Ham and Beans and More

WOW, the flavors in this dish really really rocks. I was a bit worried going through the steps of cooking the meats then adding to the pot, but it totally works when you add the chicken stock to the pan to deglaze it and add to the slow cooker pot. One thing is at this point I worried because it said to crisp up meat, then add stock to deglaze, but wasn't sure if I should drain off the excess grease. But because it didn't say so, I poured all the grease and chicken stock right in to the pot. And I must say Delish. The broth was just nicely flavored, and the overwhelming leek flavor mellowed in the cooking process. I did a few things but didn't change the recipe at all other then using fresh parsley instead of dried. I also put a finer chop on the onions and the leeks due to my hubby's prefence of not having larger chunks in this. He's not much of an onion person but likes the flavor just not texture of eating onions. Plus I used low sodium, bacon, broth and cooked ham. Will make this again because it really puts that warms in your bones. Just a lovely inviting dish. Thank you.

This recipe is awsome. Best ham and beans I have ever had. Very flavorful. The ony thing I did different on the recipe is used all chicken stock instead of water and I didn't use the bay leave instead added a 1/2 tsp ground temeric.

This is the first time I've made ham and beans with out hocks. It was very good. The texture and flavors were great. I made the recipe just as stated, no variations at all. Served with bread for dipping, we have leftovers and they are even better heated up.

I made this twice, used crushed garlic both times. I followed this recipe closely except for the chopped ham, I used a large piece of ham leftover from Easter Dinner with the bone. This soup came out with lots of flavor and one of my husbands new favorites ! You do need to smash the beans at the end with a potato masher. It was delish !

This is amazing and I didn't even add bacon! I used ham boullion instead of chicken. I could hardly stop eating!! *****UPDATE*****This time I added a splash of apple cider vinegar and 1 diced, seeded jalapeno pepper and served it over rice. Woweee, this is way beyond delicious!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are in a hurry, use 2 cans drained Great Northern beans. Saute your veggies and ham. Then add the remaining ingredients and boil about 20-30 min.

Love this recipe..I used 2 cloves fresh garlic chopped and added 1/4 tsp. of celery seed...otherwise kept it as is

Flavor wise this is a 10, but it does produce a very thin soup. I used all chicken broth and eliminated the bacon (since I had a bit extra ham to use up) but followed the rest of the ingredients. I forgot to soak the beans last night, so I followed instructions in another recipe so we could have today. I ended up adding two additional cans of reduced sodium white beans (after rinsing throughly) to bring the consistency more to our liking. Next time (and ther will be a next time soon), I'll start with more beans to begin with. Excelent recipe flavorwise - thought my Grandma had prepared it.

This is a keeper! Iahve tried many ham and bean soups - never been terribly impressed with any of them. This was delicious. I think the bason and sauteing the ham REALLY make it. Had trouble cooking the beans all the way, but I seem to have this issue a lot. Next time I might try cooking the beans in plain water for a while first.

This was a delicious, easy soup! I made it with a few changes, but nothing major. (Skipped the leeks and small onion adding 1/4 c dried onion instead...my daughter hates finding onions in things though she likes the flavor and I've found using dried onion is perfect and soooo easy.) I did chop the bacon THEN fry it up, THEN I cooked the ham in the bacon grease left in the pan adding a little butter and evoo for flavoring. Oh, and I accidentally forgot the parsley. This is a definite keeper imo!

These beans are awesome. Followed the recipe exactly. My teen (picky eater) ate 4 bowls!!! Will be making this again and again.

A little bland for us as written. I added some jalapeno and real minced garlic with the other veggies. Also added some tabasco and a little cider vinegar towards the end of cooking. We enjoyed this over plain white rice, similar to a red bean dish.

I enjoyed this spin on the Traditional Ham and Beans I was used to. The celery added a subtle fresh background to the broth. I used fresh parsley instead of dried. Just a 1/2 bunch chopped up. And I added 2 Tbls. of Brown Sugar and a 1/2 tsp. of Liquid Hickory Smoke because I didn't have any Bacon. Turned out Fantastic.

There's no doubt I will revisit this recipe! Unfortunately I did not have leeks on hand... so I had to use scallions. My husband is on his second bowl as I am writing this so it is a big hit with him as well. I can't wait to try with leeks the next time! Plenty of flavor in my book!

My sister & I fought over the last of the soup

good, good, great, wonderful, delicious!!! we loved this---i work nights, so i whipped it up and into the slow cooker before i went to bed in the morning, woke up, did errands, and had a fantastic dinner waiting for me and the hubby! I served this with crusty Italian bread and a simple salad---this will be a frequent meal at our house; thank you!!

I have made this so many times. The first time it was a little thinner than I'd like, so the second time I added 2 cut up sweet potatoes to it. The flavor and texture was out of this world!

Outstanding! Followed recipe exactly. Even better the next day. Thanks for a great recipe, Roxanne!

I did not care for this recipe.

Made the first time with ham but used all water to cook then added some Penzey's ham base after beans got soft and let it cook another hour or so. Used turkey bacon. Recently made again but skipped the leeks. Instead caramelized a very large onion and subbed in the dark meat from this PR ***http://allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/62472514/smoked-turkey-without-smoker/detail.aspx*** Also delish!

My family loves this recipe! The bacon is a perfect touch! I leave out the leaks, add a ham shank, celery seed instead of fresh celery pieces, and a few extra spices (crushed red pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme, and rosemary) and it is delicious!

Very good - pretty tasty.

I've made Ham and Bean Soup for many years. It's one of my all time favorite soups. This is a great recipe. To "kick it up a bit", I add a large can of petite diced tomatoes and allow it to simmer. A bowl of soup and a slice of crusty buttermilk cornbread makes for a wonderful meal.

This was very good. I increased the cumin to 1 tsp and left out the bacon (didn't have any). I sauted the onions, celery and leeks before putting them in the crock pot. Decreased the water by 1 cup. I like my soup on the thicker side. Will definitely make again.

this was fantastic my husband is not a big soup eater but he loved this,and so did my father in law Delish!!!

This was good. I used ham stock instead of water and left out the leeks. I used bacon bits for the bacon. My main problem was my cubed ham pretty much disintegrated. Next time I will add it an hour or so before serving. It needed salt.

Cumin makes the difference.

The best ever!! My family loves this recipe and so easy to make too. I make a few changes but if you keep the spices the same, it always turns out great.

Very easy to make and flavorful.

This soup is fabulous! i did have to make some changes as i didn't have leeks so added more onion. I added 1 tablespoon of minced garlic instead of powder. I also added 2 teaspoons of Turmeric and ground mustard. The flavor was amazing. This is now one of my favorite soups!

I liked the recipe for the most part. I used smoked Pork Shoulder instead of Ham. I did have to heavily season it with salt, pepper, and garlic before serving as it was pretty bland.

I am going to try this recipe tomorrow but I have never cooked leeks. So, thats it, just cut off the roots and leaves and then one slice down the middle?

I've always struggled with getting the right rich taste from ham & beans without a flavor packet. This was SPOT ON! I had already started the recipe with beans, ham and water realizing that maybe it was too late to do anything but salt it and move on. But when I found this recipe, I simply added the garlic, chopped onion, olive oil, chopped celery and cumin and WOW! Never knew it could be this easy and good! Will DEFINITELY do this again!!!

I followed this recipe exactly, but got lackluster results. The broth is fairly good, but the meat, beans and veggies are beyond blah. My bowl was slightly improved with 6-ish drops Sriracha. Bottom line: definitely not worth the work. I wish I hadn't wasted my bacon and ham on this dish.

Very good. No chicken broth, use ham brot

This recipe is wonderful!! Followed recipe as written (I added 2 more slices of bacon than called for) and it was super delicious. My husband and I finished off the entire crock pot of soup in just 2 days!! I will definitely be making this again.

Delicious!!

Ok the flavors all worked well together and tasted very good. But, this is a little labor intensive for a slow cooker recipe. I am not sure but suspect if I could have got the same result with out all of the separate browning.

I did not soak my beans, i put them in a crock pot put my ham on top added garic powder and cumin and pepper with onion and celery. The ham and chicken broth give this soup enough salt. Cooked on low 8 hours , checked it twice and added enough water to cover the beans again. Wow, this soup was delicious. Definitely in our recipe box.

If I followed directions properly, I added all of the grease from the ham to the soup (which for me was off of two pounds as I was using the other for something else). It is quite greasy, but it adds great flavor. It is more liquidy than I thought, but again, the broth was great. The only differerent thing I did was omit bacon and butter. I had to add a good bit of salt to it. I wonder how it would be with addition of potatoes?? It was good, but frying ham is so messy and time consuming. Would possibly make again.

I added one can tomato and chilies, 1 tbl. molasses, 1 oz. white wine and 1 tbl. Worcestershire. Next time I'll cut the leaks into medallions and put them in 1 hour before done. It was a great idea and tasted great.

I never thought I'd ever say I would enjoy eating Ham and Beans...but I love this recipe. I only made a couple simple changes. I used 1/2lb Great Northern Beans and 1/2lb black eye peas. Then, I used chicken Better Than Bouillion instead of water like someone else suggested. It was very tasty. My hubby enjoyed 3 bowls and my children enjoyed it with a dallop of sour cream. It will be our new New Year's dinner tradition paired up with fresh corn muffins.

Excellent! Only thing I did different was to omit the bay leaves and I added a smoked turkey wing.

If u follow all the steps as I did. You have a awesome Ham and Bean Soup As my family absolutely loved It was well worth it.

Followed recipie exactly, turned out fantastic!

Bursting with flavor is right! Thank you Roxane for a great recipe. I ran across this recipe while looking for an Instant Pot recipe for a ham bone soup stock. It sounded interesting. I had no navy beans and intended to use lentils instead. The ham bone was from a generic Wal-Mart hardwood smoked ham. I adapted this recipe for my Instant Pot by putting the ham bone with plenty of meat still attached, into the pot and added the vegetables without any precooking. I used two cloves of crushed fresh garlic instead of powdered, I included the leaves from the celery, I bumped the powdered cumin from 1/4 tsp. to 2 tsp. I had no bacon so I used 2 Tbs. of bacon fat and omitted the butter and the olive oil. I SET ASIDE the diced up ham to be added after the stock was made. After adding the chicken stock, I added water to fill just below the maximum fill line in the Instant Pot. I used high pressure for 2 hours and used the natural release method to relieve the pressure. When the pressure was released, I removed just the bones and the leek residue and transferred everything to a larger soup kettle. The stock had a very interesting smoky aroma and the flavor was incredible! To finish off the soup, I added two large peeled carrots (coarsely chopped ), 1 lb. of lentils (rinsed) and the 1 lb. of cooked ham in bite-size pieces. I simmered until the lentils were tender. I make a lot of soup and have been doing so for 50 years but I'm very new to the Instant Pot and always looking for tip

Awesome flavor. I used Knorrs stock.

Excellent flavor. I doubled it——but only used my own chicken stock. Had a huge chuck of ham on the bone....closer to 3-4 lbs....delicious. Keeper. (Did not use Leeks—only onion)

It was very good-only thing I did different was add a can of northern beans that I mashed up to thicken it up. It was great and I will make it again.

I loved this. I followed the recipe with no changes. This recipe makes a lot, so I froze half. But it was great served with rosemary focaccia.

Not sure what kind of slow cooker everyone else uses but after 8 hours on low the beans are crunchy. I've ordered pizza and transferred the whole thing to a stock pot and will see if I can salvage it.

This was a hearty and delicious meal. The only change I made was to add green bell pepper instead of celery since I'm not a big fan of celery. We made cornbread, which was delicious crumbled into the stew.

This is the best tasting ham and beans I have ever made....will be making it again!

Next time I make it I think I will use less leek. But other than that it was amazing.

Was very good! Takes 8-9 hours for the beans to get soft in the crock pot though. At 6 hours, they were still tough. I even soaked them overnight! Had to add a little more salt and bacon.

So delicious and flavorful!

So easy so good and worth all the little extras to make this taste so good! Will make this again and again!

We had the bone & ham left over from a spiral cut ham. It was perfect for this recipe. We didn't add the leeks but we did add a bag of frozen cauliflower for vitamins & thickening at the end. Instead of dried beans, we used 2 cans but I probably would add one more. We also had some asparagus that we needed to use up so we tossed that in. And lastly, we used real bacon bits instead of frying the needed bacon. We loved that we were able to make all of these changes to fit what we had in the house and It still turned out delicious!

This is a great recipe I omitted the leak and celery simply because I didn't have any. I also used 4 cups of chicken broth instead of water! After frying the bacon I caramelized the chopped onion in the bacon grease and dumped grease and all in the soup. This is the best tasting ham and beans ever!! I also used 12oz of ham slices cut in squares fried in butter and olive oil!!! All I had in stock and worked perfectly!!! I will make this again just like I did today!!

I followed the directions exactly. The recipe was actually fun to make, but I couldn’t stand the leek after taste in the dish. Yuck! The leeks smelled delicious while cooking in the pan, but the after taste had too much twang for my taste. I also didn’t like the consistency of the stringy, translucent leeks when the dish was finished. I would make again minus the leeks and adding a quarter cup brown sugar.

I don't mash the beans and am making it in a few days with some leftover baked ham. We shall see.....

We REALLY liked this soup. I did make a bit of a hybrid based on the ingredients I had and on the suggestions of others in the reviews. Anything you make close to this formula should be a winner.

"Oh my gosh this is yummy." That is what i said when i was eating it.

Oh my, this is really good ham and bean soup. I followed the recipe as shown although I thought I had put to much salt but turned out it was perfect. I soaked the beans for over 8 hrs and cooked it for 5 and half hours after that. I give the recipe a 5 rating cause I love the taste. Just came out perfect so thank you Roxanne Dalton for sharing this delicious recipe.

This was delicious! The whole family really liked it and it made the house smell soo good while it cooked all day!

All of my picky eaters ate this up. I used anasazi beans, no bacon and I didn't brown anything on the stove due to time constraints. Still delicious.

Absolutely delicious!!

This was good- 3.5

I made this recipe in my Instant Pot, omitting the bacon. I cooked everything on high for 45 mins and did the natural release (did NOT soak the beans) and in an hour had awesome soup. This will be the only ham and bean soup recipe I will ever use moving forward. Thanks for sharing!!

Delicious! Even without the bacon (only had ham at home). I was missing parsley so I subbed in basil, & celery so I subbed in celery seed. Since my bone broth gave it an unappealing grey colour I also added some turmeric. Didn't add as much water at the end, because it was great tasting right from the slow cooker. A keeper!

Excellent recipe! I have never really like navy bean soup, but I was looking for ways to use up leftover ham, so I took a chance on this recipe. There wasn't a stitch of it left, my family loved it and I did too! The only changes I made was I left out the leeks, simply because I didn't have any on hand, and I added a bit of liquid smoke, as well as some smoked salt. Thanks for a great recipe, I will be making this again!

I followed the recipe and really liked it. My son thought it to bo too bland. I'll have to spice it up more for next time.

Great flavor for a normally bland dish. Our two sons even enjoyed and went back for seconds. Followed recipe with no changes.

This turned out great! I did make some minor changes, though. I didn't have any leeks or garlic powder so I left out the leeks and used 3/4 tsp of dehydrated garlic instead of the garlic powder. I also had about 8 cups of homemade chicken stock that I had frozen so I used that instead of the water & chicken broth. I also omitted the parsley & I forgot to add the salt and pepper, but it really didn't need it. I cooked this in the crock pot with a ham bone left over from Easter dinner. It was delicious!

My husband and I really liked this. I did use all ckn stock with a little water that was needed while cooling on stove. They were great with hot cornbread. A keeper for sure

I made it according to the recipe...the only thing I would change in making it again is to use less liquid. The flavor was wonderful!

Flavours are amazing! Easy to make and although I usually change the recipe slightly, I didn’t with this one and it doesn’t need a thing!

Very, Very good!!! I forgot to put the Leeks on my grocery list but this came out awesome. I did use all chicken stock instead of water like another user suggested.

I followed all the steps, but put everything in an enameled cast iron pot on the stove top. I let it simmer with gentle bubbles for 1.5 hours and the beans reached the “very tender” stage. It’s a good recipe. The browning of the meat and the broth to deglaze important

Yummy soup- I did make a few changes though. I left out leek because I didn't have one. I did not cook ham, added 2 chopped carrots and 2 more cups of chicken broth. I will definitely be making this again.

Mostly used the recipe as stated, except that I left out the bacon and used three cloves fresh garlic in place of the garlic powder. I added a little basil and red cayenne pepper. I only used the 4 cups chicken broth (no water), and the thickness seemed great

Very flavorful and delicious. I followed the recipe and made no ingredient changes. The only thing I did differently was to cook it on the stove. I will definitely make this again!!!

Excellent. I've been making this a long time and don't change anything.

I've made an awful lot of ham & bean soups. I love the stuff and could easily eat it 3 days per week. Not just 3 meals, rather 6 hearty meals in 3 days. The best recipe I have ever found, which includes my own, is U.S. Senate Bean Soup. I have not tried this recipe, but I've tasted every ingredient and I'm giving it 5 Stars right now. If I am wrong, I shall print a retraction. Thank you for you patience.

Up front - I did not use a slow cooker, because I don't like them. That said, this is a really, really tasty dish made with no added or subtracted ingredients. Served to my family with homemade biscuits. Nothing else was needed. So happy with this.

This is fantastic!!!

I used a ham hock from the local butcher and cooked 'em on HI till hot, LOW for 4 or 5 hrs then overnite on WARM. Got rave reviews from family (I was gone for a couple days and they didn't save a bit for me).

This was great. I didn't have any leeks so I didn't use them. I also didn't add the bacon. Instead, I added a big ol spoon of bacon grease. I forgot to presoak the beans so I started them in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes then finished on the stove in a pot. They were perfect after simmering for about 2 hours.

Did not make any changes both the wife and I enjoyed.

We love this soup! we've made it 3-4 times after a large ham dinner. We generally freeze about half for later. (Family of 3) I've done it with and without leeks and both ways is good. I've also thrown a little tumric in and loved that too. Very versatile recipe, sometimes we have more ham and no bacon, more chicken broth... It's easy to mix up a little, but always tastes great. Definitely mash some of the beans up at the end, makes the texture so much better. Fantastic Fall/Winter soup!

We loved this recipe although I made a few changes. I skipped the leeks and instead sautéed the onions, before doing the ham and bacon. As someone else suggested, I added the fat, cooked off from the ham and bacon, to the soup for flavor. I added some chopped garlic (jar kind.) Also, I added frozen lima beans, frozen peas, carrots and heavy cream (about a cup per recipe) the last hour of cooking. Because I doubled the recipe and only have one crockpot, I put it in two stockpots in a 275 oven all day. Had to add a fair amount of salt and pepper to taste. My family loved it! Will definitely make again when I have leftover ham.

This soup was amazing. I added diced carrots which took the flavor up a level. I also added instant potatoes to thicken the soup (a trick my mother taught me) instead of mashing half of it per the instructions. That took the taste up yet another level.

This recipe is wonderful. My 85 year old neighbor just asked me to make it for him again. The one thing I do different is to cook the bacon first and use the bacon renderings to cook the leeks and ham. Yum....try it! Also I use all chicken stock in stead of water. I also toss a ham hock in for flavor as well.

Had to make this with what I had on hand, and it came out great. My changes: soaked the beans in hot water for about 3 hours. Used 1 full pound of bacon. (There is no such thing as too much bacon!) Threw 2 smoked ham hocks into the soup at the very beginning. Added 2 large diced carrots for a little color and flavor. Doubled the onion and celery. Used all chicken broth in place of the water. Cooked on the stove top for quicker cooking, brought everything to a boil and then simmered about 3 hours. At the end, made a roux out of about 4 Tbl bacon grease and 4 Tbl flour, then incorporated into the soup to make it thicker. Diced up the pork hock meat and added that as well. My kids, who don't normally like bean soup, said this was a winner!

Delish! If you like a smoky, bacony flavor- this is for you ! Add some crusty bread and a salad and you have a wonderful meal!

WOW! Incredible flavor. Made as directed. Like some, I prefer a thicker soup. Will definitely make again, but double the beans. Enough flavor profile to handle the more heartiness of extra beans.

This dish is absolutely delicious. My husband and I greatly enjoyed this and we had enough for us both for three nights! The flavors are awesome. My mom used to make ham and bean soup for my sister and I when we were kids, and this recipe brought me back to those days. We will definitely be making this again. Thanks for the recipe!

This turned out great! Will definitely make again! I halved the recipe and I used homemade chicken broth.

Loved! Very picky eater husband loved it, too. It's a bit of prep, but worth it. There was a bit too much to fit in my Crock Pot so I cooked it on the range about three hours or so. Perhaps that is why I did not find the soup to be thin, because it did reduce on the stove a bit. I did drain the bacon grease off before adding the chicken broth to deglaze the skillet. And, I used a big ham bone and chunk of ham from a spiral cut honey ham....and at the end I added a very little splash of vinegar to balance the flavor. Everything else just as the recipe described and it was terrific. Will DEFINITELY make it again. Thank you!

Made the recipe as it appears and liked it very much. A good, hearty meal.