White Beans & Ham Soup
This recipe definitely fell off a covered wagon. In a good way.
Full Recipe Video:
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
16 oz. package white great northern beans (soaked overnight)
2 smoked ham shanks/hocks or 1 ham bone (leftover from spiral ham, etc.)
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (or more if cooking on stove top)
1 yellow onion, diced
Olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste* (see notes)
Put the beans into a bowl and cover with water making sure that beans are fully submerged. Leave soaking overnight and add additional water as beans absorb liquid. You want to keep water level above beans.
The following day when you’re ready to start the soup, place beans in a colander and rinse. Add beans to crockpot and add chicken broth. Nestle ham shanks or ham bone into beans and add the bay leaves. Don’t add any salt at this point as you don’t know how salty the ham may be.
Cook on high for approximately 3 hours, stirring occasionally. If beans are soft, then they are done. If you can “moosh” a bean they are soft enough to serve. If they are not at this stage, cook longer until soft. Remove the bay leaves.
In a frying pan, coat with olive oil and brown the diced onion until slightly browned. Add the onion to the beans and incorporate.
Take out the ham on a cutting board and shred the meat. Add ham back into the beans and taste. At this point add salt and pepper to season, if needed. You may find the ham is salty enough, you need none!
If you prefer the consistency more soupy, add additional chicken broth. If you like the consistency more like a stew, then leave as is.
To cook on the stove top:
Follow directions above substituting a large pot in place of the crockpot. Add enough broth to cover beans by 2 inches or so. You want to bring beans to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. After an hour, test beans as above. If not cooked, continue to cook on a simmer. Once beans are soft enough follow the steps above beginning with the removal of the bay leaves.
Serve with crusty bread.
Notes:
Obviously, it’s paramount you’re buying dried beans, not canned beans, and that they are soaked overnight. This soup does not work with canned beans.
This is a great use of a leftover holiday ham bone and ham, but also works anytime with the store/butcher bought ham shanks. You can buy either ham shanks or hocks - we like the smoked as it adds a lot of flavor. You can either find these in the meat section at your local grocery store or get them from a butcher.
We typically find, especially with the ham shanks, we do not need to add any salt or pepper after the ham has cooked with the beans because the ham produces a lot of salt. And we like our food heavily seasoned. But give it a test taste, and add as you like!
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