Navy Bean Ham Bone Soup
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Sep 25, 2024 
Nana’s Epic Navy Bean Ham Bone Soup Recipe is a simple, yet utterly rich and savory, ham and bean soup recipe is a great way to use your leftover holiday ham bone or make on a chilly winter day!
Why We Love This Navy Bean Soup Recipe
Growing up with five kids in our family, and a string of tag-along neighborhood friends, my mom (now known as Nana) made a lot of meals that could either be stretched to feed extra guests, or could be eaten as leftovers.
My mom (now known as Nana) had a special gift for using her resources wisely. Nothing went to waste, ever. And one of my favorite childhood meals was Nana’s Epic Navy Bean Ham Bone Soup, i.e. navy bean soup simmered with a leftover ham bone.
Navy bean soup is rich, filling, comforting, and can feed a large crowd on a small budget.
This soup is especially good when you have a leftover ham bone from a holiday meal! Whether it was from Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter, this ham bone navy bean soup is perfect as a nourishing meal following the days after a holiday. Today I will show you exactly how to use your leftover ham bone, to make the most of every last bite of flavor your baked ham can offer!
Ingredients You Need
- Dried Navy Beans – or other small white beans like great northern beans or cannellini beans
- Ham Bone + Ham Scraps – or a ham hock
- Olive Oil
- Large Onion – peeled and chopped
- Cloves Garlic –Minced
- Fresh Thyme Leaves – or dried thyme
- Ground Cumin
- Crushed Red Pepper
- Water – or chicken broth, but be sure to use low-sodium
- Salt and Black Pepper
Sometimes Nana (and I) add 2-3 chopped carrots, and 2-3 chopped celery stalks to the soup for additional veggie goodness. They are not necessary ingredients, but add a bit of extra color and nutrients to this navy bean soup recipe! If using, add the carrots and celery when you add the onions.
Pro Tip: If you didn’t have ham for your holiday dinner, you can buy a ham bone from the butcher for next to nothing.
Why Should I Add a Ham Bone to Soup?
Adding a ham bone to soup is a marvelous way to create a rich depth of flavor, finish off the last scraps of ham left on the bone, and eliminate the need to buy added stock.
A ham bone boiled in water develops a lovely soup base on its own, because the bone itself will add flavor and collagen to the liquid, and the smoked meat will fall off and add salt and a lovely meaty flavor with literally no effort from you!
How to Make Nana’s Epic Navy Bean Ham Bone Soup
Start by soaking dried beans in water overnight to prep them for cooking.
This does take thought to prepare ahead, but it also saves money (on canned beans) reduces sodium, and gives the beans a better texture and consistency.
Place a large 6-quart pot or dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat on the stovetop. Next sauté the ham bone, onions, and garlic in a little oil. This browns the leftover ham and softens and sweetens the aromatics.
Then add in the soaked beans, herbs, spices, and water. Bring the soup to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 60-90 minutes, covered, until the beans are very soft. Uncover and stir occasionally, then place the lid back on top.
Use a fork to pull any remaining ham off the bone and stir it into the soup. Discard the bone. Add 1-2 cups additional water if the soup is too thick. Taste, then salt and pepper as needed.
Serve warm. Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired. You may even want to pair a jalapeno cheddar cornbread with this hearty soup.
Tips & Tricks
- You can add any additional vegetables, herbs, or spices you like to this navy bean soup with ham. Bay leaves would be a good option, or add extra ham scraps you might want to use up.
- If you don’t have time to soak your beans overnight, and you own an electric pressure cooker like an Instant Pot, you can pressure cook the beans instead of soaking them to speed things up.
- Do not add any salt until the soup is fully cooked. Hambones have a lot of salt in them, and it’s easy to overdo it if you salt the soup too early. Taste and adjust accordingly.
Serving Suggestions
A bowl of navy bean ham bone soup is perfectly satisfying on its own, but you can also serve it with some side dishes to make it a more hearty meal! This is a great idea if you are feeding a large crowd. Try pairing it with some of my personal favorites:
See The Recipe Card Below For How To Make Easy Ham and Bean Soup Recipe + Video. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Store Navy Bean Soup?
You can freeze Nana’s Epic Soup in an airtight container or freezer bags for later quickie meals.
Even consider pureeing it into incredible bean dip with a blender to eat with tortilla chips.
Can This Be Made With Canned Beans?
You can use canned beans and it will reduce the cooking time, but honestly, it’s best with dried-soaked beans. It takes about 3 of the 15-ounce cans of beans per 1-pound dried beans. Drain the liquid well to reduce the sodium. You can even rinse the beans to make sure you get as much sodium off as possible.
Is There A Crockpot Version Of This Recipe?
You can make this recipe in the crock pot… And you do not need to soak the beans ahead of time! Saute the veggies on the stovetop until tender, then add everything to the slow cooker. Set on low for 10-12 hours, or on high for 5-7 hours. Then serve your slow cooker ham soup warm out of the crock.
Can I Use The Ham Bone More Than Once?
I usually just use a hambone just once. However, I have heard that if there is still meat on the bone and marrow in the center, you can wrap and freeze it for later use. Yet if you’ve “picked the bone dry” in a recipe, throw it out.
What If I Threw My Ham Bone Out?
You could make this with your leftover ham or you could buy a ham bone (or ham hock) from the grocery store. Or, try making my vegetarian navy bean soup recipe instead!
Looking for More Soup Recipes You Will Love? Be Sure to Also Try:
- Portuguese Caldo Verde Recipe
- Creamy Poblano Turkey Soup Recipe
- Slow Cooker Guacamole Soup Recipe
- Simple Egg Drop Soup Recipe
- Spring Pea Wasabi Soup Recipe
- Creamy Chicken Tortellini Soup Recipe
- Navy Bean Vegetarian Soup Recipe
- Rustic Ribollita Recipe (Tuscan White Bean Soup)
- Nana’s Creamy Potato Soup Recipe
- Ham and Potato Soup Recipe by Simply Recipes
Check the printable recipe card below for the nutrition information including calories, protein, fiber, and vitamin percentages.
Navy Bean Soup Recipe (with Ham)
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried navy beans
- 1 ham bone + ham scraps
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 10 cups water
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- The Night Before: Place the dried beans in a large bowl and cover with three inches of water. Soak the dried beans overnight (up to 24 hours) to soften. Drain when ready to use.
- Place a large 6 quart pot over medium heat. Add the oil, ham bone, onions, and garlic. Sauté for 3-5 minutes to soften the onions.
- Then add in the drained beans, thyme, ground cumin, crushed red pepper, 10 cups of water, and any remaining ham scraps. (Do not salt the soup until the end, because ham bones can be very salty.)
- Bring the soup to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 60-90 minutes, covered, until the beans are very soft. Uncover and stir occasionally, then place the lid back on top.
- Use a fork to pull any remaining ham off the bone and stir it into the soup. Discard the bone. Add 1-2 cups additional water if the soup is too thick. Taste, then salt and pepper as needed.
Looks delicious! I’ve got a hambone and wanted to try something different, so this is on the menu for this week. :)
One note: Our family’s small, so we rarely buy a whole ham, and the meat departments at our local grocery stores haven’t been able to help us with hambones. Yet we love soups, especially ones that use bones for flavoring.
However, I’ve found one other alternative to get a hambone and some leftover ham – Honeybaked Ham. (This only works if you have one locally.) They save and sell their hambones, and while their regular hams are pretty pricey, $10- $12 gets us a hambone with enough meat on it for one to two other meals besides the soup! This last time around, I made a soup that just needed a couple of cups of leftover ham, a caramelized onion, Brie and ham quiche, and I’ve got enough left over (plus the hambone) to make this soup, too!
Hope that helps anyone who’s in our position. Happy souping!
This soup was indeed epic: it was easy to make, filling, and the broth was satisfyingly flavorful, with hints of heat and smokiness from the red pepper and cumin. The recipe made enough for a couple of dinners for two, and a week of lunches (although I suspect it would freeze very well if you were to tire of it).
We had no trouble with hard beans, but we did a 24 hour soak because I’ve never been successful with the quick boil method. The beans cooked perfectly. My daughter and I have agreed that this is probably one of the best soups we’ve made.
Fantastic flavor! I used some vegetable broth I had in the fridge along with the water to get to the 10 C of liquid. I also added a couple of chopped carrots, some chopped celery, a tsp of dried mustard and a bit of thyme. One of the things I love most in this recipe is the red pepper, as it adds just the right amount of kick. So delicious!
Excellent! I read the reviews about using dried beans that have been on the shelf a long time. I bought the dried beans and used them immediately, soaking overnight and following the recipe directions to a T. The beans were tender after cooking for 75 minutes, and the soup was absolutely delicious! We love spicy foods, so I used the max recommended red pepper flakes (1 tsp.). Might back that down to 3/4 tsp. next time. The soup was a great consistency and I didn’t need to add additional water – enjoy!
Fabulous recipe! I had a left over 6lb ham bone with meat on it and used it in this. I did trim the fat off the bone and meat prior to placing it in the pot. (Read some comments on fattiness and I always remove excess fat and eat lean. The marbling of the ham will create enough flavor to not necessitate keeping it in the recipe). I did add the celery and carrots (love veggies), soaked the beans for 12 hours. I remembered a tip on beans breaking down (the skin can stay a little tough and not break down for a thick soup. So I put a teaspoon of tomato paste I had left over – I bag and freeze left overs in teaspoon size for recipes. And it broke down the beans perfectly without changing the flavor. Cooked for 2 hours and it was thick and beautiful. Love the addition of the cumin and the red pepper flakes. I didn’t need any salt and the flavors of fresh thyme leaves, cumin, onion, garlic, ham and beans it was incredible! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Turned out great. We had a really meaty ham bone (huge ham, small fam) so I had plenty of meat on the bone and didn’t need to supplement. The soup did seem a little fatty after the first hour. However at that point I added 2 bay leaves, ~1 Tbsp low sodium chicken base, and 1 diced potato (could have done 2). After another 20 min I scooped up most of the potato and smashed it before stirring it back in, to help thicken the soup.
Beans were pretty close to done. I used filtered water which may have helped? Diced and added 2 more potatoes, carrot, and celery at the end and cooked til they were done. The potatoes helped with the salt levels but the soup was still fairly salty – a less meaty bone might have been better in that respect.
We liked the heat level, and the cumin faded to the background nicely (I am not a cumin fan at all), and the initial fattiness seemed to vanish, possibly because of the extra veg.
Would make again!
Michael Snow, How old were your beans? If you are, like I used to be, that dried beans last forever, you would be wrong. I figure that was your problem, because the same thing happened to me, a few years ago. Get a new bag of beans, and do it again, this stuff really is am amazing.
Great Stuff!!! I wanted to add a few more veggies, so I whipped up a couple of cups of chicken broth from bullion powder, and then was able to add broccoli, carrots, a couple of tomatoes, and celery. Everyone loved it, especially our youngest son, who flipped over it. Thank you, Spicy Perspective!!!
I’ve made Navy Bean Soup many times but I was looking for something a bit different so I started looking and found Nana’s recipe and I’m glad I did. If you like soup this one is fantastic… It’s so good and explodes with flavor.
This is a better version of my family’s recipe, which has always been bland (sorry Mom!). Like other commenters, I was unsure about the cumin, but oh my goodness was it delicious! I used the ham bone and leftover slices from Christmas, and left the lid off while simmering as I prefer a thicker consistency. No need for additional salt. The result was flavorful, hearty, and comforting. I’ll be making it this way from now on.
Loved it, so did my neighbors with whom I shared it.
I made this with the Christmas ham bone! It came out great! My family loved it. I did add carrots and celery for additional flavor and nutrients. I cooked it a bit longer as my family likes it on the thicker side. Yummy! I will definitely be making this again.
I neglected to mention that I didn’t need to add any salt. The salt from the ham was plenty. Thanks for the tip on that! I will be checking out your other recipes.