Ham and bean soup
Creamy white beans and smoky ham in a thick, savory broth, a stick-to-your-ribs soup made from the pantry in under an hour.
- 50 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.42 a serving
- 430 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 8 oz diced cooked ham
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cups water
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leave
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 430 calories, 31 g protein, 62 g carbs and 7 g fat, and costs about $2.42 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, carrots and celery, the garlic, and and the beans.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery and ham and cook, stirring now and then, until the vegetables , about 7 minutes.
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 30 sec
Add the beans, water, bouillon cubes, thyme, bay leaf and pepper, and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low, set the and for 20 minutes.
Lid ajar. Lid ajar means resting the lid on the pot slightly off-center, leaving a small gap. Some steam escapes, so the sauce thickens and doesn’t boil over, while most of the heat stays in.
How you’ll know: A thin wisp of steam drifts out of the gap, and the pot bubbles gently without spilling.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Mash about a third of the beans against the side of the pot with a potato masher or spoon, and stir until the broth turns creamy.
Dolly’s tip: Mashing some beans is how you get a thick, creamy soup with no flour or cream.Pull out the bay leaf, taste before adding any salt, since ham and bouillon are salty, and serve with parsley.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
