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.
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Outstanding!
I was happy to find this recipe for hambone soup. I love to cook ham for Sunday dinner a couple of times a year. I hated to waste the leftover bone and small pieces of ham. This recipe solved that . It was easy ! I thought soups took all day and since I work I typically make dinner in about 30 minutes. The soup was delicious as written and I had all the ingredients in my pantry. Super easy and delicious.
Great! And so easy!
This soup was so good and so easy. I loved being able to use up all my leftover vegetables into this delicious soup. (I added a can of condensed potato soap, mixed with about a cup of half & half. I like a creamy soup so I used was I had on hand.)
I made this soup last week between Christmas and New Years and it is fantastic! My substitutions were using dry navy beans that I cooked separately for another meal and fresh corn that was leftover from the garden. As with any soup, I think it’s better the next day than the day of. So good!
Omg! Sooo good. Who knew that such a simple soup would be sooo delicious. I added more carrots and extra fresh thyme. The ham stock made it amazing!
I made this in my Instant Pot and added more veggies – otherwise used this recipe. It was absolutely delicious and the ham bone made such a wonderful stock! I hate to waste any food, so really appreciate this one. Thanks for an easy recipe.
I always like to simmer mine for longer, so the potato can be mashed down to create a lovely creamy texture, but still with some chunks of veg through it.
I made this soup after Christmas, I was looking for a soup other than pea soup! This soup did the trick! It was very easy to make, loaded with vegetables and “damn delicious”!
Making this right now, I have never made a soup before, let alone a ham stock. It’s super easy. I added some extra veggies, extra ham, and some more beans. I also let the hambone simmer for 4 hours with 2 bay leaves, and extra water (totaling ~ 8 cups), I did this because I have a HUGE ham bone – per other comments you can cook the ham bone over night, or for a few hours. I believe 1 hour is plenty though, the house became soo fragrant at the hour mark! I also added a bit of leftover chicken stock I had laying around (maybe about 1.5c or so). This recipe is super easy, and will be a great “base” for future soups I make. It seems like you can thicken it up relatively easy for more of a “heart stew” as well!
This soup is just ridiculously good! We always make a ham at Thanksgiving and Christmas and we made two hams at Christmas this year so I’m making a double batch and my mouth is already watering!! So simple and so good!
This is an amazing soup, one of the best I’ve ever tasted. The broth is Smokey and absolutely delicious. I look forward to making a ham, just to get the bone for this!
Made this tonight with the left over ham and it was SO good! Thanks for the great recipe. The only thing I did different was a boiled the ham bone in my crockpot for 24 hours to get more of a bone broth.
I made the Leftover Hambone Soup today and it was great! I followed recipe other than added peas instead of corn. Was a delicious hot treat for a cold winter day. Definitely will make this soup again but will add more veggies.
I love this soup. Only substitutions were a can of corn and a can of great northern beans since it’s what I had in my pantry. There is so much flavor. I just sent this link to my mom.
This is my go to ham bone recipe every time. Love it. Thanks.
I made this last night with bone from honey baked copycat. It was soooo…. delicious, sweet and light, comforting . Thank you.
Made this last year with a Harry and David spiral ham and then again with vegetable broth and ham… so yummy. Making it again this year and got a H&D ham just for the soup! Best Damn Ham soup!
My first ham bone soup and it was simple and delicious! This is a keeper. Is it true that Honey Baked Ham sells ham bones? Thank you so much for the great recipe. After seeing a few of the modifications, kale would be a great addition.
Yes! I just bought a ham bone from the Honey Baked Ham store yesterday for $8. Great deal! Still had plenty of ham at the bottom and it was a perfect size for this recipe. Making leftover ham bone soup tonight!
EXCELLENT!!!!
Yes it is good, I made a few substitutions. I used diced tomatoes in lieu of carrots, and 1 can black beans and one can white kidney beans and skipped the corn (which I am sure would be good. I used 1 beer and chicken stock to the ham stock. Also I added crushed red pepper to my potato, garlic onion stir fry.
Great soup! Found last year for Xmas and was so looking forward to a thanksgiving ham so I could make it again. Easy to make and smells so good cooking on stove. Will be outdoors most of weekend and looking forward to warming up with this at end of day.