Ham Bone Soup

nranger7's Note:

Made this up after winning a ham at the company Christmas party. I'm not a big ham or soup fan, but the ham turned out pretty good and I thought I'd experiment with a soup to use up some of the leftovers. I couldn't find a recipe I liked, so I basically combined three recipes I found on 'Zaar. I'm a picky eater - don't like carrots or many types of beans - which is why I didn't stick to the navy bean/pea/carrot type recipes. I used cornstarch to thicken which didn't work very well. Another recipe recommended the potato flakes (which I don't have). I made my ham with looneytunesfan's Brown Sugar Honey Baked Ham recipe (#151563). The soup seemed sweet to me and I'm guessing it's because of the sugary ham. I think it turned out pretty good so I thought I'd share. Feel free to experiment or make suggestions. I'm more of a baker than a cook! :)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 1 ham bone, meaty
• water
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 3 cups ham, diced
• 1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans
• 1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups milk
• pepper
• cornstarch or instant potato flakes

Directions:

1. Cover ham bone in water and simmer for about an hour.
2. Add onion and bay leaves. Simmer until onions are tender.
3. Add potatoes, garlic, ham and beans. Simmer until ham falls off bone.
4. Remove ham from ham bone. Add ham to soup and discard bone.
5. Add butter, milk and pepper. Simmer until heated thoroughly.
6. Add cornstarch or instant potato flakes to thicken.

Reviews

[sunriselilly]

This was excellent! I used sweet potatoes instead of regular and carrots. I also used black beans instead of pinto beans. Added some instant potatoes to thicken it up. Served with some grated cheese and this was PERFECT!!! I will definitely use this again!

[Son of Thunder]

This had great flavor right away, and tasted even better the next day! I made it without cornstarch and it was watery at first. Then I let the soup boil down for several hours to a thick stew-like consistency. This enhanced the flavor and gave it the perfect texture.