Ham Butter Bean Soup (Print version)

Hearty Southern soup featuring butter beans, smoky ham, and fresh herbs for a flavorful dish.

# What you’ll need:

→ Meats

01 - 1 pound smoked ham hock or diced ham

→ Legumes

02 - 2 cups dried butter beans or 3 cans (15 ounces each) butter beans, drained and rinsed

→ Vegetables

03 - 1 large yellow onion, diced
04 - 2 medium carrots, diced
05 - 2 celery stalks, diced
06 - 3 cloves garlic, minced

→ Liquids

07 - 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
08 - 2 cups water

→ Herbs and Seasonings

09 - 2 bay leaves
10 - 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
11 - 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped, plus extra for garnish
12 - 1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
13 - 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
14 - Salt to taste

→ Optional

15 - Hot sauce for serving
16 - Crusty bread for serving

# Steps:

01 - If using dried butter beans, soak them overnight in plenty of cold water. Drain and rinse before use.
02 - In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, heat a splash of oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 5 to 7 minutes until softened.
03 - Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
04 - Add the ham hock or diced ham, soaked butter beans or canned beans, chicken broth, water, bay leaves, thyme, and black pepper.
05 - Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, or 45 minutes if using canned beans, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and flavors are melded.
06 - Remove the ham hock, shred the meat, and return it to the pot. Discard the bone and any excess fat. Remove and discard bay leaves.
07 - Stir in parsley and chives. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
08 - Serve hot, garnished with extra herbs and a dash of hot sauce if desired. Pair with crusty bread.

# Cooking tips:

01 -
  • It's the kind of soup that tastes even better the next day, making it the perfect excuse to cook once and eat twice.
  • Those butter beans become impossibly creamy without any cream, naturally luxurious from absorbing all that smoky ham flavor.
  • Fresh herbs scattered on top at the end feel like a small luxury that takes seconds but changes everything about how the bowl tastes.
02 -
  • If you use canned beans, reduce your cooking time significantly—about forty-five minutes total—because they're already cooked and will fall apart if you treat them like dried beans.
  • Don't skip removing that bay leaf; finding one in your spoon is the kind of surprise that makes people question your cooking, even though it was just sitting there the whole time.
03 -
  • If your ham hock has a thick skin on it, score it lightly before adding to the pot so the smokiness can infuse into the soup better, and save that skin for making stock later.
  • Taste obsessively as this cooks, especially once you've added your ham, because you're building flavor gradually and you want to catch it at exactly the right point instead of over-salting.
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