Slow Cooked Ham Bone Soup

By Diane Hopson Smith
@DeeDee2011

This is an easy and satisfying way to transform leftover ham and a ham bone into a hearty meal. It’s slow cooked with a nice mix of garden vegetables and dried beans. This one-pot meal is easy to prepare and very likely to please. This is comfort food at best at our house. Serve with hot buttered crusty rolls or hot cornbread sticks slathered with a little butter.

Rating:

★★★★★ 6 votes

Comments:

33 Comments

Serves:

6 to 8

Cook:

7 Hr

Method:

Slow Cooker Crock Pot

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb: dried beans (large butter beans, small lima, blackeyed peas, navy beans, pintos, etc) can used package mix
: water for soaking beans
1 Tbsp: white vinegar
3 Tbsp: cajun seasoning
1: extra meaty leftover ham bone
1 to 2 c: leftover ham, chopped
6 to 8 c: chicken broth
1 large: onion
2 tsp: garlic paste, or 2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 c: parsley paste, or 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 large: carrots, scraped and diced
2 large: red potatoes, peeled and diced (or potato of your choice)
2 stalk(s): celery, diced or sliced
1 c: frozen yellow corn
: salt and pepper to taste
2: (14.5 oz) cans petite dicecd tomatoes

How to Make Slow Cooked Ham Bone Soup

Step-by-Step

1Pick over the dry beans and discard any broken or shriveled looking ones. Rinse beans several times. Place in a 6 ½ quart crock pot with about 3 quarts water, the vinegar and 2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning. Set on warm and allow beans to soak overnight about 10 to 12 hours.
2The next morning, drain the beans and discard the water. Place beans back into the slow cooker along with the ham bone. Add chicken broth, enough to cover beans and ham bone. Add remaining ingredients (except for the diced tomatoes) and add the remaining 1 Tbsp Cajun seasoning. Turn cooker to HIGH and cook beans until they're tender and cooked through, 6 to 7 hours.
3The last hour of cooking remove ham bone and cut any meat left on bone and return to cooker. Add tomatoes. Adding tomatoes sooner may work against the beans becoming soft causing them to be tough.
4Serve with cornbread or a nice crusty roll.