Ham Bone Soup (Slow Cooker)

Ham Bone Soup (Slow Cooker) is a perfect way to use up that delicious leftover baked ham. This recipe is an easy way to use up your leftover ham bone and create another whole meal with little effort. Exactly what you want after any big celebration with ham. 

Make sure you have a meaty ham bone for this recipe or at least some additional ham if you have cleaned the bone completely. This recipe is easy to make and gorgeous on a cold winter’s day. It is also so economical to use up every scrap of your leftover ham including that big bone. 

It is pure comfort food with the addition of potatoes, carrots, celery, corn, onions, beans, and more. Serve it up with a pan of Bakery Butter Buns and you have another heartwarming meal. Perfect for the holiday season. Also, try our Yellow Split Pea Soup with Ham, so amazing!!

When you have a ham bone leftover please don’t just throw it away. If you can’t cope with making another thing because you are tired from the holidays then put it in the freezer wrapped up well with plastic wrap and foil and save it for another day to make your Ham Bone Soup.

You will be so happy that you did! Soup is healing if you are sick, warming if you are cold and comforting just about at any time but especially in the winter months. 

How to Make Ham Bone Soup

This leftover ham bone soup recipe is also easy to make. It is one of those “dump and go” kinds of recipes. It takes all of 10 to 15 minutes to pull this recipe together. 

A little bit of chopping, adding in bay leaves and thyme, a whole lot of easy combining of the ingredients, and a flip of the switch, and hours later you have dinner and the aroma of homemade soup in your home!!

I like to use chicken broth instead of just water as it adds so much more flavor!!

You can cook the soup on low for 8 hours or cook on high for 4 hours. 

Then all you need to do is remove the ham bone and then the meat from the bone and add it back in. Salt and pepper to taste and serve. 

Don’t have a ham bone but still want soup, you can use ham hocks in place of a ham bone too. 

Do you own a slow cooker or crockpot? If not they are a great investment with little expense for any home cook and you can make many meals with this one appliance.

We also have used this appliance for entertaining when the oven is in use and you are in need of another side dish, a slow cooker is super helpful. 

Here are some of our latest and greatest recipes:

Cranberry Apple Slow Cooker Carrots Recipe (Great for Thanksgiving and the Holidays).

Slow Cooker Creamed Corn (Great way to feed a crowd in a delicious way any time).

Slow Cooker Cauliflower Corn Chowder (comfort food at its best).

Sweet and Spicy Kung Pao Chicken {Slow Cooker} (Why pay for take out when you can make this at home).

Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup (Add some spice to your life).

How Long is a Ham Bone Good For?

Once you have enjoyed your big feast of a ham dinner and maybe a few ham sandwiches and a Ham Casserole you are left then left with the bone. So how long is that good for in your fridge?

I would say about 5 days, and then I would wrap it well if not using right away, with both plastic wrap first and then foil and store it in the freezer.

In the freezer, it should keep for a few months. Just make sure to have additional meat left on the bone or frozen separately for your ham and bean soup. 

Why are Beans so Popular with Ham?

Ham and beans seem to be a marriage that goes hand in hand but why do we use them so often together in a soup. A ham stock can be strong tasting and beans absorb the flavor of the ham.

Plus beans can be starchy and go great with the flavor of the fatty ham. Beans are seen a lot in soups with ham and that is probably why they became a popular partnership. Also, pork and beans are a favorite too bringing them together once again. 

Nothing better in my opinion than a piping hot bowl of ham bone soup on a cold day or night. Maybe a fresh grinding of black pepper before serving is all you need.

A true simple pleasure that so many of us enjoy!! My family loves it when I make homemade soup!! 

Ham Bone Soup (Slow Cooker)

Tara Noland

This easy and delicious Slow Cooker Ham Bone Soup is a great way to use the leftover ham bone for some amazing flavor. Our family loves homemade soups and this is one of our favorites.

4.53 from 38 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course Crock-Pot and Instant Pot

Cuisine American

Servings 8 servings

Calories 338 kcal

Ingredients

 

• 1 ham bone with meat left on or chopped ham meat along with the bone
• 1 lb. little potatoes red, quartered
• 3 carrots sliced
• 2 celery stalks sliced
• 1 cup frozen corn defrosted
• 1 large onion diced (I used a sweet onion)
• 15 oz. can white kidney beans cannellini beans
• 8 cups chicken stock or vegetable broth
• 1 Tbsp garlic minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
• 1/4 cup parsley chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Add all ingredients to a slow cooker and combine.
• Set on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
• Remove the ham bone and bay leaves. Chop up any meat if needed.
• Garnish with more parsley if desired. Serve with a Bakery Butter Bun.

Equipment

Eslite Large Soup Spoons/Stainless Steel Bouillion Spoons,12-Piece,7.7 Inches

Sweese 108.101 Porcelain Bowls with Handles – 20 Ounce for Soup, Cereal, Stew, Chill, Set of 4, White

Hamilton Beach Portable 6-Quart Set & Forget Digital Programmable Slow Cooker With Temperature Probe, Lid Lock, Stainless Steel (33969A)

Notes

Recipe adapted from Spend with Pennies.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Calories: 338kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 25gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 952mgFiber: 5gSugar: 7g

Nutrition calculation is an estimation only. If you need nutritional calculations for medical reasons, please use a source that you trust.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!