Navy Bean Soup

Derf's Note:

A good hearty soup, especially good with the old ham bone.

• Total Time: 3 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 ¼ cups dried navy beans or 1 ¼ cups lima beans , rinsed and drained
• 4 ounces salt pork or 4 ounces fully cooked ham , , chopped
• ¼ cup chopped onion
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon dried sage
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups nonfat milk
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Place navy beans in large saucepan, add enough water to cover beans.
2. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour (Or, cover beans with water and soak overnight).
4. Drain beans and return to saucepan.
5. Stir in 2 1/2 cups water, salt pork, onion, oregano, salt, ginger, sage and pepper.
6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat.
7. Cover and simmer 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until beans are tender.
8. (If necessary, add more water during cooking).
9. Add milk and butter, stirring until mixture is heated through and butter is melted.
10. Season with additinal salt and pepper.
11. I have made this soup with a leftover ham bone with a little meat left on it instead of the salt pork or chopped ham.
12. Place the ham bone in the pot before bringing to a boil and remove after the 2 1/2 hours of simmering, scrape and chop any meat left on the bone into the soup.
13. Discard bone.

Reviews

[Keri and Rory]

We used turkey ham instead of ham or salt pork, and also mashed some of the beans to make a thicker broth. It was delicious and we will definitely add this to our favorite soups list! The ginger adds a suprisingly pleasant taste. Very good soup, Dorothy!

[Sassafras]

Made your recipe for several years now, finally writing a review. Instead of water I usually use chicken broth. Have a pot of this soup simmering on the stove right now to package up for lunches this week. Thanks so much for sharing, it's become one of my favorites.

[IngridH]

I just realized that I made this months ago and completely forgot to review it, until I came looking to make it again. This soup was nice and creamy, and I really enjoyed it. I used smoked ham hocks in place of the salt pork, but otherwise didn't change any ingredients, except re-seasoning the final soup with salt and pepper to taste. I used a hand blender at the very end to make it more creamy, and pulled the bits of meat off of the ham hock to chop and add back to the soup. This also froze well, and made for some great winter lunches. Thanks for posting!