Ham and potato soup
Soft potatoes and smoky ham in a thick, creamy broth, the soup to make when you have a few potatoes and want something that feels like a hug.
- 50 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $1.73 a serving
- 320 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 2½ lb russet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 3 tbsp butter
- 8 oz diced cooked ham
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 2 cups milk
- ½ cup shredded cheddar (optional)
- 2 green onions, sliced (optional)
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3 cups water
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 320 calories, 15 g protein, 47 g carbs and 9 g fat, and costs about $1.73 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No russet potatoes? Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
and the potatoes, and dice the onion, celery and carrot.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
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.
the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot and ham and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until the vegetables .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
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: 5 min
Sprinkle in the flour and stir constantly for 1 minute.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Slowly pour in the water, stirring so no lumps form, then in the bouillon cubes and add the potatoes and thyme. over high heat.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
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, cover and for 15 minutes, until the potatoes break apart when poked.
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: 15 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 half the potatoes right in the pot with a potato masher, then stir in the milk and heat until steaming. Don’t let it .
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
Low heat
Dolly’s tip: Mashing some of the potatoes is what makes the soup thick and creamy without cream.Add the pepper, taste before adding salt since ham is salty, and serve topped with cheddar and green onions.
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.
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