Leftover Ham and Cannellini Bean Soup

Cannellini bean and ham soup is a delicious and comforting dish. Enjoy it with crusty bread and use that to soak up every last mouthful of this wonderful bean ham soup.

Also try miso ramen soup, spicy shrimp pasta and shrimp linguine. Butternut squash soup and roasted pumpkin apple soup are good too.

Why You’ll Love It

A great way to use leftover meat: If you have a leftover ham bone, this is hands down one of the very best recipes to make with it.
Tasty: The ham adds so much flavor and the beans do too. This is such a nicely balanced recipe and I know you’ll love how it come out.
Simple: This is an easy recipe to prepare, even if you haven’t made many soups before. You’ll want to save ham bones in the future to make it again and again.

Ham Bone Soup Ingredients

A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Ham: You will need a ham bone as well as leftover ham to make this dish.
Vegetables: Carrots, onion and celery are great in this soup. Actually pretty much any recipe with cannellini beans goes well with vegetables.
Seasonings: I added even more flavor with garlic, cumin, Italian seasoning and some red pepper flakes. The combination of those ingredients make this ham leftover recipe a roaring success!
Canned beans: I know dried beans star in a lot of the older recipes. I like to use canned beans though. It’s just quicker and easier! And this leftover ham and bean soup tastes perfect using canned beans.

How to Make Leftover Ham and Bean Soup

For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.

Sauté the vegetables and bone: The first thing to do is coax all the flavors out of not only the vegetables but also the ham bone. Put the ham bone and vegetables in a lightly greased stock pot and cook until tender.
Add the seasonings: After adding the garlic, Italian seasoning, cumin, and red pepper flakes, cook for another minute.
Add the beans: Add the beans and some water, then simmer for half an hour.
Season and serve: Add salt and pepper to taste and then serve hot.

Substitutions and Variations

Vegetables: You can use any veggies you like here. So if you have leftover cooked vegetables as well as the leftover ham, throw them in! They’re already cooked so you can add them a couple of minutes before the end, just to warm them through. Dice them first, since this soup is eaten with a spoon and little chunks are best.
Add pasta: Little pasta shapes work best, for the same reason small chunks of veggies are best! You can cook the pasta in the soup rather than cooking it first then adding it. Add your pasta 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time. As long as the soup is at a low simmer, the pasta will cook.
Try a crockpot version: I would recommend sautéing the vegetables with the ham bone first though, just to get that tasty char and caramelization. Then you can transfer them into a large slow cooker. Add the other ingredients and cover the crockpot. I expect this would take 3 hours on high or maybe 6 on low. Slow cooking would really coax the flavor out of this recipe with cannellini beans and ham.

How to Store Ham and Bean Soup

Store: Keep your leftover ham and bean soup in a covered container in the refrigerator and use within 3 days.
Freeze: Freeze it in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Thaw: Defrost overnight in the refrigerator.
Reheat: Warm it back up in a pot on the stove.