Ham Bone Soup
Updated Feb. 3, 2025
- Total Time
- 1 hour 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 4strips bacon, thick cut, sliced into ½-inch pieces
- 3large carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2celery stalks, trimmed and sliced
- 1large onion, peeled and diced
- 3garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1ham bone 1¼ pounds, cut in half or in thirds ask your butcher to do this
- 1bay leaf
- 2½teaspoons salt, plus additional to taste
- ½head green cabbage, shredded about 8 cups
- 3cups cooked beans rinsed and drained if canned, such as cannellini, navy or pinto
- 1small bunch kale, ribs removed and leaves chopped into bite-size pieces 6 cups
- Black pepper, to taste
- Hot sauce or apple cider vinegar, to taste
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
455 calories; 12 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 56 grams carbohydrates; 15 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 34 grams protein; 658 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes; remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Step 2
Add the carrots, celery and onion to the pot. Stir until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Drop in the ham bone and bay leaf. Cover with 8 cups water and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the cabbage and simmer 30 minutes. Add the beans and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the kale and simmer until soft, but vibrantly green, about 15 minutes. Season with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt (or more to taste). Add lots of pepper and a dash of hot sauce or vinegar. Serve with crumbled bacon on top.
Private Notes
Comments
I adapted this to use a left over cooked Ham Bone and pieces of ham.
Follow directions for first 5 ingredients. Then add ham bone ( no need to cut in half). Simmer 2 hours -- add water as needed to cover.
Then remove bone, add 4 cups chicken broth, and diced left over ham and then follow the rest of the recipe.
I made the ham broth the day before I made the soup, in my slow cooker - whole hambone, 1 chopped onion, three or four stalks of celery and 4 chopped carrots with 2 liters of water and simmered on high for 5 hours. The bone split naturally into about five separate pieces, infusing the broth with gelatin.. I refrigerated the whole thing overnight which brought the fat to the top where it was easy to skim. I threw away the solids and then went about using it as the broth base for the soup. I
I just use my ham bone whole instead of worrying about cutting it up. It seems to work just as well in my experience.
This recipe is a keeper. My mods were: whole hambone uncut - simmer extra time, use beer and chicken broth in addition to water, double the garlic, and add 2 cups diced ham.
I agree with almost every comment here about simmering the bone longer. I was doubtful but decided to follow the recipe exactly, and I’m currently in my third addition of water and am holding off on adding the beans and kale because the soup still tastes very bland. I’m sure it will be so good (I love cabbage and beans and a veggie forward soup) but the long-cooked ham flavor simply isn’t there and I cracked my bone into three pieces like an angry cavewoman with a hammer. It tastes like cabbage water. I’ve got lots of things on hand to crank it up a notch when it’s nearly done but FOR SURE adjust this recipe to make a long cooked ham stock first if you want, otherwise I think this whole soup could be just exactly the same if you didn’t have a ham bone and just did the bacon. The total cook time simply isn’t enough to sneak all that flavor and texture from the bone!
Delicious I used ham hock leftover from Christmas dinner. My teen sons liked it too!