This extra-beany variation of the 7-bean soup, cooked with a dried 15-bean mixture, will appeal to fans of legumes. I use the ham bone from our Easter spiral ham to make this substantial soup, and I serve it with corn muffins and strawberries. This recipe yields a sizable pot of soup, so ask some guests over or simply freeze many servings for later. The night before you cook the soup, don’t forget to soak the beans.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 9 hrs 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs |
| Total Time: | 18 hrs |
| Servings: | 12 |
Ingredients
- 1 (20 ounce) package 15-bean soup mix (seasoning packet not used)
- 2 ½ cups cubed ham
- 1 ham bone
- 5 large carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can low-sodium vegetable juice
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 large bay leaves
- 7 cups fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste (Optional)
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients.
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- Place beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let soak, 8 hours to overnight.
- Drain beans and transfer to a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover by about 1 inch; bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain.
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- Add ham, ham bone, carrots, celery, onion, and undrained diced tomatoes to the pot. Stir in vegetable broth, vegetable juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon, chili powder, parsley, pepper, and bay leaves. Pour in enough chicken broth to cover ingredients and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally and adding more chicken broth as needed, for about 8 hours.
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- Remove and discard ham bone and season soup with salt. Continue to simmer for 1 to 2 hours. Remove bay leaves before serving.
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- Serve and enjoy!
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Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 260 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 38 g |
| Cholesterol | 14 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 15 g |
| Protein | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 1105 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 4 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Why all of the extra veggies? Just keep it simple with some jalapeño corn bread on the side. Ham hock and beans with spices and diced onion and garlic. DONE
I’ve made this soup many times, and my kids and I love it. Switched it up a little today and wanted to share. I wanted to use up some of my frozen turkey from thanksgiving. I used two smoked turkey wings and simmered them for an few hours. Took them out and pulled the meat off and put it back in the soup. Added about 2 cups of the leftover turkey. Simmered a few more hours and added chopped Swiss chard. It was AMAZING! Love the original, but I think I like the turkey and Swiss chard addition even more. Great any way you make it!
I found this to be incredibly bland. Just barely palatable. I wouldn’t bother with this one. I’m only eating it because I don’t want to order take-out.
Keeps it simple like it’s supposed to be.
Added garlic of course. Anything acidic I hold off for the last 30 minutes, and I like to add vegetables such as celery and carrots 45 minutes before done. Cabbage 10-15 minutes before done. Lemon juice add only 5-10 minutes before serving. Also you can add your favorite BBQ sauce, esp if you don’t have liquid smoke.
Just as advertised – the best bean and ham soup. I only serve ham about once a year, and that bone is saved just for this recipe. My family looks forward to it every year. It resembles chili a little more than soup, but who cares when it tastes this good!
I’ve been trying to replicate a 16 bean soup I was served over 35 years ago, and have finally done it! The tang from the mustard (I used both dijon and dry) make all the difference. This is not vegetable soup by any stretch of the imagination. The onion, carrot and celery are aromatics that enhance the flavor of the beans – I even added extra. I can’t wait till it’s done! I’ll add chopped leftover ham in the last 30 minutes, and serve with some crusty french bread. Thank you for the recipe for this delicious soup!
This soup is absolutely delicious! Probably the best soup I’ve had in a long time. I made it in the crockpot. I used a can of tomatoes and green chilis instead of plain tomatoes and about doubled the ham. I didnt have room in my crockpot for all the broth, but it was just fine without it. I will definitely make this again.
I followed the recipe exactly and my whole family agreed that it was the best ham and bean soup we’ve ever tasted. I had it for supper and breakfast…three bowls each time! It is absolutely superb. Thanks so much for posting this.
I’ve used this recipe many times with left over holiday ham (pretty much as is, I’m not big on measuring when it comes to pot meals). Ham & Bean soup has always been my favorite and this recipe is one of the best I’ve ever made.
This was delicious!!
Easy to make and tasted great. I used a Honey Baked Ham bone from Easter to start with. Given the sweetness of the HBH, I went light on the seasoning. I usually make split pea soup with the Easter leftover so I wanted to mix things up. Glad I did.
I’ve been making this soup for New Year’s Day since at least 2010. I almost always use a country ham bone leftover from Christmas dinner. It is a neighborhood favorite and I have really enjoyed sharing this soup with so many friends and family. Thank you for you original post all of those years ago.
Definitely the best ham and bean soup I’ve had for a long time. Reminds me of my Grandmother’s Ham Hocks and Beans soup. Very Tasty.
Absolutely Fabulous! My modifications: I made a broth in my Instapot with the ham bone leftover from Christmas dinner. I tossed in odds and ends celery, onion, 5 cloves of garlic, sweet potato peels. I drained the broth into a pot on the stove, that I had browned the celery and onions and carrots. In my haste, I DID NOT presoak the bag of black beans. As I reread the recipe, I thought I really screwed up. But as it turns out, I just had to simmer for 7 hours on the stove. I didn’t have enough ham, so I cut up a precooked turkey breast and added it to the soup while it simmered. My changes in sum: Used ham bone broth instead of vegetable broth, added turkey in addition to the bits of ham and did not rinse or soak the beans. I also garnished with fresh cilantro and fresh lime juice. Best bean soup I have ever had!
I was skeptical about the word “best” in the title – but it’s true! No, this is not your traditional ham and beans, but it has such great flavors! I recommend using ham that has a sweet glaze. That sugar will help balance the umami of the other ingredients. You could also add some brown sugar. I used spicy V8, which I highly recommend. It ended up being a great balance of spicy, salty, sweet, fatty, and tart. I’m so excited about my leftovers!
I found this recipe in desperation, searching for a ham/bean recipe to salvage our beef stock, bland, tasteless, pot of nothingness. I used all the ingredients exactly as posted, minus any more liquids. Can I say “Perfection at it’s finest”?! What a wonderful blend of flavors! I will use this recipe in the future for sure. Right now I stockpiled 2 quarts in the freezer ;). Thank you for this!!
Absolutely fabulous! So many flavors. You also got 5 stars from friends who shared this batch with us. It is well worth the 8 hour day cooking time. Kudos to the original author to fix the directions for preparing the raw beans. I have dried raw beans in the past and could never get them to soften enough.
I made it per the recipe. Quite good. Different than I am use to. Use a very large pot, as I had to split my batch between two pots to hold it all. But the family all went back for seconds…
Been using this recipe for the past 6 years. Always turns out great. I’ve made a few personal tweaks like using smoked ham hocks and spicy vegetable juice. This last batch I used leftover smoked ham from yesterday. Love this!
This was delicious! I made it exactly as written – everyone loved it! I’ll be making this for the 5th time. It’s the only reason I buy ham! Try it!