16 Ham Soup Recipes That Will Use Up Your Leftovers, Too

Imagine a scenario where the cook of the house, maybe interested in getting more beans and veggies into everyone, announces that they are going to make more vegetable soup these days. And that there’s a serious carnivore in the house that grunts a predictably lukewarm response. Now imagine the cook saying that they would like to make more soups with ham in them. We’re talking about the same collection of recipes, but through this lens, everyone wins! That’s because ham has a serious affinity for vegetables and legumes and has a way of infusing a big simmering pot with a gorgeous depth. So whether you’ve got leftovers from a holiday ham or you’re using some deli-counter hunks to pump up dinner, look no further for recipes that will keep everyone satisfied through all the cold-weather months.

Ham and collards partner as naturally as Rodgers and Hammerstein, but usually you encounter them as a vegetable side. Here, they go super-brothy in a soul-satisfying soup enriched also with navy beans. A little freshly-grated Parmesan makes an ideal complement.

It doesn’t get more classic than split pea soup with ham, and there’s a reason for that. Here, ham hocks lend sweetness, savoriness and smoke to soup, all notes that serve the creamy legumes quite well. Pureeing the soup turns the usual chunky texture into one that’s silky and light, and encountering the occasional chunk of the pork is simply delightful.

If you’re new to bone broth you have learned the depth and body that simmering bones can give to a soup, but maybe you’re an old-school cook who never lost that bit of knowledge in the first place. Either way, never ditch those bones. This is the kind of thrifty cooking of our grandmothers: One piece of meat stretched to enhance several different meals. And it will stretch yet again—this soup freezes beautifully.

This soup employs a pro-move: Puree most of the beans so that they themselves thicken the soup, but then keep some whole for a variety of texture (and your senses love that visual cue of the occasional whole bean to remind you what kind of soup you are enjoying). Also, don’t sleep on that garnish idea! Topping a hot bowl of soup with a pat of butter will be a eureka-moment taken in warm-hug form.

Smoky bacon and hearty beans simmer with savory ham and tangy sauerkraut in this bold, comforting soup from Rachael Ray. It's a rustic, flavor-packed dish perfect for chilly days.

This soup plays up the autumnal notes of the best roasted sweet potatoes, but in a liquid incarnation. Warming ingredients like cinnamon and brown sugar play up the sweet, but the ham hocks keep this solidly on the side of savory. The coconut milk adds a rich and silky quality.

Every mouthful is an adventure in this soup that is a complete meal in a Dutch oven. Thick with rice, vegetables, black eyed peas and greens, and of course underlined with the smoky notes of ham hocks, this is what to cook when you want to fill a mug and snuggle up on the couch with a movie. It is nourishing and comforting and a fun vehicle for black eyed peas, rarely seen in soups.

Could this be the best possible dinner solution when you know you’re going to have a long day? Literally toss everything in the slow cooker—no sauteing of anything necessary—and set it for 8 hours. When you get home, and while you’re pulling together a salad and slicing up that crusty bread you were smart enough to bring home, you let some ham and fresh corn simmer in there for 10 more minutes, and voilà, dinner.

Fun fact: Did you know that a humble bean soup, thickened with mashed potatoes, is served in the dining room of the U.S. Senate daily? Our recipe retains the spirit of the very one available on the website of the Senate, with navy beans, garlic and parsley. Senators know well, it makes an ideal lunch, not-too-heavy but with the staying power required to get all the way to the end of your day, whether you’ve got passing bills or filibustering on the agenda.

Using an electric pressure cooker takes all the guesswork out of simmering a soup and waiting for the perfect texture; the cooker does it all for you. In addition, the cooker takes an already quick-cooking legume and turns it into an express dinner by speeding up the cooking time. We love some crispy pita chips on top, a nice little homemade touch.

If this soup comes across as if a waiter carrying a club sandwich walked into a waiter carrying a beer-cheese soup, that’s because it’s inspired by a very iconic sandwich from Louisville, the Hot Brown. Like its namesake sandwich, this soup has turkey, ham and bacon and a thick brew of American and Cheddar cheeses to mimic its usual cloak of cheesy Mornay sauce. A lot of myth surrounds the dawn of the sandwich, but the soup, very much like the sandwich, is hot, cheesy and decadent.

If all you know is thick and gluey lentil soups, this one is worth another look. It eats more like an ideal vegetable soup, brothy and with chunks of celery, carrot and turnip in addition to lentils that are only cooked until tender, not mush. The crisp and salty parsley croutons floated on top seal the deal.

It feels like a wild move to simmer a whole cured ham into a soup, but if you happen to have one lying around, it does make for an incredible bowl. This soup originates in Galicia, a region in northwest Spain, which makes sense of the ham’s inclusion. It requires a few days of soaking and simmering, but the results will transport you across the ocean.

We love what fresh dill brings to the party, and it plays beautifully with the saltiness of the ham in this lovely lentil soup. Peas, too, are a surprising inclusion, making an interesting textural and flavor contrast to the lentils. A dollop of yogurt lends some tang and coolness to play against the silken soup.

Here, a velvety soup that tastes of the woods with earthy mushrooms and punctuated with crispy ham and leeks makes for a very sophisticated first course but also a main, with the addition of salad and bread. A nip of sherry brings some heat to the soup, tempering the richness imbued by the half-and-half. This tastes like the best kind of soup from decades ago, but modernized with the delicious stir-ins.