Crock Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup*

By srumbel

You've got a leftover ham bone so let's make some soup. There is nothing much more classic then ham and white bean soup. Use up that holiday ham bone with this traditional soup.
from 101cookingfortwo.com

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry navy beans or great northern; see note about precooked beans
• 1 ham bone meaty
• 2 carrots medium - diced - optional
• 2 stalks celery - diced - optional
• 1 onion medium - diced
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf

Details

Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 600mins

Preparation

Step 1

Rinse 1 pound of navy or great northern dry beans. Pick through the beans for any stones or pebbles. Cover with water and allow to soak overnight. See notes if using precooked beans.

Under running water rinse any coating off a meaty ham bone. Also, scrape off any surface fat that you can. Add to a larger crock pot.

Dice 2 medium carrots, two stalks celery, and one medium onion. Carrot and celery are options but recommended.

Add the drained beans, carrots, celery and onion to the crock pot. Add 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and one bay leaf. Add 6 cups water.

Cook on low for 10 hours total but at about 8 hours remove ham bone to a cutting board. Allow the bone to cool for 10-15 minutes. Then remove all meat from the bone. Discard bone and any fat and waste. Place meat back into the cooker and finish cooking. This is a good point to taste test for adding salt if needed. Note: Cooking time can be decreased a few hours if using precooked beans.

Recipe Notes

Ham bones (and hams) vary a lot. So this is like many recipes... guidelines and not rules. If yours is honey coated or spiced heavily, you need to rinse as much of that off as possible.

Salt note: Most hams have LOTS of salt. Don't add any until you're sure you need it and use low sodium products if possible.

Can I use precooked beans?
This recipe will be fine with precooked beans if you don't want to go the dried bean route. The 1 pound of dry beans will equal approximately three cans or one 48 oz jar of precooked beans. You should drain and rinse the beans. Please use low sodium beans if possible. And the cooking time will decrease a few hours.

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All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

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Servings
6