It’s been a week since we all stuffed ourselves with Thanksgiving goodness, but are you ready for more? If you had ham, I hope you saved the bones and made ham bone stock because it makes some of the best stock ever!
I make turkey bone stock, but had always thrown out the ham bones. I can’t believe the goodness that I’ve been throwing out all these years…I almost want to cry.
So to prevent you from making the same mistake I’ve been making, here is a collection of some of the best Ham Bone Recipes on Pinterest, plus my own “Rustic Ham Bone Soup” recipe.
Rustic Ham Bone Soup
This is such an easy recipe and you can just about throw in your favorite ingredients. The main thing is to make the ham bone stock, which is where all the flavor for the soup will come from.
For the stock, cover your ham bone with water, add a tablespoon of vinegar, and your favorite spices. I only added pepper, dried onion flakes, and a bay leaf. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium low and cook for a minimum of 4 hours. Also, make sure to add any sugary crusted outside parts of the ham to the pot as this will add a nice sweet flavor to the broth. That’s it! All the stock flavor comes from the bones.
Once the stock is made, you can continue on to make a soup or store it for later use. I stored mine for a few days before making it into a “Rustic Ham Bone Soup”.
That is what my broth looked like after a few days in the refrigerator. I ended up with about 9 1/2 cups of broth that included all the bits of ham that fell off the bones, which was probably at least 1 1/2 – 2 cups of ham. Plus, I added about 2 cups of additional chopped ham that I saved from the leftovers.
Rustic Ham Bone Soup
Ingredients
- 9 1/2 -10 cups ham bone stock (including any ham meat from the bone)
- 2 cups cooked ham (cut into 1/2 inch cubes (optional))
- 3 Medium potatoes (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
- 3 chopped carrots
- 1 15 oz. can black beans (drained)
- 1 15 oz. can white kidney beans (drained)
- 1 15 oz. can pinto beans (drained)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1 15 oz. can corn (frozen corn can be substituted)
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley
- 2 cups water (optional)
Instructions
- For the stock, cover a leftover ham bone with water, add a tablespoon of vinegar, and your favorite spices. I use pepper, dried onion flakes, and a bay leaf. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium-low and cook for a minimum of 4 hours. Also, make sure to add any sugary crusted outside parts of the ham to the pot as this will add a nice sweet flavor to the broth. That’s it! All the stock flavor comes from the bones.
- Once cooked, remove the ham bone and any bits of meat. Discard the bone and save the meat for later. Once the stock is made, you can continue to make a soup or store it for later use.
Stock
Soup
- Bring the ham bone stock and any additional chopped ham to a boil. Add the next 6 ingredients into the pot. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes.
- Add the corn, peas, and parsley. Taste the soup. If the soup is salty, add up to 2 cups of water. Cook for another 5 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
- Serve over rice or with bread.
Notes
- Use your favorite ham bone stock recipe for the base of this soup.
- If the soup is salty, add additional water as needed.
- Use any type or combination of beans that you prefer.
Leftover Ham Bone or Ham Recipes
- Ham & Split Pea Soup @Dinner with Julie
- Leftover Ham Bone Soup @Damn Delicious
- Ham and Bean Soup @Closet Cooking
- Ham, Potato, Vegetable Soup @Chew Out Loud
- Leftover Ham and Bone Soup @Jo Cooks
- Old School Ham Bone Beans @Deep South Dish
Still have leftovers from Thanksgiving? Visit these posts for more Thanksgiving leftovers recipe ideas.
I have a ham bone in the freezer as i type this! I love the variety of beans and veggies in your soup! I will be making your version over the holidays! Thank you so much for sharing it over at Country Fair Blog Party. I hope you’ll link up with us again at the first of January!
Jan
This looks great! We use ham bone for bean soup. Best comfort food ever! Thanks for linking up!
Stephanie
http://www.managingahome.com
Co-Host Oh my Heartsie Girl WW Linky
Ham and beans totally go together and is a great comfort food. Thanks for hosting WW Linky and swinging by my blog.
This looks really good, I just made ham and lima beans a comfort food for us.Thanks for linking up this week on The Oh My Heartsie Girl Friday Feature. *Happy Holidays*
Karren
Ham and lima beans sounds like a great combo. Isn’t it funny how a good bowl of soup can make you feel so good?! I actually look forward to the winter season because it means I can make lots of soup 🙂
I totally agree, I make some sort of soup weekly, sometimes twice depending who is home.
May you receive all the love and happiness
You deserve this Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
Karren
LOVE soups and home made stock! My freezer is full of it 🙂
Thanks for sharing your recipe at the Tasty Tuesday linkup party this week 🙂
You’re so lucky to have a freezer full of stock. I seem to use it up as soon as I make it. We love love love soup at our house, so it goes pretty quick.
I never realized you could make stock from a hambone. What a great way to be resourceful with holiday leftovers!
I used to toss out my ham bones too. It’s only been recently that I’ve started making my own stocks from bone and I’ll never throw out bones again! You just can’t get the same flavor from store bought stocks.
This looks amaaaaaazing!! I’ve pinned it for later 🙂
hi from the Come Along Ponds link up!
Thanks Emma. It’s now my youngest daughter’s favorite soup. Too bad I don’t have anymore ham…lol.
Mmm! This soup looks really nice! I haven’t been making many soups this season yet, but you’re really motivating me to finally get around to it 🙂
This soup looks delicious, comforting, and warming. I could use some right now!
It was so yummy and definitely great for cod nights.
We didn’t have ham for Thanksgiving but we will be having it for Christmas. Thanks for linking up at the Home Matters Linky!
~Bonnie
I wasn’t planning on having ham for Thanksgiving either, but my youngest asked for it and my hubby will get her whatever she asks for. I’m sure we’ll have ham again for Christmas though and I’ll probably be making this again.
Thanks for the link party and coming over to visit.
Your ham bone soup looks really good Erlene. Perfect for a chilly evening!
It’s great for chilly evenings and my youngest said that this is now her favorite soup. I like it because I can get all sorts of good food into my oldest son, who doesn’t care to eat lots of veggies.