This slow cooker ham and bean soup is made with a mixture of dried beans, vegetables, tomatoes and diced ham, all cooked together for a hearty and flavorful meal. An easy crock pot dinner that’s perfect for a cold night! It’s also a great way to use leftover ham.
I love to use my slow cooker to make soup recipes. Some of our favorites include chicken tortilla soup and chicken tortellini soup. This ham and bean soup takes just minutes to put together, then you can come home later in the day to dinner ready and waiting for you!
It’s soup weather, which means we’re having soup at least once a week. My kids love it, it’s easy to make and so many soups are a complete meal in one pot. This slow cooker ham and bean soup is on regular rotation at my house, and it’s also a great way to use up leftover ham from the holidays.
Try this soup with baguette slices, cheesy pull apart bread or homemade dinner rolls!
Table of Contents
Slow Cooker Ham And Bean Soup Ingredients
To make this ham and bean soup recipe, you will need a bag of dried bean soup mix, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, fresh thyme, ham, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, salt, black pepper and fresh parsley.
How Do You Make Ham And Bean Soup?
When you make slow cooker ham and bean soup, first rinse the beans and set aside the bean seasoning packet for later use. Place the beans, vegetables, ham, thyme, bay leaf and chicken broth in a slow cooker. Cook until the beans are tender, then stir in the tomatoes, seasoning packet and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for an additional 20 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Tips For The Perfect Soup
- This recipe calls for carrots, onion and celery to be cooked in with the beans. The veggies will get quite soft from the extended cooking time. If you prefer firmer vegetables, you can add them in halfway through the cooking time, or cut your vegetables into larger pieces so that they don’t cook as quickly.
- Look for a bag of beans that is labeled bean soup mix. It typically contains a variety of beans, as well as a seasoning packet. If your beans don’t come with a seasoning packet, just omit that step of the recipe and it will still work well!
- Serve your soup with honey cornbread or garlic knots for a complete meal.
- I add a few sprigs of fresh thyme to this soup, the leaves fall off the branches as the soup cooks and then you can just extract the twigs before serving. If you don’t have fresh thyme, dried will also work nicely.
- Try adding a ham hock or leftover ham bone or ham shank for even more flavor!
- Make this recipe to enjoy your leftover holiday ham from Christmas or Easter! Looking for more great ways to use leftover ham? Check out my comprehensive list of leftover ham recipes!
Quick Tip
Ham and bean soup is a great candidate for the freezer, and this recipe makes a large batch, so freeze some for another night! Place your soup into airtight containers or freezer bags, then freeze for up to 2 months.
Recipe FAQs
Many recipes call for soaking dried beans in water overnight. This can help your beans cook faster, but we’re using a slow cooker here so we’re not really concerned about speeding up the cooking process. In addition, in order to soak your beans, you need to plan way in advance so that the beans can soak for hours. For this recipe, just give your beans a quick rinse in a colander and pour them into the crock pot.
I didn’t include a ham bone in this recipe simply because I often don’t have one on hand to make this soup. If you’re looking for a recipe that utilizes a ham bone, check out my delicious ham bone soup!
In my opinion, many soups taste better cooked in a slow cooker. The flavors of the components meld together to create a greater depth of flavor in a slow cooker for many soups. In particular, ham and bean soup is fantastic in a slow cooker!
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Flavor Variations
While this soup is delicious as-is, you can easily customize the flavors to suit your tastes.
- Protein: Swap out the ham for smoked turkey, diced chicken or cooked beef stew meat.
- Beans: While I like all the different flavors and textures of a bean variety mix, you can also use a single type of dried bean. Some great options include cannellini beans, great northern beans, navy beans, pinto beans, white beans, red beans or even chickpeas.
- Spicy: For a soup with some kick, try adding a little cayenne pepper or chili powder.
- Vegetables: Feel free to add other veggies such as sweet potatoes, butternut squash, spinach, mushrooms or green beans.
Ham and bean soup is so hearty and full of great flavors. I love the combination of beans here, all of the different colors and textures make this soup something special. Whether you’re looking to use up leftover ham or simply searching for a family friendly crock pot soup, this recipe is sure to be a hit!
More Soup Recipes
Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 20 ounce bag dried bean soup mix
- 3/4 cup onion finely diced
- 3 carrots peeled, halved and sliced
- 2 stalks celery sliced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cups diced ham
- 8 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 15 ounce can diced tomatoes do not drain
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Rinse the beans thoroughly; set aside the seasoning packet for later use
- Place the beans, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, ham and chicken broth in a slow cooker.
- Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours, or until beans are done
- Stir in the tomatoes, seasoning packet, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover and cook for an additional 20 minutes
- Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Notes
- This recipe calls for carrots, onion and celery to be cooked in with the beans. The veggies will get quite soft from the extended cooking time. If you prefer firmer vegetables, you can add them in halfway through the cooking time, or cut your vegetables into larger pieces so that they don’t cook as quickly.
- I add a few sprigs of fresh thyme to this soup, the leaves fall off the branches as the soup cooks and then you can just extract the twigs before serving.
This is one of our favorites!
I need to try this soup immediately, it looks so good!
I always soak most beans. There are certain sugars in beans that don’t digest well and contribute to gas. Also I’ve read that most dried beans have a significant amount of phytic acid which can block the absorption of dietary minerals. I’ve found that even all day in a crock pot, the texture seems to be creamer with soaked beans. I don’t care for the quick soak method. It seems to remove too much flavor from the beans.
But yours is a good recipe. I came across it just wanting to look at some different ways to prepare dried beans from my usual way. It’s almost identical to the way I make white bean soup.
This will be my first try at cooking bean soup in my crock. Not sure about the tomatoes in bean soup. LOL. Not going to use them. I was checking your recipe for length off time. All other ingredients are already on my list as i have been making bean soup for over 50 years butt never in a crock.
When chopping the celery I never discard the leaves, as they have loads of flavor. Just chop finely and add to pot. For the ham, you can buy a single bone-in thick slice of ham at the meat counter. Add the bone to the pot along with the chopped ham.
Sara, my crock pot is 2 quarts. Should I cut a serving for 6 recipe in half?
Can’t wait to try these recipes.
Tommy
Yes, you’d need to halve the recipe for a smaller crock pot!
this looks so so delicious. I have dried beans, red and white but I do not have the mixed beans with the seasoning packet. How can I make a substitute seasoning?
Thank you.
You can omit the seasoning packet and still be fine, just make sure you season well with salt and pepper!
What is a serving size for this meal?
About 1 1/2 cups of soup!
Can you freeze prep for later. Like carrots, onuons, celery and ham
Yes that will work just fine!
Omg can we say yum?!? I’m always looking for new soup recipes to try!
This soup looks so comforting and hearty…it’s a perfect day for something like this. Ahhh wishing I had bowl right now ^_^
I don’t like beans but that soup looks so good! The photo made me instantly hungry. The ham and potatoes.. WOW
there are no potatoes in the recipe but id add them 🙂
Omg you made my mouth water. That looks absolutely amazing! Just the kind of meal for a cozy day at home when the weather is freezing outside. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
As I am a vegetarian I would love to try a veggie bean soup and substitute the ham with some soya nuggets. The recipe sounds delicious! 🙂
I was just looking for a good ham and bean soup recipe! This one looks delicious.
This is truly ultimate comfort food. LOve any kind of bean soup, and ham always adds so much flavor.
If I ate ham I’m sure this recipe would be perfect for me! It looks and sounds like it’s extremely flavorful and filling.
Yum! This ham and bean soup looks soooo delicious! I will try making this at home for the family!
I love anything that is done in a slow cooker but ham and bean soup is something else, i can’t wait to try it, looks so delicious.
Woo hoo! I have to make this. I love ham and bean soup. It has a flavor you just can’t beat. Om nom nom.