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.
Made this last night. It was wonderful. Used the package of cubed ham from Smithfield and two different cans of beans in the cabinet. Will be making again.
Perfect – thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating, Elaine!
Wonderful recipe!! I did double the veggies, seasoning, and broth. Added fresh shredded parm and it was so quick and easy. Thank you 😊
Perfect! I’m so very glad you enjoyed, Tara!!
First time finding your website and recipes, so happy that I could make the Easy Ham and Bean soup for dinner. Awesome everyone loved. THANK YOU
Oh I’m so happy to hear that, Martha!! Thank you so much for your feedback!
I was searching for a simple recipe for ham and bean soup and this popped up, and I’m so glad that it did! I made it exactly as written, crostini and all, and mwaaah! Easy to follow instructions wth a superbly delicious result – thank you!
Yesss!! Love to hear this, Chelle! Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
So as not to lose any flavor, I just puree a can of beans and mix that in for a nicely thickened soup. Try pureeing a half can of beans first. Some may not like their soup as thick as I do. This really adds to the flavor.
I make a four bean soup with ham and keilbasa and the beans I puree are either pinto
or cannelini beans.
can this recipe be made in a slow cooker?
Sure, Russ, I think that would be delicious! I’d start with 4 hours on low or until the vegetable are tender — be sure to chop them fairly small.
Yesss! This recipe is delicious! I have been wanting to make a simple yet tasty ham and bean soup since before Easter and so glad I found an excellent recipe! I had ALL the ingredients on hand which was perfect (except for thyme, which I still find weird because I tend to have all of the herbs in my spice drawer), either way I substituted with oregano. I used both Great Northern beans and Cannellini, used bouillon paste for the stock, had a hamhock to add more flavor power, and used cornstarch to slightly thicken the broth. So so good! Thank you for a great recipe!
LOVE when you already have all the ingredients on hand!! SO glad this was a hit, CTH!
This was a perfect place for some of our leftover ham. The soup is easy and fast to make, and tastes delicious. Added a few drops of hot sauce at the end. Enjoyed it after Easter, but good anytime.
Love the addition of hot sauce, Jim. So glad this was a hit with you!
Used to get this in the Navy 2 – 4 times a week after having beans for breakfast, they would take the leftover beans and make soup for lunch and dinner.
YUM Good Stuff
Barry ;-3)
Love to hear about your experiences, Barry! Thank you for sharing — I hope this recipe does your experience justice!
Delightful! Better than bullion makes a ham variety that is just perfect for this. So comforting with the beans and ham,on a cold day. ❤️
Oh awesome!! So glad you enjoyed, Amanda! Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
This soup made for an easy weeknight dinner. My picky son even gave it two thumbs up. I got the flavor of a simmered-all-day soup in just 30 minutes.
That’s awesome, Amy — I’m so glad it was a hit with your family! Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
Use beans without a firming agent ( bushs butter beans are only of the only beans they do without this ) and you will have a creamy soup without the flour. Just use a potatoes mashed or fork, or even nothing and they will make a creamy broth.
This recipe sounds great. I have leftover ham and I have the ham bone. Can you tell me how to incorporate the ham bone into this recipe?
Oh nice! You can add it into the soup after the broth then simmer for 20 minutes or longer!
I made this ham and bean soup a couple of weeks ago using left over ham from new years day, and it was great. I was going to make this again and bought some ham steaks, but I have over a pound of left over pulled pork I made over the weekend, and I wanted to know what you think of using the left over pulled pork for this?? It would have BBQ sauce left on the pulled pork…..or just stay with the ham steaks??
Hey Keith! Personally I’d probably stick with the plain ham steak. I do love the idea of using pulled pork in the soup, but without the BBQ sauce. I hope that helps!!
Yes, thank you I will stick with the ham…..I was worried about the BBQ sauce