How to Use That Ham Bone To Make Ham Soup
Does your Christmas or Easter menu include a bone-in ham? After you’ve sliced off all you can for sandwiches, make ham soup!
I come from a long line of soup makers. I have many happy memories of sitting at my grandmother or great-grandmother’s tables when I was a little girl, eating a bowl of hearty, belly-warming soup.
They made soup from everything. Leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, chicken from Sunday dinners, the ends of the pot roast, whatever they had. I loved them all – except for the fish soup my Finnish family called “Kalamojakka.” I have never really liked fish.
Perhaps my favorite soup of all was the one they made from the ham bone after Christmas or Easter. My grandmas didn’t make “pea soup.” I’m not sure why, but they only put a small amount of dried split peas in their recipe. So it wasn’t that thick, neon green stuff many people are familiar with.
My family made “ham soup.” It had all the ingredients you would find in split pea soup: ham, potatoes, carrots, and peas. But with only a small amount of the split peas, the color came out more like a rich, brown broth, and ham was definitely the star over the peas.
I remember the first time I tried to make ham soup after Bob and I got married.
I used the recipe in my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook (spiral-bound, 1980 edition). It called for one pound, or 2-1/2 cups, of split peas. I followed the instructions and it turned out… like Campbell’s split pea soup. I was so disappointed! But Bob liked it, since it was what he was used to.
I had to call my Grandma Glady for help. She was one of those “little of this, little of that” cooks, so it was always difficult to get a recipe you could actually follow out of her. My sisters and I often laugh about how we each have a handwritten recipe she gave us for her oatmeal bread, but they are all completely different from each other.
Grandma’s instructions said to put “just a little handful” of split peas in the pot. The next time I made ham soup, it came out more like her recipe. And it was delicious!
I have a ham bone in my freezer right now from Christmas. And it’s been chilly the past few days. Looks like it’s time to make ham soup!
I think we cleaned off most of the meat from this bone before I froze it, but that’s okay. For one thing, there’s always more meat left on it than you think. (This is also true of turkey and chicken bones.) If I need to shore up the amount of ham in the soup, I just buy a half inch thick ham steak and chop it up.
Making the soup is super easy! You don’t even need to thaw the bone. Just take it out of the freezer, drop it into a large dutch oven, and add enough water to cover it, a handful of split peas, and a packet of Lipton vegetable soup mix for seasoning. I let it simmer on the stove top for a couple of hours, turning it over now and then, and adding more water if it cooks down too much.
When the meat that was left on it is tender and almost falling off, I remove the bone and set it aside to cool. I add the vegetables and extra ham to the pot and turn up the heat a little so they will cook. I pick off all the meat when the bone is cool enough to handle and add that to the pot, too. The soup is ready to eat when the potatoes and carrots are fork tender.
Here’s a “Cooking for Two” tip to note: One potful of this soup will make six servings, so that is three meals for Bob and I. We’ll have it for dinner the day I make it, then I split the remaining soup into two containers like these from Dollar Tree. I love to have a few of these in my freezer to take out for a quick meal when I don’t feel like cooking.
Serve a bowl of this delicious soup with a fresh-from-the-oven biscuit or a warm roll. Ummm! Perfect for a chilly day–or any day!
Do you prefer pea soup or ham soup? Or do you have another favorite? Share your soup memories and recipes in the comments!
Ham Soup
Ingredients
- 1 leftover ham bone
- 1 (half inch thick) ham steak, chopped into small pieces (You may not need this if there's a lot of meat left on the ham bone)
- 1 cup green split peas
- 4-5 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 2-3 large red potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 packet Lipton or Knorr vegetable soup mix
Instructions
- Place the ham bone in a large stock pot or dutch oven and fill with warm water.
- Add the split peas and vegetable soup mix, and bring to a boil.
- Turn down the heat and let simmer for about two hours, turning the bone occasionally and adding more water as needed, until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.
- Remove the ham bone from the pot and set aside to cool.
- Add the carrots, potatoes, and extra ham (from the ham steak) to the pot and turn the heat up to medium to cook the vegetables.
- When the ham bone is cool, pick off all of the meat and add it to the pot. Discard the bone.
- Cook the soup until the carrots and potatoes are fork tender, adding more water if necessary as it simmers.