Leftover Hambone Soup
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You can use up your leftover hambone to make this cozy, hearty soup loaded with tons of veggies and chunks of sweet ham!
Featured Comment
reasons to make hambone soup
- Repurposes leftover holiday hambone
- Makes for an amazing, flavorful ham stock
- Warm, cozy, hearty, hug-in-a-bowl vibes
- Great clean-out-the-fridge meal, adding in leftover vegetables and extra herbs
tips and tricks for success
- Use a hambone. Not only can you repurpose a leftover hambone, but the hambone will add such luscious flavor, richness and body to the soup.
- Add pasta. Add ditalini, macaroni or a small shape pasta for a heartier soup.
- Add in leafy greens. This is a great recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, or arugula are all great options.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
- Freeze as needed. Hambone soup is a great recipe to freeze, perfect for a quick, cozy weeknight meal in the coming weeks. Always use airtight, resealable freezer bags, label, date and freeze up to 3 months.
what to serve with hambone soup
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Leftover Hambone Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
This can certainly be made without the hambone. It may not have the exact same flavors or richness than using the bone, but it will still be a great way to use up all that leftover holiday ham.
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
Yes! This is a great IP version for an even quicker time stamp.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop.
Leftover Hambone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 leftover hambone
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 russet potato, peeled and diced
- 1 cup canned white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup frozen corn kernels
- ¾ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ cups leftover diced ham
Equipment
Instructions
- Place leftover hambone in a large stockpot or Dutch oven and add enough water to cover the bone halfway, about 6-7 cups. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until very fragrant, about 30 minutes to 1 hour; set aside ham stock and discard hambone.
- Heat olive oil in the large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, carrots and potato. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in ham stock, beans, corn, thyme and bay leaves; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in ham until heated through, about 1-2 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Video
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I made this yesterday night, and the hubby really likes it! I sub pinto beans for the kidney beans since I had a ton of those. Everything else was the same.
My husband is a red seal chef , he’s amazing at soups therefore he is usually the only one who makes them . He has his own cookbooks basically just soups and thought , nope not gunna look through them ill try “Google”
I stumbled across this one and I’m super stoked to try it .
Myself Im adding small amount of cooked beet greens and and cooked angel hair pasta to the bottom of the bowl just before serving and garnish with very fine chopped green onion.
That sounds amazing! I’ll definitely have to try your adaptations!
Had plenty of ham left over from new years dinner that I made both the ham bone soup and ham potatoe chowder. Both are amazing! Thank you for the tastey ideas, but I need to freeze one. Whitch do you think woyld hold up better in the freezer?
I’m so glad you had a chance to try both! I would freeze the ham bone soup since the chowder is thick and the consistency may be affected.
Thanks for this recipe! Google led me to this recipe, trying to see what I can do with my leftover ham bone!
Do you think I can use the pressure cooker to boil the leftover ham?
I’ve actually never used a pressure cooker before so I’m not too sure about this one.
Would sweet potatoes be ok to use instead of a white potato?
Yes, absolutely, but you may have to adjust cooking time as needed.
Added a bam…broath was kinda lame so I added chopped tomatoes and a small jar of spag sauce….alittle more spices…..and it was the bomb…needs a kick..def…came out sooooo gooood!!!
This is an excellent recipe, very easy to follow, and the pictures are beautiful. Thank you! My soup is simmering on the stove right now – smells delicious!
The aroma is absolutely amazing. Let me know how it turns out!
One of my favorite things about holidays is all of the delicious ways to use leftovers. This recipe is perfect!
My family and I just finished eating this soup for lunch with cornbread. It is the best soup I’ve ever made according to my husband. The aroma carried through the whole house. My 17 year old son just came and stood by the stove to breath in the flavorful scent. I followed the recipe as is, but added sliced onions and sofrito, a Spanish seasoning. I also added leftover ham from Christmas along with its drippings. I am so glad to come across your blog and recipe. I look forward to making it again.
I’m so glad you had a chance to make this! And serving alongside cornbread is genius. I will definitely have to do that next time!
My mom used to make my what she called “Ham & Beans” nothing about it being a soup. She always used dried pinto beans, ham or chicken broth & the Ham Bone with a few onions. Do you have any thing that is similar to that ? I know she probably also used salt & pepper
That sounds similar to this recipe! 🙂
I didn’t have any white beans so I used black beans. Also I replaced the potatoes with garbanzo beans. It turned out great. Thanks for the recipe.
Although there is a Print button, this site will not print. Any suggestions? Thanks.
I’m not too sure, Karen. The print button is working fine on my end. Please try a different browser.
Just finished getting it all into dutch oven, took a taste and it tastes really nice, bet it will be even better once veggies meld
Anyone know the calorie count on this recipe?
Lisa, you can obtain nutritional analysis using online resources such as calorie count.
I dont have a pot wide enough for the ham bone to lie down in. if I stand it up in a tall pot do I just add more water to try to cover it halfway up?
Covering the pot halfway to the bone should be more than sufficient. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the inspiration, I will be making this today. One comment about freezing: In my experience potatoes and carrots get weird when I freeze them unless they are pureed/mashed. So I either do that with those ingredients if I know I am going to freeze the item, or I omit those two items and add to the thawed dish before serving. Carrots are easy to add to a dish because I don’t mind them barely cooked. What I do is chop them fine then toss them into the cold dish before I reheat. I don’t eat a lot of potatoes, but they are also easy to quickly cook up to add to anything if you really want them – it only takes minutes to cook diced potatoes in a glass measuring cup in the microwave(covered with plastic wrap, couple of tablespoons of water too).
Thanks again.
Cheers, and Happy New Year.
Hey…do you think a can of black-eyed peas would work instead of the kidney beans? I was thinking it would be a good New Year’s Day soup to do that and throw in a little spinach at the end for prosperity in the New Year! 🙂
Black-eyed peas sounds like a wonderful substitution. Happy new year!
Love your recipe as always. Thank you for sharing with us.
Hi Chung-Ah-I wanted to let you know I made your soup recipe last night using a leftover ham bone and from Christmas. Oh my goodness, is it ever delicious! I made it last night and refrigerated it overnight. The fat rose to the top of the stock and was easily scooped off. Had a bowl for lunch on this rainy day-this is gonna be great for lunches this week.
Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe. 🙂
I’m so glad you had a chance to use up your ham bone!
And it used up the leftover ham too-that word I forgot to add in the original post…….sheesh. Thanks again for the great recipe.
You mention the white kidney beans, I am assuming this is canned based on when you add them to the soup. Just wanted to double check. Sounds delicious!
Yes, the “white kidney beans” refer to canned beans. Be sure to drain and rinse before adding to the soup. Hope that helps!
Wonderful, fragrant and filling soup! Just made this and my house smells wonderful. I had fresh dill on hand and added a generous amount to the pot. Made a huge pot and kids loved it. I will freeze some as well. Thanks! (I used to throw out my ham bone – NEVER again!!!)
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I love that you used fresh dill on this – definitely need to try that next time!