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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Delicious! I’ve made this several times and have used both smoked ham hocks and just smoked ham bone from a spiral ham. Pureeing a portion of the soup gives it a nice texture. I needed a nice amount of salt at the end to bring all the flavors together. Thanks for a great recipe!
Soup was good. glad I signed up for this newletter
Loved this recipe. It is perfect for a cold winter day. Paired it with cornbread muffins.
I have been looking for the perfect ham and bean soup and have found it. So flavorful and the vegetables are not cooked so long that they become mushy. I am getting rid of all the other ham and bean soup recipes I have tried and found to be wanting. Thank you!
Made this a few weeks ago, and holy unctuous-ness, Batman! This was so flavorful, filling, and comforting! I followed your instructions to use dried beans and could definitely taste the difference. My soup wasn’t as red as in the pics, and I love my stuff spicy so added a lot of red pepper flakes and smoked paprika. It was SO yummy! Definitely going in my rotation. Can’t wait to try your other recipes 😋.
Absolutely delicious! I made this using Rancho Gordo’s yellow eye beans. I didn’t presoak the beans because their dried beans are so fresh that presoaking isn’t really necessary. I also tossed in a parsnip that I had and didn’t use the tomatoes. (Husband is allergic to tomato’s). After cooking I finished the soup with some fresh chopped parsley! Yum!
Hello! Loved the flavor of the soup! I am having a bit of a challenge with the texture of the smoked ham hock after heating it in the soup. The pieces aren’t tender.
What to do?
Hi Pam, the ham may not actually be all that tender; it’s mostly just included to add flavor to the broth. Hope that clarifies!
I made this with the ham and bone leftover from Christmas. The soup turned out delicious. I cut the recipe in half since there is only two of us. My husband was not into me making this soup because he didn’t think he would like it. Well he tried it and he LOVES it. Thank you so much for your delicious recipes.
Delicious. Used a ham bone leftover from Christmas dinner instead of ham hocks. Also had small piece of pancetta which I cubed and fried before adding with the ham. Otherwise followed exactly as written. Your recipes never disappoint.
Hi Jen! LOVE YOUR FOOD! I’m looking for a recipe to help me use the ham bone from spiral smoked ham and extra meat. Can this be used in this soup recipe? Thanks for being such a consistent source of great food. Ji
Hi Jill, So glad you like the recipes! I think this recipe would be an excellent way to use your ham bone.
I had cans of navy beans rolling in my pantry and I was looking for a simple recipe which doesn’t make do more grocery runs for more stuff. This is a fam pleaser this cold season. Thanks
Jenn this was exactly what i expected from you- completely delicious! I couldn’t find ham hocks or smoked turkey so i used a petite Leddy’s bone- in smoked pork shoulder and it came out perfect!