10/07/14

Ham & Beans

A tried and true recipe for dried beans and ham that is delicious served as a hearty soup or served over rice.


My Angel Baby is a country girl! Or she would be if we lived in the country. AB will eat anything I throw at her and not bat an eye at it.

I set the table for Sunday dinner and waited to see what reactions the ham and beans got. Flossy and Brutus wouldn't have anything to do with it but AB dove in with her spoon ablazin!

I think just about every part of the US has some dish made with ham (or perhaps sausage) and some sort of dried bean.

Where I’m from, we usually like to use dried butter beans. I grew up eating these served over rice but you can serve it like a soup too!

Ham & Beans | A tried and true recipe for dried beans and ham that is delicious served as a hearty soup or served over rice.

Notes about this recipe:
  • We always use the small butter beans but feel free to use any dried beans. A lot of folks use the big butter beans (the “45s”) or great northern beans.
  • You can buy ham bones at your local Honey Baked Ham or Heavenly Ham! They're usually under $10 and have a TON of meat on them!
  • Feel free to use ham hocks or smoked turkey wings too.
  • I use white pepper in these because they cook up so creamy I like to keep things light but you can absolutely substitute with 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
  • I serve mine over white rice topped with fresh diced onion but you can also serve this as a hearty soup. Either way, you’re going to want a big o’ hunk of Skillet Cornbread to go with it!

Ham & Beans | A tried and true recipe for dried beans and ham that is delicious served as a hearty soup or served over rice.


beans, dried, lima, butter, baby, leftover, ham, hock, soup, southern, recipe, crock pot, slow cooker, best, easy
Yield: 10-12 Servings

Ham & Beans

prep time: 10 minscook time: 3 hourstotal time: 3 hours and 10 mins

ingredients

  • 1 pound dried small butter beans
  • 1 ham bone with trimmings or 2 large ham hocks
  • 5 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

instructions

Rinse beans per package instructions then add to a large pot or Dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients, cover and heat over medium heat until boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 3-4 hours or until beans are tender. You can also cook in a crock pot 5-6 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.

Remove ham bone from pot to cool. Taste for salt and add if needed. I make mine a little on the salty side since I serve them over plain white rice so I usually have about 2 teaspoons total in mine.

Once the ham is cool enough to handle, remove meat from the bone, cut or shred into small pieces. Add ham pieces to beans and stir well before serving.

I serve mine over white rice topped with fresh diced onion but you can also serve this as a hearty soup. Either way, you’re going to want a big o’ hunk of Skillet Cornbread to go with it!

Notes:
  • We always use the small butter beans but feel free to use any dried beans. A lot of folks use the big butter beans (the “45s”) or great northern beans.
  • I use white pepper in these because they cook up so creamy I like to keep things light but you can absolutely substitute with 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.


Click here for Skillet Cornbread recipe.


Keep up with my latest shenanigans by following South Your Mouth!


34 comments:

  1. This sounds delish!
    And I think you got your crock pot times turned around. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dang, I just about argued with you about it too! I looked at it twice before my brain finally got on board with what was wrong about it! I updated it! Thank you!

      Delete
  2. Yum, we always make this with small red beans as a soup. My nephews (6, 8, and 10) love it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This recipe takes me back! I haven't had beans fixed like this in about 2 decades. I looked for ham hocks last week at Publix to go in a pot of collards and couldn't find any. I'm hoping it was just a slow pig leg day. I don't find cracklin's very often either. I used to love cracklin' cornbread made in my grandmother's cast iron skillet.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We fixed a crock pot of pinto beans Monday and I eat them like soup. This sounds absolutely delicious! Pinning it! Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you have a Honey Baked Ham Store near you they sell hambones. Best ham ever for beans and many dishes where you might use ham.

      Delete
  5. This is the best thing to do with leftover ham bone from Christmas - we look forward to it every year! Can't wait. And yours looks really, really good!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I haven't this in a long time. Thanks for the reminder. We also enjoy it using black-eyed peas.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Is five cups of water enough and has anyone tried it with broth?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, 5 cups of water is enough. You can use broth if you like though I've never found it necessary as long as I have a good bit of ham left on my bone.

      Delete
    2. 5 was not enough. I just made this and there is zero broth.

      Delete
  8. Try it soup style with a spoon of mayo in your bowl. Talking about good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really, mayo? That sounds really strange but I love mayo so I have to try it to see. : )

      Delete
  9. Mandy ... this Midwestern gal turned front range of Colorado will be serving this via Crockpot tomorrow night with you Mom's Skillet cornbread. Need some warm southern comfort after work tomorrow night!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is a favorite family recipe; however, I always use pinto beans. This dish must be accompanied with hot, buttered cornbread and wedges of red onion, plus a little chili powder in the beans. Yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Most people tell me they have Biscuits with their bean soups or them as meal. I was brought up to eat Corn bread with them. Even dried Black Eye peas. Too each his own, but give me Home made Corn Bread any time with my dried beans or peas.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is my first time cooking through you web sight I am going to try your ham and beans , it sure does not call for a lot of ingredients .

    ReplyDelete
  13. Got this in my crockpot now. Couldn't find hocks and didn't have a bone, so I used pieces of smoked ham and navy beans. It looks watery so I'm nervous, but it smells DIVINE!

    ReplyDelete
  14. South Georgia girl here. Had a friend from California that made this with navy beans and called it her end-of-month meal because it was so cheap. She made huge fluffy biscuits, split them open on the plate and ladled the beans over. Sure tasted southern to me! I looked fwd to month-end.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Im sorry but this picture is Northern beans not lima. In the south we make the soup with Northern beans. Lima beans have a green tint to them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Janet,

      From South Carolina here...those are "butter beans". My Colorado relatives call them "Lima Beans", but those are definitely not Northern Beans. This is exactly what the beans look like in my Gammie's recipe.

      Delete
    2. Lima (butter beans) that are fresh may have a greenish tint, but the dried ones are white...which is what these pictured are

      Delete
  16. Diann Campbell12/24/18, 5:12 PM

    My daddy used to make this . He would add some chunks of potatoes &onions. Then we added cider vinegar to our bowel if wanted. Good memory to have today.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Good afternoon Mandy! I made your soup last week and my family jusyt loved it so much!!!! So happy I found it. I have a question though, I used split peas instead of butter beans. I burned the bottom of the pan and lost some of the soup :( I definatly had to add a few extra coups of water. Can you tell me if there is a definate difference betweek butter beans and split peas...... And if you can tell me what you think the amount of water should be when I use those beans? !!!! Thank you so much for sharing this deilish stuff with your fans!

    Galin Crist
    galinrenee@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hello, I want to use the great northern beans as they are my favorite but I'm will be using the one out of the jar to I need to add water to them when I add my ham bone & ham chunks? Excited about preparing this as it will be my first time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kelly! I can't think of a way to make this using prepared beans. This recipe cooks for hours in order to cook down the ham and your beans would turn to mush. You could just add chopped ham to them and cook for a bit but I don't think it would be the same.

      Delete
    2. Cook your hambone until it falls off bone. Take out of pot and discord bone. Pour out water in pot until there is only about a cup left. Add back ham and put in your beans. I’m assuming your bens are canned. So u do not have to cook them long. Bring to boil and turn down to simmer for 15 minutes. Tatie and taste. If your ham was salty and beans had salt u may not need to add more. Add pepper to taste. If there is too much water u can cook longer.

      Delete
    3. That’s how this girl has always done it! Just as yummy!!!

      Delete
  19. So do you just rinse the beans or rinse and soak the dried beans? I soaked mine and now I’m thinking that I just messed the whole thing up!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I have made this recipe so many times over the last 5 years. I use the ham bone from easter dinner and christmas dinner. My MIL and I fight over the bone and I always win(Cause I host:-) Every time this recipe is AMAZING! Such a good comfort food and makes the house smell so good. Makes me feel like a kid at Grandma's house on a sunday!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Jessica Pogats11/20/22, 12:11 PM

    I grew up eating this exact thing at my grandmothers house, only thing I change is she used cubed ham and I use smoked ham hocks. Here is the one thing that makes this dish different for my family, we eat them with dough cakes which are little squares of fried dough and add butter on top when done frying, I make a big plate of them and we dunk them in the beans and also must have fresh onion for the top. One of my all time favorite comfort foods.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I made this and absolutely loved it! The only thing I added was chicken broth because I had some I needed to use. This is simple and delish!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I tried this recipe and I will be making it again

    ReplyDelete

Hi there! While I’m not able to respond to every comment, I try hard to answer any questions that haven’t been addressed in the post, recipe or in other comments.

I can tell you now 1) I have no idea if you can substitute Minute Rice or brown rice in my recipes because I’ve never used them and 2) If I know how to convert a recipe to a Crock Pot version, I will make a note about it (otherwise, I don’t know).

And though I may not respond to them all, I do read each and every comment and I LOVE to hear from you guys! Thanks, y’all! - Mandy