White Bean Soup with Ham
This tasty White Bean Soup with Ham is a classic bean soup recipe that’s perfect for dinner on a cold winter day. And if you check the net carbs for this recipe I bet this ham and bean soup is lower in carbs than you might think.
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No matter how much we long for warm weather, Utah always gets some cold snowy days when winter is almost ending. When that happens I make something comforting like this White Bean Soup with Ham! And when it’s cold outside I love to make soup on the stove, simmering it all day and letting the smells fill my house.
Last weekend when I woke up to snow on the ground I decided it was a good day to update this favorite soup recipe with better photos! I bumped up the flavor with fresh parsley and some rosemary, and my version of soup with white beans and ham has a lot of ham and celery, so the net carbs are probably lower than you might think.
Of course I don’t even dare hope this is the last snow for this year, but the soup did taste great on a cold spring day.
What ingredients do you need?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)
- dried white beans
- canned chicken broth (affiliate link) or ham broth
- Dried Thyme (affiliate link)
- celery
- carrots
- onion
- ham
- Goya Ham Flavor Concentrate (affiliate link), optional but good
- water
- fresh rosemary
- fresh parsley
- black pepper to taste
How can you add flavor to ham and bean soup?
When I make bean soup I like to use either homemade ham stock or homemade chicken stock if I have some in the freezer. If not I would add a tablespoon or two of Goya Ham Flavor Concentrate (affiliate link) or Better than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base (affiliate link) to the water. When I’m using ham with a rind, I simmer the rind in the soup for part of the cooking time and then remove it. If you’re sensitive to salt you might want to use low-sodium broth if you use the ham flavor concentrate.
Can you make White Bean Soup with Ham without fresh rosemary?
I’m not such a fan of dried rosemary in soup, because it floats to the top and makes dark flecks on the surface of the soup. But I love a pinch of ground rosemary (affiliate link) when I want some rosemary flavor but don’t have any fresh rosemary.
Is the White Bean Soup with Ham low in carbs?
Of course a soup with white beans is going to have some carbs, but this soup has a lot of ham and celery so the soup has only 16 net carbs per serving.
How to Make White Bean Soup with Ham:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Soak beans for at least 8 hours or overnight in cold water, then drain and rinse.
- Put the soaked beans, 2 quarts homemade ham stock, homemade chicken stock, or water, and dried thyme into a large soup pot and start to simmer.
- While the soup is simmering, dice the ham. (I like small pieces for meat and vegetables in soup, but you can make them bigger if you prefer.)
- If your ham has a rind, add it to the simmering soup.
- Also finely dice the carrots, celery, and onion.
- Add the diced ham, carrots, celery, and onions to the soup and simmer at least 30 minutes more. (Those dark pieces in the photo are the ham rind.)
- After soup has cooked for one hour taste for seasoning, adding some ham flavor concentrate (affiliate link) or Better than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base (affiliate link) if you want more flavor.
- Add finely chopped fresh parsley and fresh rosemary (or ground rosemary) to the soup, along with a couple more cups of water if needed.
- Continue simmering until the soup is flavorful and the beans are well-softened. (This can take more than an hour if you’re using old beans that have been sitting in the pantry. If it does, you may need to add more water again a few times.)
- When beans are soft, remove ham rinds (if using), season soup with fresh ground black pepper, and serve hot.
- This soup freezes well and it’s great to pull out of the freezer and enjoy White Bean Soup on a cold winter night without having to cook!
More Dishes with White Beans:
- Tuna and White Bean Salad
- Italian Sausage and White Beans with Sage
- Amy’s Amazing White Chicken Chili
White Bean Soup with Ham
On a cold day when winter is winding down, this White Bean Soup with Ham is perfect for dinner. I added flavor with rosemary and fresh parsley, but the options are endless.
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried white beans (soaked 8 hours or overnight, then drained)
- 2 quarts chicken broth or ham broth (see notes)
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 2 cups finely chopped celery
- 1 cup finely chopped carrots
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 cups finely chopped ham
- 1 envelope Goya brand ham flavor base (optional)
- about 2 additional cups water
- finely chopped fresh rosemary or a small amount of ground rosemary
- 2 T finely chopped fresh parsley (or use 1 T dried parsley)
- fresh ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Soak beans 8 hours or longer in cold water, drain and rinse well.
- Put beans, 2 quarts of ham or chicken broth or stock (or water with ham or chicken base), and thyme in large soup kettle.
- Simmer 30 minutes.
- While soup simmers, chop veggies and ham so that pieces are about 1/4 inch square. (If you’re using ham with a rind, cut it off and add to the simmering soup.)
- Add celery, carrot, onion, and ham to soup pot and simmer 30 minutes more.
- Taste soup for seasoning.
- Add up to 2 cups more water, ham or chicken base if needed, rosemary (or ground rosemary) and parsley to soup pot.
- Simmer one hour on very low heat or until beans are nicely softened and soup is flavorful. (If you’re using old beans from the pantry the cooking time will be longer, and you may need to add more water more than once.)
- When the beans are softened, remove ham rind (if using), season soup to taste with fresh ground black pepper and serve hot.
- This freezes well, so you may want to make a double batch and put some into individual containers to take to work for lunch.
Notes
For bean soup I love to use homemade ham stock or homemade chicken stock. If you don't have homemade stock I'd use two quarts of water with Goya Ham Flavor Concentrate (affiliate link) or Better than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base (affiliate link) to add flavor. If you're sensitive to salt you might want to use low-sodium broth if you use the ham flavor concentrate.
Recipe created by Kalyn.
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 187Total Fat 5gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 35mgSodium 1582mgCarbohydrates 21gFiber 5gSugar 4gProtein 17g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Most people don’t think of white beans as being a low-carb food, but this White Bean Soup with Ham has a lot of ham and celery so it only has 16 net carbs per serving which might work for some people who are limiting carbs. The soup would be a great choice for the original South Beach Diet if you use lean ham or turkey ham. If you want to make it for phase one of South Beach, leave out the carrots and remember that dried beans should be eaten in small amounts for phase one.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Soup Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This rosemary-seasoned white bean soup recipe with ham was posted in 2011. It was last updated with more information in 2025.
33 Comments on “White Bean Soup with Ham”
You could make this with canned beans, but you'd need about 4 cans of beans to equal the amount of beans used in the recipe. I do think beans that are cooked with the seasonings and ham will be more flavorful than white beans. Also dried beans are much more economical.
I can't say for sure how long you'd need to cook it with canned beans since I haven't done it that way, but probably at least about 45 minutes.
Just wondering how the cooking time would change if you bought a can of white beans, rather than using dried white beans. Have you tried cooking this recipe using a can of white beans before?
Nisha, so glad you enjoyed it!
Hey Kaylan! Fabulous recipe. I made it tonight with a few minor adjustments for our family along with some homemade cornbread. My kids loved it and any soup recipe my husband enjoys is a keeper for sure!!
Thanks Sarah; hope you enjoy it!
My grandmother used to make something similar, except that she was using only white beans and big pieces of bacon. This new recipe sounds even better. I can't wait to taste it.
Meg, lucky you. My mom never used rosemary in anything.
My Mom makes soup like this and I love it, rosemary and white beans are an amazing combination.
Sweeney, thanks. Hope you have fun looking around!
Yum Yum Yum, that is all.
I can't believe I JUST found your blog!
excited to explore it!
Healthy Mamma, updating old recipes has turned into a full-time job for me. (Most of my photos were pretty gruesome for the first 3 years!) But it's worth the time for a favorite recipe like this one.
I need to go through my recipes and update big time. This one def looks like a keeper! Love this classic dish, thanks for the recipe.
Tami, it definitely helped warm me up when the weather wasn't doing it.
Ellie, I agree about the love for beans in soup. Probably my favorite soup ingredient.
Divine – what a wonderful, comforting, hearty soup! I adore beans in my soup – in my opinion they're much tastier and provide more texture than pasta, and are generally also better for you too (providing more nutrients etc). I've never seen ham concentrate here in Australia, but good to know that chicken stock can be substituted 🙂
This soup looks so warm and comforting. I think I will soak some white beans tonight and make a soup tomorrow.
Hi CJ and Heather,
I guess it's comforting to know I'm not the only one dealing with the cold spring days. It's a perfect day for soup here again today.
Kalyn, this hearty and delicious-looking soup would be happily accepted in our house today as it is raining and only 3c (25f)! Brrrrr!
Deja Vu. I just made the soup yesterdy, but added 2 kale leaves, thyme and diced an aging tomato on the counter, but no rosemary. Rosemary would have been good. Next time.
Bonus- I have two ham bones in the freezer, so next time I can skip the boullion.
We've had some horribly wet and cold weather here. That soup looks extra delicious.
Kevin, that sounds like a great combination!
Kalyn,
I've got white bean and brat soup on my list for the next day or so.
Big Dude, hmmm. Maybe I'm enough of a cutting perfectionist that I don't need the cutting board!
Shirley, thanks. So glad you're enjoying seeing some of the earlier recipes.
Lydia, I'm really glad I decided it would be fun to keep the old photos (gruesome as some of them are!)
I think that, as much as anything, I love comparing the old photos to the new. Soup is especially hard to photograph, but the new photos really give me a sense of how beautiful this soup would look on the dining table.
This recipe says comfort in a bowl to me, Kalyn! I make my own chicken stock most of the time, but also love having the Better than Bouillon products on hand. When I want extra ham flavoring, I use their ham base. It works great. Glad you are bringing back these old recipes for folks like me who haven't been reading your blog as long!
Shirley
The soup looks delicious – I especially like the rosemary addition. Those diced veggies look perfect – I believe you may have used that cutting board :-).
Nisrine, I'm also not a big fan of creamy soups, but I love bean soups (especially when the beans start to break down just a little and thicken the soup!)
White bean soup is so tasty especially if it also has meat and herbs. I like brothy soups like this one better than creamy ones. Sounds delicious.
Anonymous, you are so right! Thanks for catching that; I'm adding a note right now to the recipe and all the index mentions to leave out the carrots for phase one.
This is a luscious and QUICK (if one uses cannellini beans in the can instead of dried beans!) filling meal in itself. The only nit I would pose is that the carrots boot it out of Phase 1. Still delish!
I thought this was the perfect “After Christmas Leftover Ham” recipe. I made it today. YUM.
That’s what I figgered. My grandparents have to bring all their goodies inside during the winter. What to do, what to do.
Biggles
I am so sad to tell those of you who live in more temperate parts of the country, that yes, my rosemary does freeze. In fact many years they have not even survived the winter and I have had to plant new ones in the spring, but last winter was mild so the plant is much bigger. Maybe it will make it again this year. Hope so. But it’s close to freezing at night and the rosemary will soon be covered with snow. Sob.
Yay for BEANS!!! Couldn’t agree more.
Kalyn, that soup reminds me of my mom’s Navy bean soup (which, when she made it, was so salty I needed a second glass of milk).
But I got the ham. (In the fridge, Biggles.) And it’s got loads of flavor, so I wouldn’t be needing the Goya stuff (which I’ve never heard of, but…).
Yeah, and what’s with your rosemary giving out?! (Biggles, of course you use rosemary sticks for skewers? And sprigs of it for applying the basting sauces?)
Uh-oh. Monster word verification coming up.
LOVE the white beans, nearly favorite bean. So yummy, so creamy and tender full of flavor. I’ve usually headed towards the ham shank, big fan of the shank.
Whaddya mean towards the end of your rosemary? Do it freeze? Or was it just small to begin with? Mine grows like a weed and there’s no way I could kill it. I cut off large branches to feed little amounts to my smoker.
Sing Yay for BEANS !!!