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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Very tasty and satisfying! I’ve only made soup from a hambone a couple of times, and a long time ago, so this was surprisingly easy and fairly quick to come together. I used a full can of beans, and threw in some frozen chopped kale for color/extra veggies for the kids. Good recipe to have on hand.
Great recipe! Easy to make with simple ingredients!
This is an awesome soup and very easy to make. It’s a keeper!
Delicious! Used veg from the garden added a bit of cornstarch to thicken and it was like a meal in a bowl!
With all soup, I scrape as much ‘meat’ from bone that I will add to the soup last. I don’t like the taste of ‘boiled’ meat. I always cook my stock overnight in my crockpot. I add a half chopped onion, the celery leaves and bay leaves. I get up in morning and shut it off. Put in fridge when cool enough. Scrape the fat off, strain it, and continue with the rest.
This is a very versatile recipe. Thank you for inspiring my dinner menu. Cheers.
Thank you, Lana…I can’t believe you’re the first one to mention the FAT from boiling the ham bone!! I was beginning to think it must be part of the recipe, no one was mentioning it…even the original recipe!
Love this recipe! I always make enough so that I can freeze about 3/4 of the mixture. I am a senior!.
I love shiitake mushrooms which I add, thinly sliced. Believe it or not I add some FINLY sliced Kale! I guess for colour. Also when I freeze the leftovers I add some 1/2 cooked diced potatoes so they are perfect when I reheat.
Followed the recipe except used dried thyme instead of fresh. Delicious. Thanks!
I skipped a lot of stuff, since I was improvising (no carrots, onions, fresh garlic). Can’t wait to try it with a full roster of ingredients.
I froze a ham bone from our Easter ham and have been searching for a yummy soup to use it for that everyone in my family would like. We can eat soup any time of the year, but we live in FL where its already in the 90s daily, so a thick and hearty soup wasn’t really something that appeled to me.
This soup was delicious! Seriously, it felt like a warm hug (which is very comforting during this Covid pandemic)
I followed the recipe almost exactly with the exception of using corn I had previously grilled on the cob. I also added a little chopped celery simply because I had some and my Thyme was dried rather than fresh.
I just had 2 bowls for lunch! I’ll serve it to my family tonight with hot biscuits and I am confident they will live it as much as I do.
This will be in my permanent soup recipe rotation!!
I was thinking the same thing it’s so hot but I’m in the mood for ham soup. Ft Myers here hon. To dang hot. But soup is what the dr or rather mom ordered. Turn the ac low and have soup. Did you tweak it or left as is? I have 2 ham bones. So I’m gonna ham this up..
We made this soup with leftover Easter ham.
Smoky and sweet deliciousness! Quick to prepare.
Thank You “Google Home”!
I made this soup last week with the hambone left over from Easter dinner. It was so amazing!!! We ate half of it and I froze the other half because we had already eaten soooo much ham for several days. But, I’m starting to crave it, so I’ll probably pull it out of the freezer next week for lunches. So easy and sooooo yummy! Thanks!
Awesome meal. Thank you!!! I plan to make it again, but next time I’ll add some flour or corn starch to thicken the liquid, cover it with biscuits, and pop the whole thing int the oven for a bit to make it a ham bone soup pot pie. Can’t wait!
This was amazing. Made from my leftover Easter ham bone that I’d normally toss. When I made the stock I was worried would be too greasy. But no. Just awesome, smoky deliciousness. Made it one day, then served the next. I added extra carrots potatoes and ham and used a bit more water for stock so we’d have leftovers. Will definitely make this again.
I was looking for a ham-bone recipe that did not require a pre-made soup. This fit the bill. OMGosh – this was fantastic. It way exceeded my expectations – extremely flavorful. I used garbanzo beans (for the white bean), I didn’t have any corn – so that was left out … suggestion to 1st time makers – if you want to boil/simmer for an hour – I would add more water in the beginning stage. This recipe has already been shared! Thank you.
This was great! Everyone loved it even the picky toddler. Thank you!
Thanks for the awesome recipe. It was quick and easy with ingredients normally on hand. The only thing I would do differently is increase the carrots and potatoes because it was so good!
AMAZING SOUP!!! I have to say it’s literally my favorite soup I’ve ever made and had. Only change I made was adding more potatoes and carrots (I love both so no such thing as too much). Absolutely amazing. So easy to make too, ham bone stock is a must.
This is a very hearty soup. I added chicken stock and 2 cups of shredded ham added great northern beans instead of kidney, celery, garlic, onion and carrots and used red potatoes. I did not add corn. Came out delicious. Thank you.
This soup is a “10!”
Love this soup but the recipe is now missing from this page! Can you please repost it? Thank you!
It is back up! Thanks!