How to Make Ham and Beans with a Leftover Ham Bone

What to do with that ham bone from the holiday ham? Freeze it to use later, if need be, you don't want to waste all that free flavor goodness! Better yet, here's how to make Ham and Beans, just good-for-you dried beans, a few vegetables, the right mix of dried herbs and the oh-so-important ham bone. We usually "slow cook" Ham and Beans in the oven but I've also had great luck cooking Ham and Beans in a slow cooker.

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The best thing about ham for Sunday dinner? The Easter ham? The Christmas ham? It’s the day-after meal, a big pot of beans that’s simmered glug-glug all day with the ham bone.

Call me plebian but Ham & Beans rock my world. Show me a bowl of good beans and I’ll show you a woman happy to empty said bowl three meals a day.

I love how Ham & Beans change from one meal to the next. The first bowl, the beans and vegetables remain all distinct and individual. You can taste the carrots, you can see and taste the beans, but separately. The second bowl, the beans have turned cozy-creamy, the beans binding soft chunks of meat and carrot. By the third, the beans are a hammy sludge, decidedly un-pretty to look at but hearty and oh-so home-good satisfying.

Good to Know!

• Ham 101: What to Know Before Buying a Ham
• Why Dried Beans Won't Cook

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COMFORT FOOD: HAM & BEANS

Hands-on time: 30 minutes
Time to table: 24 hours
Makes about 12 cups

• 1 pound dried beans, preferably Great Northern beans or small white beans (see TIPS)

• 1 ham bone
• 1 poblano pepper, chopped very small
• 1 onion, chopped small
• Water to cover or up to 8 cups water (use less for thick beans, up to 8 cups for something akin to Ham & Bean Soup, see TIPS)
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 3 ribs celery, cut into large chunks
• 1/2 pound chopped leftover ham

• Parsley, optional but looks pretty for pictures, tee hee

SOAK BEANS Rinse the beans under running water in a colander and pick through to remove any small stones or deformed beans. Transfer to a large pot or Dutch oven and cover with cold water and let soak overnight. Rinse and drain.

TO "SLOW COOK" IN THE OVEN Preheat oven to 225F/105C. Combine the soaked beans, onion, ham bone, water and seasoning and bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to oven. Cook for about 3 hours. (If starting with 4 cups of water, check the beans every hour or so to see if they’re getting dry, if so, add water about a cup at a time. Do be sure to leave room for the vegetables and ham that will be added later.)

Add the carrots, celery and ham and cook for at least another 3 hours and as many as 6 hours, until the beans are fully cooked and begin to get quite creamy.

TO COOK IN A SLOW COOKER Combine all ingredients except the parsley in the slow cooker and cook for 8 - 10 hours on low or 4 – 6 hours on high.

MAKE-AHEAD TIP Cook Ham & Beans one day, then refrigerate overnight. The next day, bring the beans back to a boil, then place in a 180F/80C to safely hold as long as you need. Here, it's so so great to spend the day in the country, then come home to a hearty hot supper that's on the table in no time flat.

HOW to QUICK-SOAK DRIED BEANS If there’s no time to soak the beans overnight, there’s an easy way to prepare the beans for cooking. Just rinse and pick through the beans, cover with cold water in a large pot, cover and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, leave the cover on and let rest for an hour. Drain before continuing.

ALANNA's TIPS I’ve made Ham & Beans with pinto beans, it’s just not as good. Red beans work great but might take longer to cook, a recent pot with just-purchased red beans took a full 9 hours in the oven. Do make sure the beans have been purchased within the last couple of months. That's because old dried beans will cook and cook and cook but never soften enough to be more than barely edible. When the weather turns cool in the fall, I actually check the pantry for last year’s beans and chuck them. It’s cheaper to throw away a dollar’s worth of beans than to cook all day and have nothing to eat for supper. More info? Here you go, Why Dried Beans Won't Cook. If there’s an excess of chicken stock or turkey stock on hand, substitute all or part of the water for stock. I also like to use any leftover cooking liquid from cooking the ham, it can add a lot of flavor! I've taken to doubling the carrots, they're just so good! If now’s not the time to cook something with the ham bone, freeze it for later. But don’t throw it away! A good bone saw will cut through a thick ham bone not quite like butter but more easily than you can imagine. We use this Wusthoff Bone Saw to cut a big ham bone into pot-size chunks, spreading one bone among several pots of ham and beans, At Last! Black Bean Soup and Homemade Lentil Soup. So handy! [My Disclosure Promise]

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Cup: 138 Calories; 3g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 9mg Cholesterol; 592mg Sodium; 28g Carb; 13g Fiber; 3g Sugar; 11g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 2 & PointsPlus 4 & SmartPoints 4 & Freestyle 1

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More Recipes for Ham & Leftover Ham

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~ more ham recipes ~
~ more soup recipes ~

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More After-Easter Recipes

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~ more cooked egg recipes ~

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ canned & dried beans ~
~ ham ~
~ poblano peppers ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Quick Links to This Page

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~ How to Quick Soak Dried Beans ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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