Easy to make and budget-friendly, this Old-fashioned Navy Bean Soup with ham makes a hearty, comforting meal. It’s also an excellent way to use that leftover hambone from your holiday dinner!
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Why You Will Love this Recipe
I have no idea how I would have survived raising five daughters, with all the soccer practices, speech tournaments, band competitions, Girl Scout meetings, and so on and so on, without my slow cooker. For many years, it was in almost constant service, usually simmering some kind of soup or stew that would magically be ready and waiting for us when we finally got home.
Navy bean soup is one of my favorite slow cooker magic tricks. You throw everything into the crock pot, give a stir or two, and viola! At the end of the day, you have an amazing meal!
This navy bean soup recipe has long been one of our standards. Easy and adaptable, this recipe is flexible and forgiving. It's also a great way to use up leftover holiday ham, and only requires a few inexpensive ingredients to complete it.
What Goes into this Recipe
To make ham and navy bean soup, all you need is a hambone (and/or leftover ham), a few basic vegetables, and a pound of beans. With that, you can easily feed small crowd, with leftovers to spare.
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
• Navy Beans: Also known as “Boston beans”, navy beans are small, cream-colored oval beans are a standard in American cooking. Navy beans work well as a soup bean because they can be pureed, or cooked to a very soft consistency.
Substitutions: there is nothing to stop you from using an "alternative bean." You could make this recipe into Calypso Bean Soup, or Great Northern Bean Soup, or even West African Brown Bean Soup. All you really need is a pound of any small bean, or combination of beans.
Note that changing the type of bean may affect the soup's cooking time.
• Ham Bone: The type of ham bone you use will determine the underlying flavor profile of your soup. If you use a honey or glazed ham bone, your soup will be slightly sweeter. If you use a smoked hambone (or ham hock), your soup will taste more smokey.
• Pan Juices: You need about 2 quarts of liquid for this soup recipe. This can be in the form of pan juices (i.e., the liquid that collects in the bottom of your roasting pan when oven-baking a ham), broth, and water, in any combination.
You can also use chicken stock or vegetable stock for the liquid portion.
• Carrots: You can dice or grate the carrots. We prefer to grate them, bot for texture and flavor.
• Onions: Chop or dice the onions into roughly ¼-inch pieces.
We recommend using yellow onions for soups and other recipes that have a long cooking time. Yellow onions have more natural sugars than do sweet onions, and give soup a richer flavor profile.
• Celery: The celery and onions should be diced roughly the same size.
• Herbs & Seasonings: If you can find it, a little fresh thyme really gives this soup recipe a wonderful flavor boost.
How to Make this Recipe
Presoak the Beans (optional)
We suggest you presoak your beans before starting your soup. There are three methods for doing this:
- Stovetop HOT Soak (Recommended): In a large saucepan, cover dried beans with triple their volume of cold water. Bring water to a boil and cook beans, uncovered, for 2 minutes over medium heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and soak beans for 1 hour.
- Instant Pot HOT Soak (Also good): I'm not a big Instant Pot user; however, when I do presoak my beans in my Instant Pot (and I have a couple of times) these are the directions I follow.
- Countertop COLD Soak (Not recommended): Rinse the beans under cool, running water and remove any stones or shriveled beans. Transfer beans to a large bowl, and cover with enough water so that there is 2 inches of water above the beans. Let sit overnight. Drain and rinse thoroughly before cooking.
Drain and rinse soaked beans.
Load the Slow cooker
If you are using a ham bone, put it in the slow cooker now.
Combine drained, soaked beans with diced celery, grated carrot, and chopped onions in slow cooker.
Add the Liquids
Add enough water to the pan juices to make a total of 2 quarts of liquid, and then add all the liquid to the ingredients in the slow cooker.
With Pan Juices
Add enough water to the pan juices to make a total of 1½ to 2 quarts of liquid, depending upon how thick you like your soup (i.e., more liquid = thinner soup).
Use 16-24 ounces of pan juices in your soup; less if your ham was particularly salty or the juices are very thick.
If you use pan juices as part of your liquid, hold off on adding any additional seasoning until after the first 5 hours.
Without Pan Juices
If you DO NOT use pan juices as part of your liquid, add the brown sugar and black pepper from the ingredient list at this time.
DO NOT add any salt to your Navy Bean Soup at this time. Ham bones are notoriously salty, and it is easier to know how much salt to add once the ham bone has cooked out into the soup.
Simmer with Ham Bone (5 hours)
Once everything is in the slow cooker, give everything in the slow cooker a quick stir. Add the crushed chili peppers at this time if you are using them. Set slow cooker to HIGH and cook for 5 hours.
If you are home and available, give the mix a stir couple of times during the cooking time. (If not, no worries.)
After cooking for 5 hours, the meat on the ham-bone should be falling apart. Using tongs or an extra-large serving spoon, carefully remove ham bone to a plate and set aside to cool.
Simmer without Ham Bone (Additional 1-3 hours)
Reduce the slow cooker to LOW. After you have removed the ham bone, taste the soup broth, and then season with salt and pepper to taste. Add fresh thyme if desired. (Or any other fresh herbs you choose to use.)
Allow soup to continue to simmer on low while ham bone cools, checking every 30 minutes until the beans are done to your liking; usually about 6-8 hours from the beginning of the cooking process.
Finish the Soup
For a creamier bean soup, when the beans are fully cooked, use an emersion blender to blend some of the beans a bit. (Be sure to do this BEFORE you add any ham back into the soup.)
When the ham bone is cool enough to handle, separate the meat from the bone.
Stir ham from bone into soup. Add any additional reserved ham at this time. Discard the ham bone and season to taste.
Violà! You've made this hearty, delicious Old-fashioned Navy Bean Soup for the whole family with only about 20 minutes of hands-on time!
Expert Tips & FAQs
Using Pan Juices in Soup
Pan juices ("Ham Juice," in this case) is the liquid that collects in the bottom of your roasting pan when you are cooking or reheating a roast or other large cut of meat. It is also one of our favorite Secret Ingredients!
If you use pan juices in your soup, it's best to refrigerate them for at least four hours, until very cold. Then, using a fine mesh sieve, strain the pan juices to filter out any fat solids and other bits you might not want in your soup.
Just as the type of ham bone you use will determine the underlying flavor profile of your soup (i.e., sweet, smokey, etc.), so too will your pan juices. For example, we usually have a honey-glazed ham for the holidays, and then make either navy bean or split pea soup right after, so our post-holiday soups generally have a slightly sweet undertone.
Soaking can reduce overall cooking time considerably, and presoaked beans also tend to hold their shape better.
On the down-side, dark-skinned beans, speckled beans, and mottled beans will loose color in a presoak; and soaking does leach out some nutrients.
Nope. You can make the soup without presoaking. It will take longer to cook though.
This is the real reason we presoak beans; because yes, doing so does help reduce bean-gas - but only if you do a HOT soak and discard the resulting "bean water" before making the soup.
A quick, HOT presoak helps remove some of the indigestible complex sugars in them that cause gas. If you have a difficult relationship with beans, you may find that presoaking all your beans before cooking changes that relationship noticeably for the better.
The trick is, you must do a Hot Soak, and then drain and rinse the beans, discarding the soaking water before proceeding. A COLD soak will not help with bean-gas reduction.
I have years of anecdotal evidence to back up this claim. Which is to say, I live with people (not naming any names or anything) who have more trouble than some digesting those aforementioned "indigestible complex sugars."
That's probably all I need to say about that.
Bean soups in general freeze very well. Allow the soup to cool completely, and then portion it into air-tight freezer-safe containers.
Thaw and reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
Properly stored, bean soup will maintain its full flavor for about 6 months.
Serving Suggestions
As with most soups, Navy Bean Soup is always better the next day, when the flavors have had a chance to meld.
Serve Navy Bean Soup with fresh cornbread, buttermilk biscuits, or a slice of sourdough bread for a simple, delicious, satisfying meal.
Arugula sprouts are our new favorite micro-green! Use them to garnish your soups to add a little contrast of color, plus a fresh, mildly peppery accent.
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Old-fashioned Navy Bean Soup (Slow Cooker)
Equipment
- Sieve
Ingredients
- 1 pound navy beans
- 1 meaty ham bone
- 1 cup ham More or less. Use meat from hambone, plus any additional ham you want to add.
- 1 ½ cups chopped onion about one large onion
- 1 cup grated carrots or finely diced
- 1 cup finely diced celery 2 stalks
- 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar or honey
- 1 teaspoon salt or as needed
- ½ teaspoon white pepper or freshly ground black pepper
- Pan juices from ham OPTIONAL; 16-24 ounces
- 2 quarts water* water + pan juices = 1 ½ to 2 quarts of liquid
- ½ - 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes optional
- sprig fresh thyme optional
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, cover dried beans with triple their volume of cold water. Bring water to a boil over MEDIUM-High heat and cook beans, uncovered, for 2 minutes over medium heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and soak beans for 1 hour.For alternative ways to soak beans, see NOTES below.
- Drain and thoroughly rinse soaked beans.
- If you are using a ham bone, put it in the slow cooker now.Combine presoaked beans with diced celery, grated carrot, and chopped onions in slow cooker. Add 1½-2 quarts of water + pan juices. (See NOTES for more about pan juices.)
- Give everything in the slow cooker a quick stir. Add the crushed chili peppers at this time if you are using them. Set slow cooker to HIGH and cook for 5 hours. I usually stir the soup a couple of times during the cooking time.
- After cooking for 5 hours, the meat on the ham-bone should be falling apart. Using tongs or an extra-large serving spoon, carefully remove ham bone to a plate and set aside to cool. Reduce the slow cooker to LOW. After you have removed the ham bone, taste the soup broth, and then season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add fresh thyme if desired. (Or any other fresh herbs you choose to use.) Allow soup to continue to simmer on low while ham bone cools, checking every 30 minutes until the beans are done to your liking. Beans are usually done in 6 to 8 hours. For a creamier bean soup, when the beans are fully cooked, use an emersion blender to blend some of the beans a bit. (Be sure to do this BEFORE you add any ham back into the soup.)
- When the ham bone is cool enough to handle, separate the meat from the bone. Stir ham from bone into soup. Add any additional reserved ham at this time. Discard the ham bone and season to taste.
Notes
Three Ways to Presoak Beans
- Stovetop HOT Soak (Recommended): In a large saucepan, cover dried beans with triple their volume of cold water. Bring water to a boil and cook beans, uncovered, for 2 minutes over medium heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and soak beans for 1 hour.
- Instant Pot HOT Soak (Also good): I'm not a big Instant Pot user; however, when I do presoak my beans in my Instant Pot (and I have a couple of times) these are the directions I follow.
- Countertop COLD Soak (Not recommended): Rinse the beans under cool, running water and remove any stones or shriveled beans. Transfer beans to a large bowl, and cover with enough water so that there is 2 inches of water above the beans. Let sit overnight. Drain and rinse thoroughly before cooking.
How to Use Pan Juices in Soup
If you are using pan juices (i.e.,ham juice from the bottom of the roasting pan): Refrigerate pan juices for at least four hours, until very cold. Using a sieve, strain the pan juices to filter out any fat solids and other bits you might not want in your soup. Use 16-24 ounces of pan juices in your soup; less if your ham was particularly salty or the juices very thick. Add enough water to the pan juices to make a total of 1½ to 2 quarts of liquid, depending upon how thick you like your soup. (i.e., more liquid = thinner soup) Add liquid to the ingredients in the slow cooker. If you DO use pan juices as part of your liquid: Hold off on adding any additional seasoning until after the first 4 hours. If you DO NOT use pan juices as part of your liquid: Add the brown sugar and black pepper at this time. DO NOT add any salt to your Navy Bean Soup at this time. Ham bones are notoriously salty, and it is easier to know how much salt to add once the ham bone has cooked out into the soup.As with most soups, Navy Bean Soup is always better the next day, when the flavors have had a chance to meld.
Nutrition
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Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness says
This soup looks amazing!! I am living off of pantry essential recipes! This soup looks like a winner. I need to give this a go!!
Kelly Anthony says
This navy bean soup recipe is great to have on hand because I always have these ingredients and will make making dinner super easy.
Alisa Infanti says
I would never have considered using ham juice as an ingredient but it was a game changer. This soup is delish
Renée ♥ says
It sounds a little weird at first, but it makes total sense. It really does add a ton of flavor!
Veena Azmanov says
Dinner is surely special with such amazing leftover options. Thanks
Angela says
This recipe is right up my alley! I love a good old fashioned home made soup!!
Sharon says
This navy bean soup is so simple but hearty dinner. The leftovers are great for lunch too!
Mimi says
It looks so yummy! I need to give it a go!
Marissa | Marissa's Teachable Moments says
Hmm, I think I have most of these ingredients. I might have to experiment this weekend.
jenna says
Perfect, I've been looking for recipes to help use up my dried beans 🙂 This looks great!!