Easy Ham and Bean Soup is made with canned beans — no soaking required! This hearty and satisfying soup recipe calls for everyday ingredients and simmers for just 20 minutes. Each bite is packed with flavor, protein, and fiber. Meet your new go-to easy soup recipe!
“This soup was so yummy and easy! Both my boys loved it, perfect comfort food. … Served with store-bought sourdough bread and butter, delish!”
They say chicken soup cures what ails ya but I have to put in a good word for Easy Ham and Bean Soup. It’s become a go-to when we’re feeling under the weather.
Whether you’re down and out, or simply looking for a hearty and satisfying soup recipe, Ham and Bean Soup checks all the boxes. It simmers for just 20 minutes and is made with minimal, everyday ingredients including canned beans — no soaking required.
Oh yes you CAN get a full-flavored, savory bean soup using canned beans. Tell the others!
What How to Make It
Easy Ham and Bean Soup
With three kids and a hectic schedule, I typically don’t have the time (fine, nor the desire) to cook dried beans from scratch. Luckily you can get a super savory, creamy bean soup recipe using canned beans. Nobody will ever know.
In addition to being quick and easy, Ham and Bean soup is high in protein and fiber, and full of veggies too. I’m always finding an excuse to make it, especially around the holidays to use up leftover ham.
Main Ingredients Needed
Raid the fridge and pantry for the everyday ingredients needed to make this soup. Here are the main ones!
- Ham steak: dice up leftover holiday ham or purchase a pre-sliced ham steak from the grocery store. I like Frick’s bone-in ham steak.
- Great Northern Beans: are small and creamy — perfect for this soup! I like Bush’s Great Northern Beans which are high quality.
- Vegetables: carrots, celery, onion, and garlic add bulk, nutrition and lots of flavor.
- Chicken stock: since this soup only simmers for 20 minutes I like to use chicken stock vs chicken broth for max flavor.
- Flour: gives the soup broth a slightly velvety texture. I use gluten free flour but you can use AP flour if you’re not gluten free.
How to Thicken Ham and Bean Soup
One option to thicken Ham and Bean Soup is to blend a portion of the beans with broth in a blender, or with an immersion blender, but I find it muddies up the soup.
I find using a bit of flour gives the broth a slightly thick and velvety texture that’s really satisfying and cozy.
Can I Make Ham and Bean Soup Without a Bone?
If you’ve got a leftover ham bone, shank, or ham hock laying around, especially after the holidays, absolutely toss it into the soup to simmer, but truly you can get TONS of flavor simply by using a diced ham steak.
Alrighty, let’s cook!
How to Make Ham and Bean Soup With Canned Beans
Step 1: Saute the vegetables.
Start by heating extra virgin olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chopped carrots, celery, and onion or shallot, season with salt and pepper then saute until the vegetables are tender, 8-10 minutes.
Add minced fresh garlic and dried thyme then saute until the garlic is very fragrant, 1 minute.
Step 2: Thicken the soup.
Sprinkle flour over the top of the vegetables then cook while stirring for 1 minute. The addition of flour to the Ham and Bean Soup will give the broth a slightly velvety texture.
Step 3: Add the remaining ingredients.
Slowly add glugs of chicken stock into the pot while stirring to create a smooth sauce then add the remaining stock. Lastly, add diced ham steak and canned Great Northern Beans that have been drained and rinsed then stir to combine.
Turn the heat to high to bring the soup to a simmer then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. That’s it!
What to Serve with Ham and Bean Soup
I love pairing a hot bowl of ham and bean soup with crispy crostini to soak up all the rich broth (see the recipe card below for my easy recipe).
Warm Gluten Free Focaccia, Gluten Free Biscuits, Gluten Free Flatbread, or Gluten Free Cornbread are delicious as well!
Storage and Freezing Instructions
- To store: This soup gets better and better as it sits so store any leftovers in the refrigerator to reheat in the microwave or in a pot on the stove for easy lunches.
- To freeze: Cool the soup completely then ladle portions into Souper Cubes or Ziplock freezer bags and freeze flat. Thaw the soup in the refrigerator for 12 hours prior to meal time, then reheat in a pan on the stove top.
More Satisfying Soup Recipes
- Gluten Free Lasagna Soup
- Chicken Stew
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Pastina Soup
- Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Hamburger Soup
- Italian Wedding Soup
- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
- Chicken and Rice Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped, ~1/2 cup
- 1 rib celery, finely chopped
- 1/2 onion or 1 large shallot, chopped
- salt and pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- big pinch dried thyme
- 2 Tablespoons gluten free flour, or AP flour if not GF
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2, 15 oz cans Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 lb ham steak, cubed
Directions
- Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion/shallot, season with salt and pepper, then saute until tender, 8-10 minutes. Place a lid on top with a splash of chicken stock or water if the vegetables are taking a long time to soften. Add the garlic and dried thyme then saute until the garlic is extremely fragrant, 1 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour then cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Slowly add the chicken stock while stirring until a smooth sauce has been formed then pour in the remaining stock. Add the beans and ham steak then turn the heat to high to bring the soup to a simmer. Turn the heat down to medium-low then simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Scoop into bowls then serve with crostini — see notes for recipe.
Notes
- To make crostini: slice a gluten free baguette (or a regular baguette if you don’t need to eat GF,) into 1/4″ slices then arrange on a silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush both sides with extra virgin olive oil then season lightly with salt and pepper. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the crostini are golden brown, at 350 degrees, rotating the baking sheet and flipping the crostini over halfway through.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
AWESOME recipe. Absolutely love ham and bean soup, and this was my first time making it.
I tweaked a couple things (added 2 bay leaves, added an extra garlic clove, and subbed fresh thyme for dried thyme) just because I like to experiment. Turned out incredible.
If anyone’s curious, the recipe comes out to about 265 calories a cup w/ 25 g of protein (WOW), 30.2 g carbs, and 6.4 g of carbs!
Thank you for this easy, tasty and healthy soup. Though this is gluten free, I added a small amount of pasta shells. I’m delivering it to my 85 yr old Mom today since we are all in quarantine here in PA. It’s a hit!
I’ve made this soup twice now and it’s quickly become the favorite to-to lunch for my daughter and me.
This soup is just as described- incredibly easy, flavorful, and comforting. I normally don’t pay enough attention to buy chicken stock vs chicken broth, but I decided to follow Kristin’s advice and use stock in this recipe – so glad I did! The flavors are so rich and make the soup taste like it had been simmering all day, but it was extremely quick and simple! I don’t need to eat gluten free so we enjoyed the soup by dunking in some fresh homemade no-knead bread.
This looks delicious! Do you happen to know how many cups total this recipe makes? Just trying to decide if I should double it so we have plenty of leftovers. ?
Hi Mandy! I don’t know specifically but I would estimate between 10-12 cups!
This is almost identical to the ham & bean soup I make, but I add in a splash of liquid smoke during the simmer phase. Puts it over the top. Yummy!
That sounds fantastic, Lara!
Where do you get the GF baguette?
I have tried both Schar and Against the Grain – both from Hyvee, though I think I’ve seen the ATG ones at Whole Foods too.
Adding to the repertoire of IGE winners! You always have great and easy soup recipes. So glad you included the crostini recipe as it immediately caught my eye
Soups are my very favorite recipes to create and eat! I hope you love this one, Carla!
I am excited to try this recipe. Ham and Bean soup has been a staple in my diet since I was a little kiddo. We did our ham a little differently though, and I’ve never found a ham that topped it — I buy a cooked bone-in ham (shank or butt portion) at HyVee and ask the meat counter to cut it in half. Place half of it in the crockpot with about 1-2 cups of water and cook on low for 8 hours. The ham just FALLS off the bone, a lot like pulled pork does. It’s salty and omg so delicious. I shred the ham and trim off the fat and use this in my ham and bean soup (it also features heavily in my scallopped potatoes & ham). The broth from the crockpot, when strained, makes perfect stock for the soup, too. The leftover ham not used in the soup can be frozen in its own broth and thawed as needed for recipes. My mom had a bigger crockpot and could cook the entire bone-in ham at once, but I always need to cut it in half. :-) I’ve never found any recipes that use ham this way, but it was my absolute fave growing up. The only challenge we had was not eating all the ham before dinner was made!
Oh my gosh my mouth is watering reading your description of how the ham shreds – YUM!!!! Thank you for sharing this tasty idea, Lydia!
What’s your favorite brand of baguette to make the crostini?
I used Schar’s baguettes for this soup and they had an odd aftertaste in my opinion. I really like the flavor of Against the Grain GF baguettes though!
Looks perfect for an easy Sunday dinner. Sorry you’ve been ill. I’ve had the flu myself, despite getting the flu shot, and it’s no fun.
Ugh I’m sorry to hear that, Janet! I had the flu too – and didn’t get a shot, like a complete idiot – so it has lasted foreeeever. ?
Hi Kristen, love your blogs, look forward to new ones. Do you have a reason/preference for using stock vs. broth in this soup recipe. I do want to try it this weekend, but I think I’ll substitute with chicken chunks.
Since there’s so few ingredients, and it’s quick cooking, the stock makes the soup taste very rich and slow simmered compared to chicken broth!
Thanks for reminding me that I love ham and bean soup! So good. Hasn’t this winter been awful for illness?? Headed to Panama City Beach in a couple weeks to try and bake it out of us.
Ugh, I love that idea so much. I hear PCB is GORGEOUS! Enjoy your time, Danyel!!