Great Northern Bean Soup
Gluten Free Living – 2021
Great Northern Bean Soup is one of the best Ham and Bean Soups I’ve ever eaten. And that’s saying something because I’ve eaten a lot of them. I love Ham and Bean Soup. In any variety. In any way. It’s especially awesome with bacon cornbread crumbled into a hot, steaming bowl. That’s the way Texans enjoy eating it.
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I cooked off a ham back in the fall of 2019. I froze the leftovers and decided to pull the ham bone out of the freezer later that year for a Friday night supper. My husband left a good portion of meat on the bone when he cut it down so this soup is meaty. (Which is the way he likes soup or chili).
I saw a recipe in one of my Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and decided to give it a go. I’m so glad I did. Great Northern Bean Soup was awesome! I did add a leek because they always add so much additional flavor to soups, casseroles and pasta. But I actually followed the recipe pretty closely. One of the gals brought bacon cornbread that night. It was doubly good with cornbread added into the soup as a garnish. My bowlful probably ended up with at least two pieces of cornbread before I was done.
This soup was so mouthwatering that everyone at our table oooohed and aaahhhhed over it. Seriously. People went back for seconds and thirds. It was one meal where everyone loaded up on the main course instead of dessert. 🙂 This recipe is gluten free. I recommend this delicious Bacon Cheddar Cornbread recipe if you want your cornbread to be gluten free as well. It was so, so good that I’ve decided to republish the recipe for newer blog followers.
This is a great way to use up leftover ham from the holidays. Plus, it’s usually cold around Christmas or New Year’s so a bowl of this hearty and filling soup should be on the menu! Whether you serve it around the holidays or throughout the year, it’s such a terrific recipe that your family will request it often! Without exception, our company found that Great Northern Bean Soup was some of the best comfort food they’d had in a while. This is truly one very irresistible and satisfying soup.
Great Northern Bean Soup is one of the best Ham and Bean Soup recipes I’ve ever eaten.
All of us just salivated over this mouthwatering soup.
Everyone at the table started automatically crumbling up their cornbread and adding it to the soup. That’s how Texans enjoy hearty soups and chili recipes. 🙂
Here’s what I did.
I used these ingredients.
Rinse and wash beans. Check for stones or bad beans and discard. Drain thoroughly before using.
Place beans in a large Dutch oven. Add 8 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for two minutes. Remove from heat and allow beans to sit in covered pan for one hour.
Bring to a boil again and add ham bone. Reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour.
Remove ham bone to a plate. Remove meat from bone and dice. Set aside. Discard cartilage, gristle, fat and bone.
Add ham back into Dutch oven. You need at least two cups. Add more ham if your ham bone doesn’t yield this much ham.
You can see that my water really cooked down a lot. I ended up adding more water than the original recipe so the soup would have the right consistency.
Add sliced carrots, diced celery and leek.
Add diced onion and quartered red potatoes.
Add salt, pepper, thyme and Tabasco sauce.
I added an additional quart of water because there was very little broth left in the Dutch oven.
Stir ingredients to combine. Cover with lid and allow vegetables to cook about 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
If desired, garnish soup with more thyme before serving.
This soup is meaty, filling and so satisfying.
Serve Great Northern Bean Soup with Bacon Cheddar Cornbread for a spectacular comfort food meal.
Yeah, go ahead and crumble the cornbread into the soup. It’s absolutely wonderful eating it that way.
Great Northern Bean Soup is a terrific way to use up leftover holiday ham.
Serving this hearty soup with a Bacon Cornbread recipe is just the trick!
Here’s the recipe.
GREAT NORTHERN BEAN SOUP
(Recipe adapted from Gooseberry Patch, Come On Over, “Bean and Ham Soup.”)
Great Northern Bean Soup
Equipment
- 1 large Dutch oven with lid
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 vegetable peeler
- 1 sharp knife to cut vegetables
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- 1 soup ladle
Ingredients
- 1 lb. pkg. Great Northern Beans dry, rinsed
- 8 to 12 cups water (see note below)
- 1 1/2 lbs. ham bone
- 2 cups ham diced
- 1 lb. petite red potatoes quartered
- 2 large carrots peeled and sliced thinly
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 leek green top removed, washed thoroughly, diced (optional, but better if added)
- 3/4 tsp. dried thyme plus more for garnish, if desired
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
- 2 drops hot pepper sauce to taste
Instructions
- Rinse beans.
- Pick through beans and discard any stones or bad beans.
- Combine beans with 8 cups water in a large stock pot or Dutch oven.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Remove Dutch oven from heat.
- Cover with lid and allow beans to stand for one hour.
- Bring beans to a boil again; add ham bone.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour.
- Remove ham bone.
- Cool and remove meat from ham bone.
- Cut ham chunks into small dice.
- Add meat to ham broth in Dutch oven.
- Add diced ham and remaining ingredients.
- Cover with lid.
- Simmer soup until vegetables are tender, approximately 30 minutes.
- Serve with cornbread.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Gooseberry Patch.
© Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen
Nutrition
Great Northern Bean Soup is one of those stick-to-the-ribs meals you will really enjoy.
This is a great entree in fall and winter when you want something hot to warm you up on those cold days.
Every bite of Great Northern Bean Soup is awesome. But we liked it even better with Bacon Cornbread crumbled into it. 🙂
You’ll love sinking your teeth into this fantastic Great Northern Bean Soup. Every bite is irresistible. 🙂
You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!
Recipe originally published December 26, 2019.
Great Northern Bean Soup
Equipment
- 1 large Dutch oven with lid
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 vegetable peeler
- 1 sharp knife to cut vegetables
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- 1 soup ladle
Ingredients
- 1 lb. pkg. Great Northern Beans dry, rinsed
- 8 to 12 cups water (see note below)
- 1 1/2 lbs. ham bone
- 2 cups ham diced
- 1 lb. petite red potatoes quartered
- 2 large carrots peeled and sliced thinly
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 leek green top removed, washed thoroughly, diced (optional, but better if added)
- 3/4 tsp. dried thyme plus more for garnish, if desired
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
- 2 drops hot pepper sauce to taste
Instructions
- Rinse beans.
- Pick through beans and discard any stones or bad beans.
- Combine beans with 8 cups water in a large stock pot or Dutch oven.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Remove Dutch oven from heat.
- Cover with lid and allow beans to stand for one hour.
- Bring beans to a boil again; add ham bone.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour.
- Remove ham bone.
- Cool and remove meat from ham bone.
- Cut ham chunks into small dice.
- Add meat to ham broth in Dutch oven.
- Add diced ham and remaining ingredients.
- Cover with lid.
- Simmer soup until vegetables are tender, approximately 30 minutes.
- Serve with cornbread.