Easy Ham Bone Soup with Beans and Vegetables – Crockpot, Instant Pot, or Stovetop
This delicious, comforting vegetable ham bone soup is an easy recipe to make and vary by using up whatever vegetables you have on hand. Perfect for cozying up on chilly days, this recipe uses up leftover ham bones for a flavorful, nutritious soup that works for both busy weeknights and cozy weekend afternoons. Choose your favorite way to make it with either a crockpot, Instant pot, or on the stove.
✩ What readers are saying…
“Love it! Made it pretty basic…carrots, celery, potatoes, onions and all of the seasonings…Thank you. Made our Easter ham bone go far for a weeks worth of lunches and dinners…even had it for breakfast one morning😍” -Nancy H.
Many people I know think of ham as a holiday meat, just grabbing a whole or spiral ham for Christmas or Easter. The rest of the year it seems to be reserved for lunch meat.
But ham is one of my favorite meats and it can be pretty frugal if you buy a couple when they’re on sale and freeze them for later.
I’ll feature baked ham for dinner one night and then slice off the rest for lunches, frittatas (simple replace the chicken with ham in this veggie-loaded frittata), and casseroles like this yummy ham pie with a simple cheesy crust.
What’s left after that is a bone with a good amount of meat that makes great broth and is the basis for another of my favorites, a delicious vegetable ham bone soup.
This soup is so easy to throw together in either a pot on the stove, a Crockpot, or an Instant Pot. Not only is the cooking method versatile, the soup is, too, using whatever in-season vegetables you have.
TIP: If you’re not ready to make ham bone soup right away, the bone can be thrown in the freezer with all the meat pieces attached and pulled out when you are ready for a warm and comforting bowl of tasty soup.
Make Ham Bone Soup
Making soup with a ham bone is pretty simple and to be the most versatile, I use two steps:
- Make a ham bone broth.
- Add vegetables and beans to make the soup.
Make the Broth
- To make the broth, put the ham bone in a pot, cover the bone with water and add a chopped onion. You can use a slow cooker, and Instant Pot or a stockpot on the stove (specific times can be found in the recipe card below).
- When the meat is starting to fall off the bone (or you get home from work, or the timer dings…whatever), remove it from the liquid (which is now a wonderful ham broth) and set the bone on a cutting board to cool.
- Once you can touch it without burning your hands off, pull the meat off, cut up any big pieces and remove any remaining fat before adding the meat back to the broth in the pot.
Make the Vegetable Ham Soup
Now from this base of broth, onion, and ham you can create lots different soups – split-pea soup, ham and potato chowder, ham and bean soup, but my favorite is a simple harvest vegetable soup using in-season vegetables and whatever else is in the fridge which this time included:
- Chopped cabbage
- Chopped kale
- Diced sweet red pepper
- Diced jalapeño pepper
- Fresh corn cut from the cob (frozen of course works, too)
- Defrosted container of pre-cooked, frozen garbanzo beans
TIP: if you are making this around the holidays, you can even throw in holiday leftovers like mashed potatoes and cooked vegetables! It’s a super way to use up what’s in the fridge as well as the ham bone.
- Add your chosen ingredients to the broth and ham in the pot plus seasonings of garlic, pepper, thyme and basil (again, specifics are in the recipe card).
- Cook until everything is tender – 15 minutes for an Instant Pot, 1 hour on the stove top, or 2-4 hours with a slow cooker, your choice!
Reader TIP
I just had to share this quicker slow cooker option that was emailed to me by Nancy H. in case you’d like make this in one step like she did:
“I just made your Harvest Vegetable Ham Bone Soup yesterday. I cheated a bit and threw everything into to crock pot in one step and fished the meat and bone out after 4 hours.
I let it cool and refrigerated until lunch today. On reheat I added about 3/4 of orzo pasta and curly kale. It turned out yummy. I usually make split pea or navy bean soup with ham leftovers. This was a delicious change.”
Storage
- This obviously makes a ton of soup which is okay with me since it’s just as good warmed up for lunches! It will keep for 4-5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- This soup freezes well, too – freeze in freezer-safe containers in small portions for super convenient quick meals on busy days. Thaw overnight or in a microwave.
So it’s time to stock up on ham bones, right? Or at least roast a baked ham with mustard sauce for yourself and save the bone for soup. (Oh, and once you tell people you like to make soup with bones, they’ll be offering them to you at every holiday so don’t be shy!)
I hope you love this ham bone soup – if you make it, be sure to leave a recipe rating to let me know!
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Easy Ham Bone Soup
Equipment
- Large Stockpot Slow Cooker, Or Electric Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 or 2 ham bones, with some meat attached
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 to 2 cups cooked beans* white, red, garbanzo beans, etc.
- 3 to 4 cups chopped vegetables: peppers, carrots, cabbage, kale, spinach, tomatoes, corn, peas, etc.
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- salt to taste**
Instructions
To Make Ham Bone Broth:
- Add ham bone and chopped onion to the bowl of a Crockpot, Instant Pot liner, or stove-top stockpot (it’s okay of the ham bone is frozen). Cover with water (in an Instant Pot don’t fill more than 3/4 full, though – it’s okay if some of the bone/meat is not covered).
- For Crockpot: cook for 4-5 hours on Low (2-3 High).TIP: See shortcut option in notes.
- For Stove Top: cook on the stove top for 1-2 hours.
- For Instant Pot: Press manual (high pressure) and adjust cook time to 30 minutes. The pressure cooker will take about 15 minutes to come to pressure – (cooking recipes with more liquid, the longer it typically takes to come to pressure). When cooking is done, let the cooker naturally release pressure for 15 minutes. Then lay a towel over the knob and turn the seal to quick release the remaining pressure.
To Make Soup:
- Use a slotted spoon to remove all the bone pieces and large pieces of meat to a cutting board. Chop all the meat, removing from bone if needed, and return to the pot.
- Add the remaining ingredients and choose cooking method:
- Crockpot: Cook for another 3-4 hours on Low (or 2 hours on High).
- Stove Top: Bring to boil, then simmer for about 1 hour until the vegetables are tender.***
- For Instant Pot: Lock the lid to seal. Choose "Manual" for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, hit Cancel/Keep Warm and let release naturally for 10 minutes. Lay a cloth over the valve and quick release until all the pressure is out.
- Season with salt and serve warm with a crusty bread.
Notes
Nutrition
More Hearty Soups
- The Best Sausage and Lentil Stew (with a secret seasoning)
- Turkey and Rice Soup with Curry and Coconut milk
- Cauliflower Cheese Soup (ready in 30 minutes)
This recipe was originally published in February of 2010 – it has been updated in 2017.
I love how versatile this recipe. You can change up the ingredients based on what you have on hand. I soaked and used a sixteen been mix. Threw in some carrots, thyme and rosemary that were in my garden. The basic ingredients like the liquids and the cooking times were a great framework. I always freeze half as it makes a lot and freezes well. I followed the instant pot instructions and it was perfect even though part of my hambone was above the water line.
I’m glad you liked this, too, Linda – isn’t it a great way to use up things in a new, delicious way? 🙂 Good to know about the IP, too – thanks!