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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I don’t do many reviews. That being said, this soup REQUIRED one! I made this recently. I had one pork hock frozen, but did not see any at my grocery store. I substituted a MASSIVE smoked turkey leg…so large I had to cut it in half to fit in the stockpot I was using. When I was ready to thicken the soup, I put about 3 cups of it in my food processor, along with a small handful of both meats, then returned everything to the stockpot. The consisyency was perfect! With the exception of the turkey leg, I followed Jenn’s recipe completely. Having made several of her other recipes, I have the “why mess with perfection” attitude! Once again, Jenn did not disappoint. The soup is fantastic. My wife raved about it and ate it 3 days in a row.
I brought about half of it to a good friend…she lives with her daughter and son in law and they are all from Romania. A few days later, I spoke with her and she told me they all loved this soup. Her son in law told her that this soup was the first meal he has had in the U.S. (outside of a Romanian restaurant) that truly “tasted like home”. I’ve been a guest in their home many times, and they have asked me to come to their home again soon and make this soup there. They insist on buying all of the ingredients and told me to let them know what I would like to drink while cooking (it’s not a sweet tea or lemonade kinda thing😉).
Sooo, there you go Jenn…sort of like two reviews in one! Awesome!
I only had dried lima beans so used those. I knew better than to add all that salt – Swanson’s broth is already salted and so are ham hocks. I recommend only adding salt at the table if you feel the need – I didn’t. Otherwise a great feast of a recipe!
Tried this recipe for the first time tonight, and it was absolutely amazing!!! I did make one change though… I used two smoked turkey wings since we don’t eat pork. Still, fabulous. The kale was a very nice addition and it gave it nice color. There isn’t a recipe of Jenn’s that I’ve tried that isn’t delicious. Thank you for the recipes.
In December I was looking for an easy recipe to use up our leftover holiday ham and decided to make this given that the ingredients were all pantry basics that I had on hand. Since I was using ham and not a ham hock I ‘cheated’ and just sauteed the chopped veggies for a couple of minutes before adding a can of diced fire roasted chipotle tomatoes (for heat), a couple of bay leaves and some fresh thyme sprigs. The kale was omitted because our kale patch was frozen under a foot of snow, and I also added a bit of smoked paprika as suggested in a previous comment. When we sat down to dinner I was surprised by how tasty this soup was– a perfect example of simple food, cooked right. It is now mid-January and I just made a second batch with some nice smoky ham; half will be for our supper, and half for sharing with a friend. Thank you Jenn for sharing this delicious winter soup recipe with us, and for introducing us to the culinary talents of Hugh Acheson.
This soup was excellent. I made it exactly as per the recipe. Found ham hocks at the farmers market in St. Jacobs, Ontario even though they have them at my local grocers. I often share meals with my 80 year old neighbour, and she summed this recipe up best, yum, yum, yummy.
Do you make any recipes with an instant pot? My husband gave me one as gift so I want to make good use of it. I love to make dishes the traditional way, but I’m often short on time. Any thought about pressure cookers?
Hi Tammy, There’s one recipe on my blog that uses an instant pot. You can find it here. And while I have an instant pot, I don’t think I’ll be developing a lot of recipes for it. I know that people that have Instant Pots really love them, but because many people don’t own them and I try to “appeal to the masses” I don’t plan to use it a ton for new recipes. I know that there are some sites and cookbooks out there that really specialize in IP recipes, so they probably would be your best resource in that area.
I loved this recipe. It had deep flavor, and the kale was perfect as a final touch. I had a big ham bone in my freezer that I used in place of the ham hock (so I didn’t have a lot of meat to include in the soup), but it was wonderful nonetheless. The broth was perfect for us so I didn’t puree for thickness.
I will make this again. Probably soon.
What would be the equivalent of canned beans to dry and would I alter the liquid amount due to not needing hydration for the beans. Thank you in advance for your reply.
Hi Dave, I’d use three 15-ounce cans of beans for the soup and you shouldn’t need to alter the amount of liquid at all. Hope that helps and that you enjoy!
This is actually very traditional soup meal in my country. We make it with a few differences. With sausages, pork ribs or veggie style. And we soak the beans overnight. Also fresh or dry mint. And at the end to make it thick we use thinly chooped onion, oil, and paprika (all together combined) saute till the onion is golden, add the paprika and all in the soup. Let the soup cook on medium high for 10 min and the soup will get thick. In some regions people put a spoon of yogurt or sour cream. It’s still often on my table
I ended up using bacon and Canadian ham steak because it was impossible to find the ham hocks around here. It was delicious, hearty and easy.