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!
For those of you who made a ham for Christmas yesterday, I highly suggest saving the bone so you can make this ultimate hambone soup.
I first made this soup two years ago and I was so amazed as to how you could actually use the hambone. In the previous years, I would toss them in the trash but the leftover hambone is actually quite a gold mine.
With a simple homemade ham stock, you could create such a cozy, hearty soup with ingredients you already have on hand.
Once you let the flavors meld together, this soup is wonderfully sweet and comforting with chunks of ham in every bite!
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
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.
Did you make this recipe?
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So quick, easy, and delicious – a family favorite for us year round 🙂
Very tasty…I would love to add tomatoes and a noodle of some sort…is this possible ?
Looks delicious. Can you use ham hocks?
Came out great. Added celery and cabbage, and a bit of chicken bullion. and made a double batch. Great recipe, thank you!
My favorite part of thanksgiving. I make this every year. So delicious and easy!
Fantastic recipe! Just made a double batch for my mother-in-law and the residents at her memory care facility. It was a hit!
We were looking for a way to use the hambone from our Thanksgiving meal and found this recipe. It was easy and delicious. The cook times were accurate, and prep was minimal. It was so yummy that now I am trying to think of reasons to buy a spiral ham so we can make this soup again!
Hi,
This soup was absolutely excellent! Easy to make, VERY quick and mighty tasty! Leftovers seemed even better.
Thanks…
This soup is absolutely delicious, any time I buy a spiral ham I make this soup. I add peas and some fresh dill & parsley to it as well.
Soup is very tasty with a flavorful broth. Would make again.
Worked great and family loved it! Added celery along with carrots and potatoes. Will use this again!
Can I freeze this soup? I made too much (doubled the recipe expecting a crowd…)
Delicious recipe and I’ll make it again. I followed the recipe but had to make two substitutions based on what I had in the pantry. Instead of russet potatoes, I used two parsnips, hubby loves them. I didn’t have corn, but added a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies. I add that frequently to soups because I like the depth of flavor it gives due to the mild green chilies. Everything else stayed the same and the soup was delicious for several meals for the two of us.
This soup was absolutely excellent! Easy to make, VERY quick and mighty tasty! Leftovers seemed even better. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Excellent Soup!! My family is not a big fan of soups but they loved this one! I increased the ham to 2 cups because my family are meat lovers. I don’t like thyme so I omitted it.
Easy to follow. First time, will do again. I even canned some different beans earlier All met and we enjoyed. This tastes Great much better then store soups. Will look forward to other ideas.
Amazing! I cooked my hambone in 5-1/2 cups of chicken broth and 1-1/2 cups of water.
My husband loves ham. He is always buying one. I made this soup and he was hesitant to try as he only likes chicken soup. I just made it with a xmas ham that was a gift and he was sick with the flu. I made him a bowl, he went crazy for it. This broth is so rich and flavorful….One of my winter mainstays…..thank you for the recioe.
Just wanted to drop by and say that we make this EVERY year with our leftover Christmas ham bone. I don’t change a thing when I make it: it’s perfect! Thank you for getting us started with ham bones 5 years ago!
How much of the ham broth do you use for the souo?
I made this exactly as written, but used more water to make more broth, and used Great Northern beans since I’ve never heard of white kidney beans. It is so good! What a simple, comforting soup.