Anyone else save their ham bones from Christmas in the freezer for the express purpose of making a comforting bowl of ham and bean soup?
It’s the best part of of the holidays!

I’m a big proponent of using convenience items. when necessary, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like a good bowl of beans that cooked low and slow for hours. They just need some special touches and some time to create a wonderful rich soup with staying power!

First we have the beans! I’m using dried great northern beans. Contrary to popular believe, you do not have to soak beans overnight anytime you want to cook them. I’ve had success with slow cookers, stove top and instant pot without taking this step. What soaking will do however, is speed up the cooking and help you have a more consistent product. Since I never remember to soak my beans beforehand, I’m going to use the quick boil method. It involves popping your beans in a pot w/water. Boiling the heck outta them for about an hour, and then proceeding with your recipe. That way, my beans will have a head start and I won’t have to worry about taking a bite of soup with undercooked beans.

After my beans have had their Jacuzzi, I’m going to add them to a pot w/some sautéed onions, celery, and shredded cartons. I’ll season them up (I’m using salt free seasoning since I’m planning on ham going in here).

If you aren’t comfortable with the low and slow stovetop version, you can always do this in the slow cooker. Again, allow plenty of time. I’ve had some batches which took closer to 10 hours on low vs 8 hours. You can always do our quick boil first to increase your odds of the beans being done when you want them to be done.

In the instant pot, beans can take 20-40 minutes dependent on bean type so allow an hour or so for the total cooking process (time to come up to pressure and time to do at least a 10 minute natural release.

In addition to my little ham bone, I’ve added a raw picnic ham, which is an uncured cut of pork. Having the extra bone will increase the collagen and help with creating that wonderful mouthfeel I like in my soup. As it it uncured I won’t have to worry about my soup being too salty.

After everything is all done, I check my seasoning and adjust as needed. I tend to go for more salt free style seasoning and add my salt last. I’m pretty sensitive to salt so we don’t need too much, but we do need some flavor in there!

Here’s the final product! Yum!