I can’t wait for y’all to try this one!

I’ve been messing around with ham and bean soups for a while now. Mixed beans, white beans, honey spiral ham, pork side meat, ham hocks, etc., there are so many variations you can do. But I think my favorite has been with white beans.

There are a few different types of white beans though. Today we’re using great northern beans. My other choice for this soup would be cannellini beans. I shy away from navy beans and lima beans at the moment, but eventually I will find a recipe for them as well. I went with great northern because I couldn’t find any dry cannellini beans at my grocery today. Either option you choose, the result will still be delicious.

We will be using a parmesan cheese rind in our soup today. As the soup simmers, that rind will help lend a lot of depth to our amazing umami flavor packed in this soup. I love savory and this is where it’s at! Plus, it gave me a reason to buy a big ole wedge of cheese.

Note: These great northern beans I’m using today came with a ham flavoring packet.. I tossed that out quick. I prefer that “real ham flavor”. Plus, I don’t know what’s in it.

This soup (as do most of mine) comes out best after a long, low and slow simmer. A crockpot or slow cooker would be perfect. A good Dutch oven would be great as well. I am currently shopping for a new Dutch oven. I gifted my old one away to a friend. So this time we’re using a large metal stock pot (around 8 qt maybe). The process is basically all the same.

Get that simmer going.

Go ahead and put your beans and ham hocks down in your pot first, then cover that with about an inch of water. Now you can go ahead and let everything be warming up (especially if using a slow cooker) while you slice and dice those veggies. If you’re on a stove top, set the heat to med-med/hi to get a nice simmer going.

Slice & dice some veggies.

Celery: I like to cut the end of the stalk off and the tips. My chickens love them! I keep the ribs, which are the center pieces you really want. I use around 4-5 ribs, it may differ slightly depending on the size and your personal taste preferences. Slice the ribs up and give them a little dicing action. Then go ahead and toss them in the soup.

Carrots: Give your carrots the same treatment.. almost. I give the tips and ends of the carrots to my chickens as well. I usually slice up 4-5 carrots (depending on the size and preference) into nice little 1/4-1/2 inch thick coins and toss them in next.

Sweet Onion: When it comes to my onions, I like to cut the ends off first, then chop it in half. It makes it easier (and safer) to slice. Once you chop it in half, peel off the outermost layer of onion and discard. Slice the rest of the onion up and then dice it cross ways. I do not feed these to my chickens, they are poisonous to the flock.

Garlic: Last, but definitely not least, is the delicious garlic! I used 6 cloves this time. I love garlic and could’ve used an entire bulb and been fine. Again your preference, but I would use at least 5-6 at a minimum. After you properly clean all the skins off each clove, give them a nice press between your cutting board and the flat side of your chef’s knife. Dice them up into small chunks then throw them in your pot as well.

Add the chezzzzz!

Fun fact: Maci and me refer to cheese as chez because of this one Roblox tycoon where you make cheeseburgers, but they call them chezburgers.

Take that beautiful wedge of parmesan cheese and carefully cut off the rind. I cut back some just to give a little more cheesy flavor in there as it simmers. Gently drop that down into your soup. Save the rest of that cheese wedge for another treat!

Now that all the veggies are in there, top it off with enough water to cover everything by about 2-3 inches. Dry beans will soak up a significant portion of that water as they plump up. The beans will also help to thicken the soup as they break down from cooking. You can pre-soak the beans overnight if you’d like, but I prefer to let them simmer slowly along with everything else. The long cook time will allow those carrots to get nice and tender too. Personally, I love having a little extra of that delicious broth to sip on.

Season and let it go.

I love Sazón. It is a staple in so many of my recipes, always in place of chili powder. It’s a nice pre-season packet that is full of flavor. For this big pot, I added 2 packets. Then season with black pepper to your liking. I also love black pepper, so I include it generously.

Give it all a nice stir and bring to a boil (if it hasn’t already). When you got a nice boil going, reduce the heat to medium and cover it. Let it simmer nicely for about 2 hours.

If you’re using a slow cooker, give everything a nice stir and set your timer for 2 hours.

I like to check on it after about 2 hours and give it another stir. Remember, you want this to go low and slow. So start early enough in the day to give it 4-6 hours at a low simmer. You can’t rush a good soup.

About Ham Hocks…

Once the ham hocks start falling apart, you can shred them up and keep on going. Sometimes I’ll take the hocks out and shred them, then put them back in. But I usually only do that if they have a lot of fatty skin and connective tissue on it. For more meatier hocks, the meat will shred and fall apart just from simmering. I still like to cut those skins up smaller and add them back though.

If you have the option (sometimes you gotta take what you can get), go for meatier hocks in soups where you want that thin broth and shredded meat. The fattier hocks are awesome when you just want to add some more flavor in a nice thick ole stew. When the collagen in the connective tissue breaks down in the fattier hocks, it lends a nice added thickness to your soup or stew. My pintos I like thick, but my ham and white bean soups I like more brothy. I’ve used all kinds of ham hocks, they always turn out delicious. It’s just a matter of preference.

It’s all about what type of dish you are looking to create.

Serve It Up!

When everything is broken down nicely, your broth will change color and thicken a bit. The longer it goes, the better it gets. I usually serve a few bowls and let it keep simmering on med-low until I decide to store it.

Go ahead and serve it up. It pairs well with some crusty bread and topped with fresh cheddar!!!

Enjoy!

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