I make this hearty soup using the ham bone from our Easter spiral ham.  I serve it with corn muffins and fresh fruit.  It makes a huge pot of soup, so invite some friends or just freeze several portions for later use.  Remember to soak the beans the night before you make the soup.

The Best Bean and Ham Soup

bean

ham bone

onion,

celery,

carrots,

(14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with liquid

(12 fluid ounce) can low-sodium vegetable juice

vegetable broth

Worcestershire sauce

Dijon mustard

chili powder

bay leaves

black pepper

parsley

lemon juice

chicken broth

salt

Place the soaked beans into a large pot and fill with enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low for 30 minutes. Drain. Add the ham bone, ham, onion, celery, carrots, tomatoes, vegetable juice, and vegetable broth. Season with Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, chili powder, bay leaves, pepper, parsley and lemon juice. Pour in enough of the chicken broth to cover the ingredients.


Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8 hours. Add more chicken broth as needed throughout the day. Remove the ham bone and season with salt if needed. Continue to simmer for a couple more hours. Remove bay leaves before serving.


I wrote this recipe and the directions printed are not as I wrote them. Here they are: Remove and discard seasoning packet, if any, from beans. Place beans in large stockpot. Cover with water to 2 inches over beans and soak overnight. Drain the soaking water from the beans. Cover beans with fresh water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes. Drain again, discarding water. Remove all visible fat from ham bone. Combine beans, ham bone, ham, onion, celery, carrots, tomatoes, V8, Worcestershire, mustard, chili powder, bay leaves, pepper, parsley, lemon juice, and vegetable stock in stockpot. Add chicken stock to cover beans. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 8 hours. Add remaining chicken stock to the pot throughout the day as needed to keep liquid level up. After about 8 hours, remove the ham bone, and add salt as needed. Continue simmering another 2 hours, or until beans are tender. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Very nice recipe and very easy.  Two changes I made.  I did not use stock, I used water and a ham hock instead of ham.  The soup was still very flavorful and had less fat and sodium using water instead of stock.  I also quick soak the beans by boiling them for 3 minutes and then soaking them in the hot water for 1 hour.

In the 16 yrs, I've been a mom & housewife I have stayed away from bean soup because I had a horrible experience as a kid with it ... let's say it wasn't one of mom's greatest recipes and sadly she made it all too often!
But this recipe ... Oh My ... DELISH! I will make bean soup again for sure. I was skeptic as to the igredients it called for and reviewed a few other recipes on this site as well, I followed this recipe to the letter adding some brown sugar as well and I followed suggestions from other users to add the baking soda. I used more ham then what the recipe called for only because of the memories of bean soup as a kid. Let's just say that my own children will have terrific memories of bean soup when they get older and will probably want this recipe from me when they get older. :O) Thanks so much for sharing this!!

If you like a more traditional ham and bean soup and just want it tastier and more homemade than the package directions, this is not the recipe you are after.  This is not traditional ham and bean soup.  It is very good, but I gave it two stars because of how far the base flavors stray from norm.  If you are going to change it this much it should be called "southwest style ham and bean" or something.  With the chili powder and significant tomato base, it taste a little more like chili than ham and bean soup.  I'm bummed I made this much soup with this flavor when I was in the mood for something more chicken/hammy flavored.  I make a big pot of chili when I'm in the mood for these flavors.

YUM YUM YUM!!!!  I forgot the lemon juice, and for the broth, I just used a combined total of 8 c. chicken broth to cook the beans in.  Cooked ham and beans in crockpot alone for the first 4 hours, then added the rest for the next 4 hours since we don't like our veggies real mushy.  It was PERFECT!!!!  We are huge soup eaters and I have some good and not so good bean soups, but this is probably the best!  I was a bit worried about all the tomatos and veg. juice turning this into a spaghetti like recipe, but it made a hearty stock with just a hint of tomato.  I think all the other seasonings added to it are the perfect mix.  This is absolutely a keeper!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh this is the best ham and bean soup I've ever tasted. I couldn't find vegetable broth and so substituted water instead and I used hot German mustard instead of Dijon since that's what I had on hand. This was the most flavorful bean soup I have ever had. You absolutely MUST try it.

This is defintely the BEST Bean and Ham soup recipe I have come across and a Great way to deal with Easter Ham leftovers. I followed the original recipe and then referred to the author's notes.  I also used a traditional smoked ham not even the sweet spiral so I left out the tsp. of salt.  Other than that, I followed the recipe to the letter and could not of been happier with it.  Thank you.

Wonderful soup.  YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT...if you like ham & bean soup.  One reviewer had added brown sugar as I used to do.  Totally unnecessary for our tastes.  Great balance of flavours - definately not 'kitchen sink soup'.  I understood that it made a lot but am now wishing I had made more.  I promised 1/2 to my nephew & wife...that was before I made it :)  There are many other recipes out there that take less time to make but I can't imagine any of them tasting quite so good.  My hats off to the chef.  Thanks for sharing!

Great soup, but it makes a HUGE pot. I read the previous reviews indicating that it was a big pot, but I didn't fully appreciate how big until I made this. I started in my slow cooker (that I think is pretty big) and had to move the soup to my largest stockpot because I ran out of room.  Since I ran out of room in the slow cooker I also ran out of time to cook it in the evening and had to cook it for a couple of hours in the evening, put it in the fridge and then finish cooking it the next day. It still turned out great! Definitely the best ham and bean soup I've made. Thank you for the recipe!

A hearty bean soup slowly simmered with a ham bone.

the best bean and ham soup

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 10 hours

Total: 10 hours, 25 minutes

Servings: 12

Cost: $5.08 /serving

Author : BenevolentEmpress

Ingredients

Instructions

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