This Crockpot Bean Soup with Ham is perfect for using up leftover ham from Christmas, Easter, or any occasion. So hearty and delicious and perfect for chilly weather meals the whole family will enjoy!
I recommend you serve this delicious bean soup with my Southern Cornbread or Easy Homemade Biscuits.
💖 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Quick to put together - Like all good slow cooker recipes, this ham and white bean soup is quick to put together and cooks unattended for hours while you go about your day. You may want to browse the rest of my slow cooker recipes as well.
- Hearty & satisfying - Beans are so filling, warming, and satisfying, especially on a chilly night. Your bellies will be full and cozy!
- Kid friendly - This soup is full of ingredients most kids like, so you should have no problem serving this delicious soup to your whole family and watching them gobble it up!
🥘 Ham Navy Bean Soup Ingredients
📖 Ingredient Notes / Variations
- Beans: I used dry navy beans. You could also use great Northern beans or any other white bean for this recipe. I don't recommend using canned beans, however, as they are already cooked.
- Ham: You can use a ham / pork hock, or you can use diced cooked ham along with a ham bone and some of the ham liquid that accumulated during cooking. The more ham flavors, the better your soup. If adding cooked ham, two cups will be about the right amount.
- Broth: I used chicken broth, but you can also use beef or vegetable broth. As mentioned above, using some of the ham liquid from cooking your ham makes a delicious addition as well (if available).
(See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full recipe instructions)
🔪 Making Crockpot Navy Bean Soup
Step 1: Soak beans overnight or for 8-24 hours in water that overs the top of the beans. After soaking, rinse well and drain.
Step 2: Chop onion, carrot, and celery into small pieces.
Step 3: Add all ingredients to 5 quart (or larger) slow cooker and stir together.
Step 4: Cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours or until beans and vegetables are tender.
Step 5: Remove ham hock (or ham bone if using) and let cool on plate. Keep slow cooker on low or warm. Remove ham from bone.
Step 6: Add ham back to the soup in small pieces. Stir to incorporate. Taste to see if salt is needed.
(Scroll down for full recipe and print capabilities)
💭 Expert Cooking Tips
- Soaking the dry beans is optional but highly recommended. Soaking helps to make the beans easier to digest and also helps to speed up the cooking process. If you choose not to soak your beans, make sure to rinse them well and allow more cook time. They will also need more liquid for cooking, as the soaked beans I used in my recipe absorbed quite a bit of liquid while soaking.
- If you have some gelatinous broth (from cooking a ham) to add to the soup, this adds lots of yummy flavor to the pot. Just add it to the pot and reduce the total of other liquids to equal 6-7 cups altogether.
- Don't add salt to this soup, as you may have enough salt with the ham and broth. If you need more salt once the beans are done, you can always add it at the end.
- Refrigerate any leftovers for up to three days. Can also freeze any leftovers for up to six months in a freezer-safe container. Reheat in a large pot on low or in your slow cooker on low.
🧐 Recipe FAQs
You may need to cook the soup a little longer. Check to make sure your beans and vegetables are soft. If they are, you can cook a bit longer with the lid off your slow cooker. This will release a bit of the liquid and thicken up your soup.
Your bean soup should be a bit on the thicker side - more like a stew versus a watery soup. However, it's really your choice how thick or thin you like your bean soup. If you want to thicken it more, see the helpful hint above.
Soaking your beans for at least 8 hours helps to rid the beans of some of their gassiness. If you add a small amount of vinegar to the soaking water (about 1 teaspoon), this may help even more. The soaking breaks down some of the enzymes that make beans hard to digest.
🫘 More Delicious Bean Recipes
If you tried this Crockpot Bean Soup with Ham or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
📋 Recipe
Crockpot Ham and Beans Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound navy beans , dry (or great northern)
- ham bone (from cooked ham)
- 1 large celery stalk , sliced (about ½ cup)
- 1 large carrot , peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 medium onion chopped
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large ham / pork hock or cooked ham (2 cups, chopped, along with ham bone if available)
- ½ cup ham broth (gelatinous, from the cooking of the ham), optional, if available
- 1 teaspoon dry parsley (more for garnish if desired)
- salt to taste (if needed)
- 2-3 cups water start with 2 and add another cup if desired or needed during cooking
- 4 cups chicken broth (or 3-½ cups if using ham broth above)
Instructions
- Soak dry beans in water 8-24 hours or overnight.
- Drain and rinse beans.
- Add beans, ham hock or ham bone, celery, carrot, onion, black pepper, broth, water, and parsley to crock pot. Turn on high.
- Cook 5-6 hours on high (6-8 hours on low). Remove ham bone after 5-6 hours or until beans are done. Add ham chunks and stir in. Taste and add more salt if needed.
Notes
- Soaking the dry beans is optional but highly recommended. Soaking helps to make the beans easier to digest and also helps to speed up the cooking process. If you choose not to soak your beans, make sure to rinse them well and allow more cook time. They will also need more liquid for cooking, as the soaked beans I used in my recipe absorbed quite a bit of liquid while soaking.
- If you have some gelatinous broth (from cooking a ham) to add to the soup, this adds lots of yummy flavor to the pot. Just add it to the pot and reduce the total of other liquids to equal 6-7 cups altogether.
- Don't add salt to this soup, as you may have enough salt with the ham and broth. If you need more salt once the beans are done, you can always add it at the end.
- Refrigerate any leftovers for up to three days. Can also freeze any leftovers for up to six months in a freezer-safe container. Reheat in a large pot on low or in your slow cooker on low.
Kelley says
Does the ham hock need to be cooked before sitting in the crockpot for 6 hours?
Sally says
No - the ham hock can cook along with the beans - you can put the hock in there uncooked. Thanks for your question, Kelley!
Kelley says
Thank you so much for responding! The store was out of ham hocks and we received 10oz of uncooked ham chips instead 😅 Hoping those cook about the same?
Sally says
Sounds good to me! It's really a hard recipe to mess up. Hope you and your family enjoyed it!
Elisabeth says
I left this recipe for my son to make today. We don't have a ham Boone but have cubed ham that we added. After about 4 hours of cooking (soaked beans overnight) the water was pretty much gone from being absorbed. We aren't understanding how this is to be a soup when it only adds a 1/2 cup of liquid. We had to add 5 additional cups of liquid to it. Beans are pretty much soft but soup it is not. Am I missing the additional liquid in the recipe? I've looked multiple times.
Sally says
I'm so sorry, Elizabeth! I totally forgot to write in the liquid amounts. You will need 8 cups of liquid, half broth and half water. I appreciate your input. Will add the missing details right away.
Scarlet says
This looks delicious and I like the mild white bean choice to let the ham flavor really shine through.
Sally says
Scarlet - Yes indeed! The white beans are so creamy and do let the ham flavor shine through - great way to put it! Enjoy!