My family loves this incredibly flavorful Slow Cooker Leftover Ham Bone Soup! The delicious homemade broth is packed with tender pieces of ham, white beans, bacon, zucchini, carrots and celery for a hearty and comforting, healthy meal.
I first shared this recipe a little over two years ago, and it has since become a very beloved recipe at our house. It’s one of my go-to meals after Easter dinner or to use up our Christmas ham.
Sometimes I’ll even go to Honey-Baked Ham just to buy one of their leftover ham bones so I can make this soup. Did you know they sell those? They are fairly inexpensive and still have quite a bit of meat left on them.
There are so many things I love about this soup, but mostly I love how much FLAVOR it has, and it’s healthy, loaded with vegetables, and simple too.
You start by placing your leftover ham bone in your slow cooker with bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns and water. Let everything slow cooker for at least 7 hours on low, or 3.5 hours on high.
When it’s almost finished, chop your veggies to get them ready to saute.
I added onion, celery, carrot, zucchini, potato and bacon.
You can chop these all in advance to make the prep faster, if you want. You can also adapt the recipe to add other veggies you like.
Saute the bacon first, and then the veggies.
Remove the ham bone and add the veggies, beans and spices to the slow cooker and let everything cook together for a few more hours.
If you’re in a hurry you could pour the broth and remaining ingredients into a saucepan and cook the soup until the potatoes are tender.
Consider trying one of these classic soup recipes:
- Spicy Chicken Soup
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Taco Soup
- Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
- French Onion Soup
- Chile Verde Soup
I’ve also got dozens of easy slow cooker recipes including Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki!
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Slow Cooker Leftover Ham Bone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 leftover ham bone
- 7 cups water
- 20 whole peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- 5-6 slices bacon
- 1 small onion , diced
- 2 ribs celery , chopped
- 1 medium zucchini , chopped
- 2 carrots , peeled and diced
- 1 russet potato , peeled and diced
- 2 cans great northern beans , rinsed and drained
- 1-2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes
- salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste
- 1 1/2 cups leftover diced ham
Instructions
- Place the ham bone, water, peppercorns, bay leaves and garlic in your slow cooker.
- Cook on LOW for 7 hours (if you want to, overnight) or HIGH for 3.5 hours.
- Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Remove to plate.
- Get rid of most of the grease, reserving just a little in the pan.
- Add the chopped onion, celery, zucchini, carrots, and potato to the pan and saute for a few minutes.
- Remove the ham bone from the slow cooker. Remove any meat from it.
- Add the chopped ham (and any pulled from the bone), sautéed veggies, cooked bacon, and the remaining ingredients back to the broth in the slow cooker.
- Taste and add a little more of the spices, if needed. Cook on LOW for 2-3 more hours.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Liz says
I made this for the first time today. I had ham at easter and a leftover ham bone – hence this recipe :). It was healthy and so flavorful. I think it will become a yearly tradition.
Cindy Montgomery says
Yes! It was great. I did not have 10 full hours, so I cheated a bit on the timing and temp–but it turned out great. Here’s what I did:
2.5 hours in slow cooker on HIGH
then switched to 3.0 hours on LOW while we went to a movie
Came back and cooked the veggies as directed, then added them and cooked on the stovetop on Medium for another 45 minutes.
Tasted just like the 10 hour version. YUM!
Sherry Weaver says
My son is allergic to peas so this is a great alternative. Great on a cold winter day!
Chris says
Can you substitute cauliflower for the potatoes?
Has anyone made this in an instant pot?
Lauren Allen says
I haven’t tried substituting cauliflower, let me know how it turned out!
Rae says
I used a rutabaga instead of potatoes, turned out great!
Reese says
I am so pleased with this recipe. I can remember my grandmother making ham bone soup and have longed for the taste of it for so long. If I’m being honest, I expected this recipe to turn out ‘fine or good’ but I never expected it to bring me back to my childhood in my grandmother’s kitchen the day after Easter. The taste of this soup screams homemade and old fashioned – A real ‘tried and true’ recipe that will forever be in my repertoire!
Lauren Allen says
Thanks so much for the kind comment and review! I’m so glad you liked the soup- it’s what I look so forward to after cooking a large ham for my family :).
Lauren Allen says
Thanks so much!
Cynthia Slotten says
Made the soup with our ham bone from Easter and it was a great hit with the family. The house also smelled so good all day. Thank you for sharing.
AJ Mitchell says
Updated Review: I made this recipe with a few tweaks and it turned out great! I followed the recipe with the exclusion of bacon (since I had plenty of left over ham) and I added an extra potato. When done, I found I wanted a thicker broth and more substance. I boiled up some mini shell pasta and chopped kale. Just before being tender, I added both to the soup and brought it to a boil for a couple of minutes. Since I had a honey baked ham, I balanced out that flavor with celery salt, Italian seasoning and sage to taste. I will definitely make this again. Thanks for a great foundation!
Rhiannon K says
This recipe was amazing!! My whole family loved including my 6 yo son. I didn’t add the bacon or zucchini but otherwise, the flavors were incredible!! This is a keeper for sure!
Thank you!
Jackie says
The soup was great! My teenage son gives his compliments as well. It was easy to make and a good finish to a winter day.
*One addition was I pureed an additional can of beans to give the soup a creamy look.
Paula Briones says
I have made this soup several times now just as it is written and I am never disappointed! Thank you for this recipe 🙂 Happy New Year too!!