Ham and Black Bean Soup

Whenever we have a gathering over the holidays there is usually a ham served.  My family members know me well enough to always send me home with the ham bone instead of throwing it out.  My father though, might keep it for himself.  That’s okay he earned it!  There are so many things you can do with it, first if there is a large amount of meat left on it trim some off and keep it for this mac and cheese.  Then later in the week make this recipe.  See, now instead of just throwing it away you got 2 more delicious meals out of it.  This recipe is made in a crockpot  because the day I made it I was in and out of the house running errands but it would work just as well in a large dutch oven on the stovetop.  Does anyone have claim to the ham bone in your family or am I the only weird one that gets excited about it?

I use this Cuisinart Smart Stick 2 Speed Hand Blender, Brushed Stainless Steel to do the chopping of the veggies and pureeing the beans at the end.  It makes it so much faster then mincing all the veggies and adding the soup to a blender later.   I like to serve this with cilantro lime rice, raw onion, and sour cream.  It is delicious as is but the rice just brings another texture and more flavor to it.  For the kids I do mostly rice with some soup so they eat it as well because no way would they ever eat a bowl of bean soup, how could I do that to them… Still holds true,  if I serve it over rice they will eat it.

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5 from 1 vote

Ham and Black Bean Soup

Course Main Dish, Meat, Soup and Salad

Cuisine Fall, Slow Cooker, Winter

Cook Time 6 hours hours

Total Time 6 hours hours

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried black beans soaked overnight
• 1 ham bone or ham hock *
• 1 red onion
• 1 green pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• sour cream
• chopped red onion
• 2 cups cilantro lime rice

Instructions

• Using a colander rinse the beans and throw out any small stones or broken beans. Fill a large bowl and soak the beans in cold water overnight. The next morning drain the beans, place the drained beans in a crockpot. Add fresh cold water to the beans in the crockpot so they are covered by 1 inch of water.
• In a food processor or chopper mince up the pepper, onion, and garlic, you may do this by hand as well but you would have to mince it very finely. Add this mixture, olive oil, bay leaves, and cumin to the beans. Stir to combine.
• Place the ham bone or hock in the bean mixture, cover and cook on high for 4 hours. Turn to low, stir, cook for 2 more hours.
• Remove the ham bone and let it cool a bit. Use an immersion blender to puree some of the soup. You could also take a cup or two and put it in your blender. This step is optional but I like the creamy texture from having some of the beans pureed.
• Trim off any meat from the bone and return it to the pot. Stir in the vinegar, taste if it needs any salt and add accordingly. It really depends on how salty your ham was. You can eat this soup as is but I like to serve it with about a 1/4 cup of cooked rice, sour cream, and chopped raw onion.

Notes

* You should always save your leftover ham bone whenever you make or buy a bone in ham.    Wrap it in plastic wrap and foil and freeze until you are ready to use it.  Pull it out and place in the fridge the night before when you soak the beans.