A simple meal is created by the smoky flavor of ham enriching broth, to create a hearty, full-bodied soup with tender white beans.

Our Slow Cooker Ham and Beans is an old fashioned recipe that my mom grew up eating every time they had a ham bone.

Ladle full of tender bits of ham and soft beans in a seasoned broth to create a classic, old fashioned soup.

Ham Bone Soup Recipe

Tender bits of ham fall off the ham bone or ham hocks while cooking in a simple broth with Great Northern white beans that soften all together. This is a budget friendly, hands off recipe.

Whether you make a juicy Ham in a Roaster or Crock Pot Ham with Pineapple you can use the bone to make this simple soup.

My mom likes to make a box of Honey Cornbread and serves her Slow Cooker Ham and Beans in a bowl over the cornbread allowing it to soak up all of the juices.

We found that the broth has more flavor from the ham bone when cooking low and slow in a crock pot for several hours. All of our notes and instructions are below!

Soup ladle lifting tender bits of ham and white beans out of a slow cooker full of warm and delicious soup.

More classic meals my mom makes regularly include our Farmhouse Ham Balls, Cubed Steak and Gravy and Chili using Tomato Juice.

Do Beans Need to Be Soaked?

We tested this recipe by soaking the beans and again by adding dry, unsoaked beans straight to the crock. Navy beans work the same as great northern beans.

Soaked beans cook and become tender more quickly – so soaking is better for the stove top method or if you want to be sure the beans cook in a shorter amount of time.

If soaking the beans is a life long habit most people will continue the tradition, but this step is not necessary to have an enjoyable Ham and Bean Soup.

White great northern beans soaking in a large container of water over night.

When cooking low and slow (more than 4 hours) the beans have plenty of time to tenderize in the slow cooker and do not require soaking.

How To Make Ham and Bean Soup In A Crock Pot

Soak beans over night in a large bowl where they can be covered with plenty of water. The beans will more than double in size, so leave room for expansion.

Drain the water and then rinse the beans. Repeat two or three more times. This process helps to remove excess starch.

Place ham bone in a crock pot and and then pour the beans. Pour enough water over the top to cover the ham and beans.

Add seasonings and stir gently.

Overhead view of a cold ham bone set in a crock pot with water and soaked great northern beans.

We like to add 2 to 3 cups of chopped or diced leftover ham or we intentionally leave a good bit of ham on the bone for the highest quality soup.

Ham bone with meat cooked until tender flavoring a crockpot of soup with chicken broth, white beans and simple seasonings.

Cover and cook on high for about 5 hours or cook on low for about 7 to 8 hours until the beans are soft and tender and ham easily falls off the bone.

How Long To Cook The Soup

At 4 hours in a slow cooker on high, beans were mostly tender, but needed more time to cook.

At 5 to 6 1/2 hours the meal was perfectly tender, the broth well flavored and everything was enjoyable to eat.

At 8 hours the beans were more mushy than tender and ham was totally cooked off of the bone.

The biggest variable in cooking time is the size of the ham bone. More meat on a bigger bone will take more time and have a meatier flavor.

Tongs pulling meat off of a ham bone submerged in a slow cooker of white bean soup.

Cooked ham bone sitting on a large plate with two forks shredding larger pieces of ham and tongs in the background.

My mom will often pick all of the meat off of the hambone with tongs or with two forks on a plate.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

Chicken broth was noticeably better than water over a short (3 hour) cooking time. After 4 hours the bone flavored the water into an enjoyable broth just as much as the better than bollioun with chicken.
You can fill the crock all the way up if you really like broth.
Serve over cornbread allowing the bread to soak up all of the juices.
The reason some recipes begin on a higher temp is to get the broth and bone heated up and then turn to low to let the beans simmer while the ham bone tenderizes. The longer the beans cook the softer and easier they become.
Can also add carrots, celery and onion to this soup just like in our Chicken Noodle Soup for a Crowd.

More Easy Meal Ideas:

Ham and Potato Soup is another meal we often make using our leftover holiday ham.
Ham, Potato and Mushroom Soup is a low stress, budget friendly meal.
Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili is a new favorite of mine.
Zucchini Stuffed with Sausage is a must try meal!

Soaked northern white beans in a flavorful broth with shredded bits of ham in a soup ladle.

Slow Cooker Ham and Beans

Servings: servings

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 6

A simple and filling meal is created by the smoky flavor of ham enriching broth, to create a hearty, full-bodied soup with tender white beans.

Ingredients

Instructions

Soak 1 pound dried great northern beans over night in a bowl with plenty of water, they will more than double in size.
Drain the water, then rinse and repeat.
Add 1 ham bone, 2 – 3 cups cubed ham and beans to a 6 quart or larger crock pot.
Add a minimum of 6 – 8 cups water to cover the ham and beans. Season the water with 1/2 teaspoon celery salt, 1 teaspoon mustard powder, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Stir gently.
Cover and cook on high for 4 – 5 hours until beans are tender and ham can be easily removed from the bone. Remove bone, shred any bigger pieces of ham, stir and serve when the beans are tender.

Nutrition

Calories: 130kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 13gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0.1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.02gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 896mgPotassium: 298mgFiber: 5gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 2IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 59mgIron: 2mg

“Plowing Through Life” is not a dietitian or nutrition professional. Any nutritional information shared is an estimate and can vary greatly depending on specific products are used. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator of your choice.