Smoky White Bean & Ham Soup
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This Southern-style smoky white bean and ham soup adapted from chef Hugh Acheson is hearty and comforting.
This rich and smoky white bean and ham soup is modestly adapted from Georgia chef Hugh Acheson’s cookbook, How to Cook: Building Blocks and 100 Simple Recipes for a Lifetime of Meals. The book is intended for kitchen novices—Acheson wrote it with his teenage daughters, Beatrice and Clementine, in mind—but I think it’s a wonderful resource for seasoned cooks, too. This recipe, for example, begins with a lesson on how to cook dried beans, a skill every cook should have, and then shows how to transform them into a flavorful, hearty soup by adding smoked ham hocks, chicken stock, vegetables, and herbs.
I made a few tweaks to the recipe, like adding more ham and puréeing a portion of the soup to thicken it up a bit. Feel free to skip the puréeing step if you prefer a brothier soup.
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need to Make Smoky White Bean & Ham Soup
Smoked ham hocks, or pork knuckles, come from the ankle region of the pig’s leg. In Southern cooking, hocks are often used to add a rich, meaty, and smoky flavor to soups, stews, and greens. They are available in most supermarkets and are very inexpensive. If for some reason you can’t find them, pork shank can be substituted.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Quick-Soak the Beans
Place the beans in a large pot and cover with 2 to 3 inches of water.
Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and let sit for one hour.
Drain the beans.
Step 2: Make the White Bean & Ham Soup
Place the drained beans into a 5.5-quart Dutch oven or large pot. Add the water, chicken stock, bay leaves, quartered onion, and ham hocks.
Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and simmer over low heat until the beans are just tender, about 1 hour (depending on the size of the beans, it could take a bit longer).
Once the beans are tender, pull out the bay leaves, onion remnants, and ham hocks. Discard the bay leaves and onions, but set the ham hocks aside to cool.
Add the minced onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes, garlic, thyme, and 2 teaspoons of salt to the pot.
Increase the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, while the soup is cooking, and when the ham hocks are cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the hocks, discard any bone, fat, and tough sinew, and chop the meat finely.
Use a ladle to transfer about 2 cups of the beans and vegetables, along with a bit of broth, to a blender or food processor. (If using a blender, be sure to remove the center knob on the lid and cover with a dishtowel to avoid splatters.)
Purée until smooth.
Stir the mixture back into the soup.
Add the meat and kale to the soup.
Simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes more.
Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt, if necessary. At this point, you can serve the soup or refrigerate it for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to eat, garnish each bowl with a drizzle with olive oil (if using) and a heap of grated cheese.
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Smoky White Bean and Ham Soup
This Southern-style smoky white bean and ham soup adapted from chef Hugh Acheson is hearty and comforting.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried white navy beans or Great Northern beans, rinsed and checked for stones
- 6 cups water
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered, plus ½ cup minced (you'll need 2 onions)
- 2 pounds smoked ham hocks
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 1 (14 oz) can chopped or diced tomatoes
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- Salt
- 1½ cups chopped kale or other dark leafy greens
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving (optional)
- Finely grated pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano, for serving
Instructions
- Quick-soak the beans: Place the beans in a medium pot and cover with 2 to 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 1 minute. Remove the pot from the heat and let sit for 1 hour. Drain in a colander.
- Place the drained beans into a 5.5-quart Dutch oven or large pot. Add the water, chicken stock, bay leaves, quartered onion, and ham hocks. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and simmer over low heat until the beans are just tender, about 1 hour (depending on the size of the beans, it could take a bit longer).
- Once the beans are tender, pull out the bay leaves, onion remnants, and ham hocks. Discard the bay leaves and onions, but set the ham hocks aside to cool.
- Add the minced onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes, garlic, thyme, and 2 teaspoons of salt to the pot. Increase the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes. While the soup is cooking, and when the ham hocks are cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the hocks, discard any bone, fat, and tough sinew, and chop the meat finely.
- Use a ladle to transfer about 2 cups of the beans and vegetables, along with a bit of broth, to a blender or food processor. (If using a blender, be sure to remove the center knob on the lid and cover with a dishtowel to avoid splatters.) Purée until smooth, and then stir the mixture back into the soup. Add the meat and kale to the soup and simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes more. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt, if necessary (I usually add about 1 teaspoon more; beans require a lot of salt to bring out their flavor). At this point, you can serve the soup or refrigerate it for up to 3 days. (It will thicken up in the fridge; thin it with a bit of water, if necessary.)
- When you're ready to eat, garnish each bowl with a drizzle with olive oil (if using) and a heap of grated cheese.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The soup can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator for 12 hours and then reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat until hot. through.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (Nutritional data is based on 2 tsp salt and does not include oil and cheese - 8 servings)
- Calories: 468
- Fat: 14g
- Saturated fat: 4g
- Carbohydrates: 46g
- Sugar: 7g
- Fiber: 11g
- Protein: 41g
- Sodium: 1326mg
- Cholesterol: 73mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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This was absolutely delicious! You need to make this . To quote my husband “Who else is eating something this good tonight, NOBODY”
This soup sounds great – just the trick to slip a few vegetables into my husband. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to tomatoes. Could you suggest a substitution that might work well with this recipe (or a similar soup recipe without the tomatoes)?
Hi Hillary, you can just substitute an equal amount of another veggie of your choosing. 🙂
Another winning recipe! Deep flavour, healthy ingredients, and an overall great cold day soup! The smoked ham hocks add so much flavour!
Couldn’t find ham hocks, could I use 2 pounds of ham from a boneless spiral ham? If so I’m assuming after the beans have soaked and cooked for an hour.
Hi Scott, Yes that’s fine. Enjoy!
Could this be made with turkey sausage instead of ham?
Hi Jackie, Yes I think that will work. Enjoy!
Hi Jenn, this is a great soup recipe! I have a bag of 15 bean mix I need to use, do you think it will work with this recipe?
Thanks, Sharon T
Yep 🙂
This is SO delicious! We followed the directions exactly. For greens, we used chopped baby spinach. Thanks Jenn for another wonderful recipe!
So good! Had a leftover ham bone from Christmas and was looking for something to do with it other than Pea Soup ( my husband doesn’t like it- so sad!) I knew I would find something on this site. Wow!! We loved it and it was so easy.
Thanks for a great dinner. Your blog has become my go-to place for just about everything. Love your cookbook too!
💗
This was a lovely cool-evening meal… very tasty. I chose to get a thick slice of ham from the deli and dice it instead of fighting with the ham hocks which in my case didn’t reveal much meat, but that was the only deviation. The texture was perfect (blending some of the mix was a great idea), the smokiness of the ham came through, and since I used my own chicken stock, the stock was GREAT!! Hahaha
Just another in a long list of dependable, satisfying and well-described recipes from Jenn. Thanks so much for giving us such treasures. It’s always stress-free to use your recipes… I know they’ll turn out great.
IMPORTANT
Jenn I’m making this soup right now,and I can tell this is another winner.
BUT, I thought you would want to know, the amount of advertising has practically doubled (or seems that way-and I know it’s a busy season).
But what’s different now is the advertising/advertisements appear OVER your actual recipe leaving the reader unable to make out portions of the recipe.
Thanks!
Lisa
Hi Lisa, Thanks for your feedback and I’m sorry you’re seeing so many ads! I totally get your frustration. And your observation is correct — the amount of advertising is increased during the holiday season, so that’s temporary. Also, a couple questions:
-What type of device are you using? If it’s an iPad, the ads can move around depending on how you’re holding it. Also, I’ve spoken to my ad networks about it and they’ve definitely find that iPad users tend to have more complaints across the board because of the unique sizing and formatting that happens on an iPad.
-If you’re using a computer, do you have it in full-screen mode? If not, depending upon how narrow the page is displayed, if the ads don’t have room to be alongside the content, they will display on top of it. This will resolve itself with the full-screen view.
Again, I’m really sorry for the frustration!
Jenn!
I APOLOGIZE for not responding after your comments to my post.
The soup came out so good,I think I completely forgot about all those pop-up adds.
I have an iPhone…admittedly I’m not the most sophisticated when it comes to technology.
In the end,it all worked out. Everyone loved the soup, and it made for a wonderful meal. I’ve never made anything from your books (I have them both), or your site that hasn’t been absolutely wonderful! You provide the best step by step instructions,complete w/photographs so all of us can have success in our home kitchens.
Thank you so much…
Lisa
Hi Lisa, glad that you were able to focus on the recipe and kind of dismiss the pop-ups! And thanks for your nice words about the recipes — so happy to hear you’ve had success with them. 🙂