qicooking

Ham and Bean Soup

It’s officially soup season, and I’m SO ready for it! This easy Ham and Bean Soup is loaded with tender canned white beans, colorful veggies, and savory chunks of browned ham, all in a thick, creamy broth (made without any actual cream or dairy). It’s a great way to use up leftover holiday ham, but I certainly don’t wait for a holiday to make it! I use just 8 basic ingredients plus a few seasonings to make this hearty, easy, budget-friendly soup, and it’s ready in less than an hour!

“This is excellent. I added leftover chopped up asparagus and four cups of the chicken broth. If ham is not an option smoked kielbasa is great too. I topped the soup with mozzarella an smoked parmigiana cheese.”
Julie W

How I Build Big Flavor in Less Time

Traditional ham and bean soups often start with dried beans and a ham bone that simmer together for hours. And there’s definitely a time and place for that! But I wanted an easy version that didn’t require soaking beans or spending all afternoon waiting for dinner. So I use canned cannellini beans and fully cooked ham to get a head start. They’re already cooked, which means I can spend my time building flavor instead.

One thing I do differently is brown the ham before adding anything else. This gives the edges a little color and leaves behind tasty browned bits on the bottom of the pot (called fond). When I add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic, their natural moisture loosens those bits and brings that extra flavor into the soup. Sautéing the vegetables also softens them and brings out a little natural sweetness. For the broth, I borrowed a trick from my white bean soup and purée one can of beans with its liquid. This thickens the soup and adds a lovely creaminess without flour, cornstarch, or heavy cream. I leave the other two cans whole for a chunky texture, and after the initial flavor-building stages, everything comes together with just 15 minutes of simmering!

Give the ham a chance to brown. I cook the diced ham in oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned and golden-brown bits form on the bottom of the pot. This builds the salty ham flavor you’d normally get from simmering a ham bone for hours, just in much less time! If those bits start turning very dark, lower the heat so they don’t burn.
Blend one can of beans, liquid and all! Purée ONE can of cannellini beans with its canning liquid, then drain the other two. The smooth beans thicken the broth, and the whole beans give the soup its chunky texture. No blender? You can thoroughly mash that first can with a potato masher or fork instead. It won’t be as smooth, but this is a chunky soup anyway!
Let the soup boil and thicken. The 15-minute boil allows some of the broth to evaporate while the puréed beans thicken the soup. I give the pot a good stir every few minutes, making sure to scrape along the bottom, to keep the beans from sticking. If it gets thicker than you’d like, stir in a little more broth or water until you reach your preferred consistency.
Taste before adding salt. Cooked ham is pretty salty, especially when it’s cured, and chicken broth adds even more seasoning. That’s why I wait until the ham goes back into the pot before tasting and adjusting. I didn’t need any extra salt in my batch, but I finished each bowl with a little extra black pepper.

For this quick ham and bean soup, I recommend fully cooked ham (or leftover cooked ham from another meal) rather than a ham hock. We’re using canned beans and other ingredients that cook quickly, so there’s no need to spend hours simmering a ham bone to flavor the broth! Thicker pieces work best because they hold their shape and develop nicely browned edges when sautéed.

Boneless vs. Bone-In Ham Steaks

Both of these ham steaks are fully cooked and work well in this recipe:

Boneless ham steak: My easiest choice! There’s no bone to work around, and the thick slices are easy to cut into bite-sized pieces. You can buy ham steaks in smaller packs (shown above) or use a package of fully cooked, boneless, sliced ham (as I did in the recipe below).
Bone-in ham steak: This works just as well once you’ve removed the bone and any tough rind. Just remember that you need 1 lb. of usable ham, so you’ll need to buy a little extra to account for the weight of the bone.

What About Other Types of Ham?

A spiral cut ham, smoked ham joimt and a package of ham hocks,

I saw a LOT of ham options at the store when shopping for this recipe, and you probably will too, especially around the holidays. The fully cooked, boneless spiral-cut ham and smoked shank portion ham shown above can both work, BUT I’d save those bigger hams for a holiday centerpiece (like our baked ham) and use the leftovers for this soup.

I wouldn’t splurge on a big ham for this recipe unless you plan to use it for several meals. Ham slices are cheaper, easier, and all you need for this quickie soup.

Ham hocks are a different story! They’re better suited to traditional bean soups that simmer for hours. The long simmer gives the connective tissue time to soften and the smoky flavor time to develop. The pork hocks pictured above are only partially cooked, so they aren’t suitable for this shortcut recipe as written. If you’d prefer to make soup using a ham hock and dried beans, check out our navy bean soup recipe instead. It uses a smoked ham hock and takes over two hours of cooking, plus soaking time for the beans.

Print Add to Collection

Ham and Bean Soup

This incredibly easy and deliciously chunky Ham and Bean Soup features a medley of colorful vegetables, browned ham, and plenty of hearty white beans.

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine American

Total Cost $11.47 recipe / $2.87 serving

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 40

Total Time 55

Servings servings (1.5 cups each)

Calories 385kcal

Author Beth Moncel

Equipment

Small Blender
Dutch Oven

Ingredients

1 yellow onion medium dice, (2 cups) $0.95
3 carrots medium dice, (2 cups) $0.75
3 ribs celery medium dice, (2 cups) $0.61
2 garlic cloves minced, (1 Tbsp) $0.12
1 lb. cooked ham medium dice, $5.92*
1 Tbsp cooking oil $0.04
3 15.5 oz. cans cannellini beans $2.76**
¼ tsp dried thyme $0.02
¼ tsp black pepper freshly cracked, $0.04
2 cups chicken broth or more as needed, $0.26***

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Gather and prepare all ingredients. Dice the onion, peel and slice the carrots, slice the celery, and mince the garlic.
Dice the ham into bite-sized chunks. Add the ham and cooking oil to a large soup pot. Sauté the ham for 3-5 minutes over medium heat, or until it achieves a decent amount of browning. Remove the browned ham to a clean bowl.
Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to the pot in place of the ham. Sauté the vegetables for about 5 minutes over medium heat, or until the onions have softened. Allow the moisture released from the vegetables to help dissolve the browned bits of ham from the bottom of the soup pot as you stir.
While the vegetables are sautéing, add one of the three cans of beans to a blender, with the liquid from the can, and purée until smooth. Drain the remaining two cans of beans.
Add all three cans of beans (one puréed and two drained) to the soup pot with the vegetables. Also add ¼ tsp dried thyme, ¼ tsp pepper, and stir to combine.
Next, stir in 2 cups chicken broth. Then turn the heat up to medium-high and allow the soup to come to a boil.
Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to medium and allow the soup to continue to boil for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. As the soup boils, it will reduce and thicken. If the soup becomes too thick, add more chicken broth or water to achieve your desired soup consistency.
After the soup has boiled for 15 minutes and has thickened, stir the cooked ham back into the soup. Give the soup a taste and adjust the salt or pepper to your liking. I did not add any additional salt, but I did top each bowl with a little fresh pepper. Serve hot!

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*Thicker slices work best for this soup, so ham steaks, leftover holiday ham or honey glazed ham are all good options. I used honey-smoked, fully cooked ham that I diced myself. Make sure you’re using fully cooked ham for this quick-cooking recipe. A raw ham hock or uncooked ham bone needs a different cooking method.

**Canned cannellini beans are great here because they’re large, soft, creamy, and already cooked. Other white beans, like canned Great Northern or navy beans, work too. This recipe uses three 15.5 oz. cans, one puréed with its liquid and two drained and kept whole.

***I use Better Than Bouillon to make my broth because it’s economical and easy to keep on hand. The saltiness of your broth will vary by brand, so hold off on adding extra salt until the soup is finished. You can also add more broth or water if you prefer a thinner soup.

Seasonings: I kept the seasonings simple on purpose, choosing thyme and black pepper to complement the savory ham without needing a long simmer to develop flavor. Feel free to adjust the seasonings to your taste, but I’d skip anything that benefits from a longer cooking time, like bay leaves. This soup only simmers for 15 minutes!

Can I use dry beans? I developed this recipe specifically for canned beans because they’re already cooked and make this soup so much faster! Dried beans take much longer to cook and require different amounts of liquid and seasoning. I haven’t tested this stovetop recipe with dried beans, but if you don’t have canned beans, here are two options to try:

-Cook the dried beans first: Soak the beans overnight, discard the soaking water, then boil vigorously in fresh water for at least 10-15 minutes and continue cooking until soft and the consistency of canned beans (this can take several hours). You’ll need about 4½ cups of cooked beans to replace the three cans. Purée 1½ cups with about ½ cup of water, then add the remaining 3 cups whole. This option means you can follow the recipe as written, only adjusting the broth as needed.
-Start with dried beans: I recommend following our navy bean soup instead. It uses soaked dried navy beans, ham hock, and simmers on the stovetop for about 2 hours. My old slow cooker ham and bean soup also uses soaked dried beans and ham hock (download that recipe here!). Or for a recipe that doesn’t need presoaked beans, try my slow cooker white bean soup, adding browned, fully cooked ham at the end.

Nutrition

How to Make Ham and Bean Soup Step-by-Step Photos

The ingredients to make a chunky ham and bean soup with labels.

Gather all of your ingredients: This is the type of ham I used (honey cured boneless ham). You can use any cooked ham, but a thicker slice works better than thin sandwich slices. You can also use cooked holiday ham. You’ll need 1 lb. of cooked ham.

Diced onion, carrots and celery on a wooden cutting board.

Prep the veggies: Dice 1 yellow onion, peel and slice 3 carrots, slice 3 celery ribs, and mince 2 cloves of garlic. I recommend keeping the vegetables fairly uniform in size so they soften evenly during the short cooking time.

Brown the ham: Start by dicing 1 lb. of fully cooked ham into bite-sized pieces.

A spoon removing browned ham pieces from a pot to a bowl.

Add the ham and 1 Tbsp cooking oil to a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Sauté over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the edges turn golden brown. You should also see some browned bits developing on the bottom of the pot. Keep an eye on the heat so they don’t burn. Remove the ham to a clean bowl and leave those browned bits behind.

Diced carrots, celery, and onions in a pot.

Sauté the vegetables: Add the prepared onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to the same pot. Sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions look translucent and the vegetables begin to soften. They’ll release some moisture as they cook, so use your spoon to gently scrape up the browned bits left by the ham.

Purée one can of beans: As the vegetables cook, add one 15.5 oz. can of cannellini beans to a blender, including all the liquid from the can. Blend until smooth and creamy. This mixture will help thicken the soup without adding cream!

Drain the other two cans: Now drain the remaining two cans of beans, but don’t purée them. We want those beans to stay whole for texture.

Sauteed celery, onions, and carrots in a pot.

This is what the veggies should look like after sautéing for about 5 minutes. The bottom of the pot should also look noticeably cleaner as those bits dissolve into the vegetables.

Beans and seasonings added to a pot of sauteed veggies.

Add the beans and seasonings: Add the puréed beans and both cans of drained beans to the pot with the softened vegetables. Sprinkle in ¼ tsp dried thyme and ¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper. Stir gently until the creamy bean mixture coats the vegetables and whole beans. Try not to mash the whole beans as you stir.

Broth being poured into a pot of beans and veggies.

Pour in the broth: Add 2 cups chicken broth and stir until everything is combined. The soup will look fairly watery at this point, but that’s normal! The puréed beans will give the broth more body as the liquid reduces during cooking.

Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and let it continue boiling for 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes to prevent the beans from sticking to the bottom of the pot. The broth should gradually reduce and become thicker and creamier. The vegetables should also be tender when pierced with a fork. If the soup gets too thick, add a splash of chicken broth or water until it reaches your preferred consistency.

Add the ham and serve: Once the soup has thickened, stir the browned ham back into the pot to warm through.

Give everything a taste before adding any salt, as the ham and chicken broth already contribute quite a bit! I didn’t need any extra salt in my batch, but I did add a little freshly cracked black pepper to each bowl. Serve hot and enjoy!

Overhead side view of a bowl of chunky ham and bean soup with a spoon.

What to Serve with Ham and Bean Soup

This chunky ham and bean soup is a meal in a bowl! Between the ham, vegetables, and all those beans (which are super filling), you really don’t need much else to make a satisfying weeknight dinner. That said, I almost always serve some bread with my soup…it’s a must. 😋 A crusty baguette, sliced sourdough, or soft dinner rolls from the grocery store are all easy options. But my personal favorite here is a warm slice of cornbread. Its slightly sweet flavor pairs perfectly with the smoky, salty ham, and its tender, crumbly texture soaks up the creamy broth. If you want something fresh on the side, I’d go with a simple side salad. The crisp vegetables and tangy dressing offer a nice contrast to the warm, hearty soup, and it’s easy to throw together while the soup simmers.

Overhead view of a bowl of homemade chunky ham and bean soup with a green salad and cornbread to the side. — *Shown here with a side of cornbread and a simple salad.*

Storage & Reheating

This ham and bean soup makes great leftovers. Let it cool quickly, then transfer it to airtight containers and refrigerate within 2 hours. It’ll keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. The soup will naturally thicken as it sits because the beans will keep absorbing moisture.

Reheating

I like to reheat this soup on the stovetop over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it comes to a boil and is heated all the way through (165°F). Add a splash of chicken broth or water as it warms to loosen the consistency. You can also reheat individual servings in the microwave, stirring partway through so they heat evenly.

Freezing

This soup freezes really well, too! Once cooled, divide it into individual portions in freezer-safe containers or bags. I prefer to divide my soup into single servings before freezing, so they can be reheated as needed and in the amount needed. Quart-sized freezer bags are great for freezing soup, as are the small blue-top Ziploc food storage containers. Freeze for up to 3 months for the best quality.

Got More Leftover Ham? Try These Recipes:

Our Pea and Ham Salad is a creamy, no-cook side loaded with sweet peas, salty ham, cheddar cheese, and red onion for the classic sweet & savory combo.
This Ham and Potato Casserole bakes up rich and bubbly, and is perfect for brunch!
Ham Tetrazzini turns leftover ham into a rich and bubbly pasta bake with plenty of noodles, veggies, and from-scratch sauce.
If you’ve got slices of leftover ham, these Glazed Ham Steaks are the PERFECT way to turn them into a delicious dinner!

Our Ham and Bean Soup recipe was originally published 3/5/20. It was retested, reworked, and republished to be better than ever 10/28/26.

The post Ham and Bean Soup appeared first on Budget Bytes.

from Budget Bytes https://ift.tt/aZLkbue

Chicken and Broccoli Skillet Lasagna

This Chicken and Broccoli Skillet Lasagna is creamy, cheesy, and packed with tender chicken, broccoli, and soft lasagna noodles, all made in one pan! If you know me, you know I’m all about a good one-pot pasta, and this one takes me right back to those boxed pasta dinners I loved growing up. The difference? Everything here is made from scratch with simple ingredients and no mystery packets! There’s no boiling noodles separately or building layer after layer, either. It comes together in just 50 minutes, and costs only $1.53 a serving ($9.19 for the whole skillet!), which is always a win in my book.

The Easy Way to Make a Creamy Chicken Lasagna

Some nights, boiling pasta and tossing it with a jar of sauce is all I have the energy for. But when I’m craving something a little more special without spending ages layering a lasagna, this is my happy middle ground. And my favorite budget-friendly part? I only need 1 lb. of chicken breast (usually just 1-2 breasts!) to make six hearty servings, thanks to the noodles and broccoli bulking everything out. I season and sear the chicken first, then sauté the onion and garlic in the same skillet. The broken lasagna noodles cook right in the chicken broth, soaking up all the flavor from the garlic and Italian seasoning as they soften. It’s a similar idea to our skillet lasagna, but with a creamy chicken and broccoli twist!

To keep this a true one-pot meal, I don’t cook the broccoli separately, either. I chop it finely, stems and all (because why waste them?!), and add it towards the end so it stays tender and bright green. Then a little heavy cream and Parmesan bring everything together in a rich, comforting sauce, and the mozzarella on top gives you a classic cheesy finish. If you’re in the mood for a more traditional, oven-baked version, our white chicken lasagna is another delicious option to try next.

A women making a stovetop chicken and broccoli lasagna in a kitchen. — *Jennie Alley making her chicken and broccoli skillet lasagna in our Nashville test kitchen.*

Break the noodles into roughly 2-inch pieces. I find this size works well for stirring the lasagna noodles through the skillet without them getting tangled up. It makes scooping out individual servings much easier, too.
Give everything enough room to cook. You’ll need a large, deep, broiler-safe skillet with a lid, about 12 inches in diameter. I recommend a heavy-bottomed skillet because it heats more evenly, helping the noodles cook at the same rate without sticking to the bottom (see the skillet I use in the photo above).
Keep the lid on during simmering. Press the broken noodles down so they’re mostly submerged in the broth, then cover and maintain a gentle simmer. I give them an occasional stir to separate any pieces sticking together, then pop the lid straight back on. The trapped steam helps cook the noodles that aren’t completely covered by liquid.
Leave a little liquid in the skillet! The noodles will keep absorbing moisture as the sauce comes together, so the mixture should still look slightly loose once the pasta and broccoli are tender. If the noodles are still firm but most of the broth has disappeared, add a splash of water or broth, cover, and let them cook a little longer. Nobody wants dry chicken and broccoli lasagna!
Be gentle with the cream and cheese. I turn the heat down to low before stirring in the heavy cream, Parmesan, and shredded chicken. Boiling the sauce can make it separate or turn grainy. Also, keep a close eye on the mozzarella under the broiler. It only needs 2-4 minutes to turn bubbly and lightly golden.
Bulk it up with more veggies! I’m all for using what I’ve got, and I think frozen peas, frozen corn, or drained canned corn would be delicious here! Add them with the broccoli so they have time to heat through. For firmer veggies like carrots, dice them small and sauté them with the onion so they have longer to soften. A couple handfuls of fresh or frozen spinach would also be lovely, like I use in my vegetarian stovetop lasagna. Just stir it in near the end until wilted.

Print Add to Collection

Chicken and Broccoli Skillet Lasagna

This creamy Chicken and Broccoli Skillet Lasagna recipe makes 6 servings in just 50 minutes! Tender chicken, broccoli, and cheesy noodles, all made in one pan.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Total Cost $9.19 recipe / $1.53 serving

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 35

Total Time 50

Servings servings (1½ cups)

Calories 529kcal

Author Jennie Alley