If you serve ham for Easter dinner, make sure to save some for this soup the next day! This ham and bean soup is creamy, and chock full of ham, beans, bacon and cheddar.
This post is made possible by Hurst’s Beans. A big thank you to Hurst’s and a big thank you to my readers for supporting this blog and it’s sponsors.
I was so inspired by how I got the creamy consistency with the Broccoli Cheddar Soup that I decided to do the same thing with this bean soup. Only this time instead of pureeing cooked potatoes, I pureed cooked beans to create a creamy base of the soup. I made sure to leave plenty of intact beans in the soup though too. By adding the ham seasoning packet, ham, bacon and just a bit of cheddar the soup has plenty of flavor. If you want to go over the top with the flavor add a few drops of sriracha to your bowl…BAM!
For this soup, I used the dried Great Northern beans from Hurst’s with the ham flavoring packet. These beans can be found in your local grocery store, next to the 15 beans soup we all know and love. I like to soak my dried beans overnight in a salt brine (a trick I learned from America’s Test Kitchen). It just seems to make the beans cook evenly and soften well. Then you simply add them to the slow cooker with a few other ingredients and cook for several hours. Come home to a meal that’s practically done. I like to serve this soup with cornbread and honey. Let’s enjoy the few weeks of soup season we have left (depending on where you live:).
2.5 oz real bacon pieces(you can buy the package of real bacon bits or your can cook and crumble your own bacon)
8 oz cubed ham
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
Salt and pepper
Instructions
Place dried beans in a large bowl (reserve the seasoning packet for later use). Add in 3 Tbsp of salt and a quart of water (or enough to cover the beans by a good 2 inches). Let the beans soak overnight (I let mine soak for 12 hours).
Pour beans into a colander and rinse. Add the beans to the slow cooker. Add in 8 cups water, garlic, onion and salt.
Cover and cook on HIGH for 5-7 hours or LOW for 8-10 hours, or until beans are tender.
Use a measuring cup to add 4 cups of the cooked beans to a blender. Add in 1 1/2 cups of the broth to the blender. Puree until smooth and creamy. Add mixture back into the slow cooker. Stir.
Add in bacon, ham, cheddar and packet of seasoning that was reserved.
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