Imagine being so petty that you feel the need to rudely correct someone who was kind enough to share their recipe — and actually thinking that others will agree with you and be grateful for your “clarification.”
What would we all have done had you not made clear that a soup recipe likely doesn’t need 10+ ribs of celery! ::eye roll::
Agreed!
I assumed it meant ribs so that’s what I used! It’s in the slow cooker right now and smells heavenly! I think it will be a winner! Other then that little assumption I followed the directions !