White Bean Soup With Ham and Vegetables

the beans (dried, soaked, or canned)

I’m a dried bean user and slowly becoming an unsoaked dried bean user, but it is a hard habit to break! This recipe can be made with dried, soaked, or canned cannellini beans, great northern beans, or navy beans. And in truth, you could substitute any bean in the recipe, but it might not be White Bean Soup with Ham if you go the kidney bean route! 😉

chopping vegetables

If you want a nice dice with your vegetables, you may want to put an Alligator Chopper on your wish list. They aren’t inexpensive, but they are well-made, effective, and very easy to use. I don’t use it every day, but when I have a lot of chopping, I bring it out. Or when I want a nice fine dice, it’s really perfect for that. It was perfect for getting a nice dice on the veggies for this ham bean soup and I also use it when I make my Shrimp Salsa and Apple Bread.

cook this white bean soup in the slow cooker, the instant pot, or the stovetop

The recipe below gives the instructions to make this soup on the stovetop, but you can also make it in either your slow cooker or your instant pot.

slow cooker directions

In a Slow Cooker, follow steps one through four. Once all combined, transfer the sautéed vegetables and herbs to your slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients, except the ham. Cook on low for six to eight hours until the beans are tender. Start checking for doneness after six hours. Add ham to rewarm it before serving.

instant pot directions

In an Instant Pot, use the sauté feature to follow steps one through four. Add the remaining ingredients, except the ham. Place the lid on top, lock it, and ensure the top rear valve points to ‘Sealing.’ Press ‘Manual’/’Pressure Cook’, ‘HIGH’ pressure, and set for 10 minutes.

The pressure build-up will take about 7-10 minutes, then it will cook for another 10 minutes. Once 10 minutes are up, allow the pressure to release naturally for 20-25 minutes. If you find that the beans are not tender, repeat the cooking process for another 2 minutes. Add the ham to rewarm it before serving.

that smoky flavor

So, I’m always striving to avoid added and unnecessary chemicals to my food and body. Two of the chemicals I avoid are Sodium Nitrates and Sodium Nitrites. Unfortunately, it is darned hard to find smoked ham or ham hocks without sodium nitrates or nitrites. Whole Foods does sell cured ham hocks without nitrates/nitrites, but they aren’t necessarily smoked.

But, it is pretty easy to find bacon without those chemicals, so that’s the route I went to add a little smokey flavor to this soup. Sautéed bacon adds flavor and provides the rendering in which we then sauté the vegetables.