Crockpot Ham and Bean soup is easy to make with leftover ham bones, dry white beans, and vegetables. It is old-fashioned comfort food at its best—delicious and hearty—and is a simple and economical recipe for ham and beans in the crock pot.
🐖Ingredients
Ham bone—meaty
Beans—Navy, Great Northern, or Cannellini. Use dried or pre-cooked.
Vegetables—carrots, celery, and onion
Seasoning—black pepper, garlic powder, and bay leaf
Water—to make broth with the ham bone
Jump To (scroll for more)
- 🐖Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Make Ham and Bean Soup in a Crock Pot—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
- 👍Make it right every time
- 🐖 Ham bones, and do I have to use one
- 🫘The Beans—usage and variations
- 🥣Why and how to soak dried beans
- 📖 Other Crock Pot Ham Bone Soup recipes
- 🍽️How to serve
- ❄️How to store leftovers
- ❓FAQs
- 📖 Recipe
Featured Comment by Andie:
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"I am making this for the third time today! This is my go to for ham bone bean soup. I follow the recipe and use dry beans. Perfect every time! So tasty! Thank you!"
There is nothing much more traditional than this old-fashioned ham bone soup with white beans, a personal favorite of mine. This is the perfect ham bone recipe for Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas dinner leftovers.
I have adapted it for a crock pot, added options for dried or precooked beans, and a skip the ham bone option. While you can use broth, I suggest allowing the ham bone and water to make the broth as the soup cooks.
For other great soup recipes, check out my Broccoli Cheese Soup and Crock Pot French Onion Soup.
👨🍳How to Make Ham and Bean Soup in a Crock Pot—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Use 48 oz. of drained and rinsed precooked white beans. If using dry beans, do a "quick soak" as described in the section below.
2. Under running water, rinse a meaty ham bone to remove any coating. Scrape off any surface fat, then add it to a larger crock pot.
3. Dice carrots, celery, and an onion.
4. Add the beans, carrots, celery, onion, and seasoning to the crock pot.
5. Add water to cover the ingredients, and cook covered on low for 8 hours for precooked beans or 10 hours for dried beans.
6. Two hours before the end of cooking, remove the ham bone. Remove all meat from the bone, discarding bone, fat, and waste.
7. Place meat back into the cooker, stir well, and finish cooking. This is a good point to taste test for adding salt if needed.
8. Serve hot or cool overnight in the refrigerator and skim off fat the following day.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
👍Make it right every time
Add the amount of water you need to cover the ingredients. If the ham bone sticks out too much, don't be afraid to cut it back a bit. Six cups is about right, but don't exceed eight cups.
If you decide to use broth, use sodium-free or low-sodium chicken broth in the same amount as the water.
The vegetables may be adjusted up or down for your taste. I usually add more.
If you had a "bad" ham with little taste. It will make bad soup, too.
You can make this without a ham bone (see the ham discussion) and vary the beans if you wish.
While it is excellent the day it is cooked, you can scrape the fat off the top after overnight refrigeration, and the flavor comes together for an even better taste and healthier soup.
🐖 Ham bones, and do I have to use one
The ham in any ham bone soup recipe is highly variable. I suggest using a meaty ham bone—try to leave a little more meat on it if you're making soup. You can also use two ham hawks to replace the ham bone.
Often, a honey coat and trimmable fat need to be removed as much as possible. These problems could ruin your soup, so ham preparation is critical. Use running water to remove surface sugar. Scrape and trim off any fat that you reasonably can.
All hams contain considerable salt, so please add salt only near the end if needed. If you decide to use broth instead of letting the ham bone and water make it, use salt-free broth.
What if I don't have a ham bone or it is skimpy on meat?
This recipe is designed around the ham bone, which we use for the meat and to create a broth for the soup. However, it is relatively easy to make it without a ham bone or if the ham bone doesn't have much meat.
If your ham bone is skimpy, add about a cup of diced ham—the bone can still make the broth. If you don't have a ham bone, use about 2 cups of diced ham, and instead of water, use low-sodium chicken broth.
🫘The Beans—usage and variations
The beans are usually white beans, like Navy, Great Northern, or Cannellini. Navy beans are smaller and more traditional for this soup. They are so common that it is frequently called "Ham and Navy Bean Soup."
I like Navy beans for this soup—a traditionalist to the end. Great Northern beans are bigger and will give a similar taste and texture. Cannellini beans, known as white kidney beans, will have a firmer texture than others.
Mixtures of various beans are sold like 15 bean mix to make 15 Bean Soup and an excellent substitute. Or use the beans you like.
Precooked vs. Dry beans
Either dry or precooked beans will work fine in this recipe. Precooked beans will decrease the cooking time by a few hours compared to dry beans.
If you use precooked beans, you will need about 48 ounces (3 cans). Drain the beans and rinse them well to decrease any added salt. Of course, use low-sodium products.
One pound of dry beans equals approximately three cans or one 48-oz jar of pre-cooked beans. Always check the beans for rocks or foreign bodies. They need to be pre-soaked before use.
🥣Why and how to soak dried beans
You should not just add dry beans and cook, although you will find recipes that don't soak. But it is not the wisest answer in my experience.
Beans have a non-absorbed carbohydrate. Since it is not absorbed or digested, it sits in the GI tract, where the normal bacteria break it down, producing gas and sometimes enough acid to cause diarrhea.
In the "good old days," dry beans were soaked overnight before cooking. This method mostly worked. We now use a more proven and effective method, the "quick-soak," but the overnight soak will still work.
Bring the beans to a boil for 3 minutes in a pot with lots of water, remove them from heat, cover them, and allow them to rest for an hour. Rinse them before using.
📖 Other Crock Pot Ham Bone Soup recipes
If you have a ham bone, check out ham bone soup recipes, such as Ham Bone Vegetable Soup and Puerto Rican Chuletón Soup AKA Xmas Ham Bone Soup.
For other leftover ham recipes, try my Scalloped Potatoes and Ham, or check out What to Do With Leftover Ham.
Old Fashioned Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
Scalloped Potatoes and Ham is a classic old-fashioned comfort food with creamy sauce, melted cheese, and slices of tender ham and potatoes—perfect for leftover ham.
🍽️How to serve
I love Cornbread Biscuits or Old Fashioned Cornbread with this soup. Or a crusty bread is also nice.
❄️How to store leftovers
Good refrigerated for 3-4 days. Good in the freezer for 3-4 months.
❓FAQs
The best way is to add a finely diced potato halfway through cooking. You can also add ¼ to ½ cup of potato flakes near the end of cooking.
The second method is to remove about a cup of beans, run them through a blender, and mix them back into the soup.
You can also create a roux with flour and butter and add the last hour of cooking.
I do not suggest corn starch since it may gel with cooling and change the texture later.
None other than the onion in the traditional soup. I suggest carrot and celery since they made it more interesting taste-wise.
A diced potato added halfway through cooking will help thicken the mixture. You can also add half or a full cup of mashed potatoes near the end to thicken the mixture.
All ham soups have a lot of animal fats. By refrigerating, the fat will come to the top and be solid. It can be removed, and your soup will be healthier.
📖 Recipe
Crock Pot Ham and Bean Soup
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Ingredients
- 1 pound dry Navy, Great Northern, or Cannellini beans - or 48 oz. of precooked beans
- 1 ham bone - meaty
- 2 carrots - medium - diced - optional
- 2 ribs celery - - diced - optional
- 1 onion - medium - diced
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 bay leaf - optional
- 6 cups water
Instructions
- You may use one pound of dry beans or 48 oz. of pre-cooked beans—drained and rinsed.
- If using dry beans, rinse 1 pound of Navy or Great Northern dry beans. Pick through the beans for stones or pebbles. Boil in a large amount of water for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cover. Let it sit for 1 hour, and then rinse before using.
- Under running water, rinse a meaty ham bone to remove any coating. Scrape off any surface fat. Add to a larger crock pot.
- Dice two medium carrots, two celery ribs, and one medium onion. Carrots and celery are options, but they are recommended.
- Add the beans, carrots, celery, and onion to the crock pot. Add ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon pepper, and one bay leaf. Add enough water to cover the ingredients (6 to 8 cups).
- Cook on low for 8 hours for precooked beans and 10 hours for dry beans. Two hours before the end of cooking, remove the ham bone to a cutting board. Allow the bone to cool for 5-10 minutes. Then, remove all meat from the bone. Discard the bone, any fat, and any waste.
- Place meat back into the cooker and finish cooking. This is a good point to taste test for adding salt if needed.
- If you have time, refrigerate overnight and scrape the fat off the top the next day before reheating.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Use a large crock pot of 6 quarts or above.
- Ham bones (and hams) vary a lot. So, this is like many recipes; these are guidelines and not rules.
- If yours is heavily honey-coated or spiced, you need to rinse off as much of it as possible and scrape off surface fat.
- Most hams have LOTS of salt. Don't add any until you're sure you need it, and use low-sodium products if possible.
- You can use pre-cooked Navy, Great Northern, or Cannellini beans. You will need 48 oz. of beans, which you should drain and rinse. Low-sodium beans are also possible.
- Dried beans are soaked to decrease gas production. The instructions and post discuss a "quick-soak" method.
- It is a good idea to cool this soup in the refrigerator and remove any fat from the top when it is cold.
- If you don't have a ham bone, you can still make this soup with about two cups of diced ham and use low-sodium chicken broth for the water.
- The total cooking time for the dry bean version is 10 hours, and 8 hours using pre-cooked beans.
- Stores well refrigerated for 3-4 days. It will freeze well for 3-4 months.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published December 13, 2014. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Aliceyn says
Our “funny” family story... I was a young single mom, granddaughter of farmers, dating the son of San Francisco socialites. We were served a ham dinner during one of the holidays. (from the honey baked stores). I was helping clean the kitchen and GASPED when my future mother in law put the bone (with MOST of the meat) in the trash. She looked up and realized that as a single working mom barely able to feed my 2 children- what she had done. She said, “oh dear, I had heard you make soup from bones...do you want this?” That “bone” fed my children for a week, THEN I made the navy bean soup. 34 years later my husband still looks forward to ham bone soup. His mother is still shocked and possibly a little proud of all the things I can do and no one else they know can...
Jodie Knop says
DrDan
Thank you for this recipe. I am making it today (with the vegetables) It looks like the soup my husband’s Grandmother Millie always made, without the vegetables. She never used a recipe. He has wanted me to make this for a long time. It is a bland soup, but she had always put a bottle of ketchup, bottle of hot sauce, chopped purple onions, and brown sugar on the table. We would add what we wanted to our bowl. Can’t wait to eat!
Michel says
I'm making this one..after reading many recipes.! Going to add leftover mash yam (about one)..at the last hour of cooking time
DrDan says
Hi Michel,
Good touch with the yam. It should thicken some and add taste.
Dan
Cathrine Livingston says
I have made this soup twice in the past 5 days and followed the recipe as posted, except I used chicken stock instead of plain water in the crock pot. I did not have to add any seasoning at the end and the ham provided enough salt to the soup. I did mash some of the beans as suggested in the recipe. My husband said it was fantastic!! Will add this to my permanent recipe book.
DrDan says
Hi Cathrine,
Glad you like it. I have a ham coming this weekend and I think my wife is more excited for the soup.
Dan
Trudy says
I have been cooking for over 60 years. I have made all kinds of soups, cooking many meals teaches one a lot of things. One thing for sure, I no longer soak beans, it is a waste of time, leaches out the vitamins, and slows the cooking of a meal. The fastest, easiest, and most economical is to wash thoroghly, sorting if necessary, and placing in an appropriate size container e.g. Stainless Steel covered 2 quart or larger. Ratio of beans to water 1:2. 1 cup beans, 2 cups of clean, filtered water. Cook on HIGH for five minutes, let sit for an hour. The beans if cooked enough, when you draw out a teaspoon of cooked beans and blow on them will split and curl the shell. Never, ever add anything to the water, other than the beans. If the beans are old they will need more cooking time, and willnot split their shell when you blow on them. Then While all that was going on I was busy chopping the veggies. The onion, celery, carrots, and peeling fresh garlic to crush later into the soup. I saute the veggies in EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) or EV Coconut Oil. This brings out the flavor and seals in the vitamins in the vegetables. Here you can add precooked Acorn Squash, Sweet Potatoes, etc. Herbs of choice can go here as well. Potatoes added to the soup will serve as a thickener. Also, as the soup cooks, mash some of the Beans to thicken it as well with the back of a large spoon or a bean masher. This creates a smoother texture, besides thickening it. Add the sauteed veggies, cooked beans, meat (like Ham or even a smoked spicy summer sausage cutup); next, add the homemade soup stock, bay leaf, a little salt, black ground pepper. All these hints makes the soup quick, tasty, digestible, and easy to ladle up. I usually cook it on High four hours, and low for 4-6 hours. Your nose will tell you when it is ready. Add picante sauce, zucchini, kale, etc. if you wish to have more nutrious spicy, veggie soup. The length of cooking at 600 minutes is off-putting. Hours is more palatable. e.g. 6-10 hours
Donna says
I love this soup! I think it has great flavor exactly as it is written. I was thinking of using this recipe as a basis for split pea soup. Do you think it would work with split peas?
DrDan says
Hi Donna,
I have never made a split pea soup but it seems to me it would. I would need to investigate a number of other recipes to be sure but it makes a ham broth and seems to have about the right composition. I know mostly they use chicken broth but the ham would be better taste wise. I might be a great soup.
Dan
Sandra Cullen says
Started this recipe & have a time lapse between ending the 8 hr soaking of dry beans & actual time I will prepare crockpot due to having to make trip to grocery for veggies. Do soaked beans need to be refrigerated while awaiting crockpot? Is it ok to substitute a can of celery soup instead of celery rib since hate to purchase whole big bunch when only need one or two individual ribs?
DrDan says
Skip the celery if you want. Like all soups, use what you have. I like to refrigerate the beans during soaking although many don't. I see a water nutrient mixture that bacteria can grow in.
Joann Colan says
Rake through beans when they are DRY first before rinsing and cleaning with water. This way the beans won't stick together when combing for rocks, dirt clods, rotten or broken beans with skins off. I rinse and scrub several times to make sure they are clean before I cook.
Gillian says
Oh My!!! Made this soup today and boy was it delicious. As with every dish I usually make, I start with a basic recipe and make it my own but I always give credit where credit is due. So the only changes I made were to use homemade chicken stock, fresh thyme, fresh garlic and fresh parsley. I also added about a half cup to three quarter cup of finely diced butternut squash because I love it in most of my soups as a natural, slightly sweet, thickener. Plus its another sneaky veggie my kid wouldn't eat otherwise. I threw in a couple diced potatoes at the end along with a tsp or so of seasoned salt. I'm very close to saying that this is now my absolute favorite bean soup. Thanks for sharing.
Pauly P in NC says
Good think I like Celery in my soups!!
Are you sure there are to be TWO STALKS of celery as opposed to 2 RIBS?
I could not fit two stalks worth of celery in my 8 qt pot...I stopped at one stalk.
Admittedly, I did have a hefty ham bone, but....
Otherwise a wonderfully easy and delicious recipe...THANK YOU!!!
DrDan says
Hi Pauly,
You caught me on the computer. We appear to have a terminology difference. When I grew up we called a rib of celery a stalk and what you call a stalk a bunch. I did a fast Google https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/celery-question-8212-whats-a-rib-vs-stalk/
I think I will keep my present terminology.
Have a good holiday season.
Dan
Mark says
Ham bone is really cheap now. I might have to pick one up and give this one a try.
DrDan says
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the note. I have a Honey Baked in the mail now for the weekend. So I'm doing this next week.
Dan
Marsha says
Really good recipe! I followed your recipe and used the ingredients you suggested, using 4 carrots and 3 celery per my family's taste. Took 8 hours on low, after soaking the beans for about 8 hours. I actually kept the beans covered in the refrigerator for a couple of days before I cooked the soup today and they came out the very right consistency. I had to add more seasoning at the end but did not add any salt to this soup. Thank you! I will be trying more 😀
Robert says
My ex wife made very good bean soup using smoked turkey (I'm a heart patient) but she also made dumplings using Bisquick. She made her soup on the stove and added the dumplings just before serving. This also added some thinking to the soup. She also add carrots and onions.
DrDan says
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the note. I can see it now...
Dan
Jane Montello says
Made the bean soup and it turned out great. My mom (who has passed away and left no written instructions) used her leftover bean soup to make baked beans. I have been unable to find such a recipe on the internet. Do you have one? I am going to try to adapt various baked bean recipes using the leftover soup, but would love to get your take on it. Thank you. Your site is wonderful for cooking for 2.
DrDan says
Hi Jane, Thanks for the note. I have not heard of doing that. It seems like the liquid to bean ratio would be off but you could drain some. I guess I would drain the liquid, call the ham as bacon. then add the ketchup/BBQ sauce, onion and other things. Honestly, I have not found a baked bean recipe I really like. I find most of them way too sweet for my taste. The best I have had is at Marlowe's in Memphis but they don't publish their recipe.
Dan
Jennifer Szalach says
Delicious! My husband and I absolutely loved this recipe, we will definitely be making this again!
Tammy says
This is very good. I will never throw out a ham bone again.
DrDan says
Hi Tammy
I grew up never wasting anything so tossing the hambone is just wrong.
Thanks so much for the note.
Dan
Nancy says
Great recipe and similar to my own. I add a couple of small potatoes to absorb some of the salt. A jalapeño pepper also adds some great flavor and and little heat. I like my soup a little thicker and creamier, so I take about a half cup of soup, add a little milk and cornstarch and blend it together and return to soup to finish cooking. No salt is ever needed.