The deep, rich, full color of this Tuscan White Bean and Ham Soup comes from making homemade chicken stock for this recipe. It does take a bit more time but totally worth it. You can make the chicken stock ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate it until you are ready to make this soup.
Tuscan White Bean and Ham Soup tastes as rich and hearty as it looks. The salty ham gives it that extra something something! It’s so amazingly tasty and satisfying, even if your not a bean lover you’ll love it. It may look like a lot of ingredients but they all come together in one amazing, flavorful soup that tastes even better the next day.
I don’t know what it is about soups and chilis but they always taste better the next day! I think the extra time that all the seasonings and flavors have to come together that they just go deeper into the meats and beans and make everything more delicious.
Just make some incredible homemade bread, load it with butter, and you have an entire meal ready on the table.
Ingredients & Preparation
The Usual Suspects:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 strips of bacon, cut up in ½-inch lardons
- 1 cup sweet onion, chopped
- 1 cup carrots, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 poblano pepper, chopped
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 bay leaves
- 2-quarts homemade chicken stock, (***recipe follows)
- 3 – 2 lb ham hocks
- 1 lb. dry cannellini beans, soaked and drained
Garnish
- Monterey Jack Cheese
- Cilantro
- Tortilla Strips
The Plan:
At least 8 hours or the night before you make the soup, place the beans in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover the beans by 3 inches.
Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Drain the beans, rinse under cold running water, and drain again.
Set aside.
In a heavy Dutch oven, melt butter.
Add bacon to Dutch oven and sauté until bacon is browned and a little crisp, using a slotted spoon remove bacon from Dutch oven and drain on paper towels.
Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic and poblano pepper to Dutch oven. Let sweat until tender, about 7 to 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring often.
Add all seasonings to vegetables and toss to coat. Let cook for about 5 minutes on medium/low heat, stirring often.
Add chicken stock and ham hocks to mixture then let simmer on medium/low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally.
Add beans and let simmer for another 2 hours until ham is falling off the bones and beans are tender.
Remove ham from pot and pull off the meat and then add ham back to pot, discard the bones.
Discard Bay Leaves.
Add bacon back to pot and stir.
Garnish with Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, and tortilla strips
Soup can thicken as it cools, so to reheat you may need to add a little water or additional stock to the bowl.
***For Homemade Chicken Stock
The Usual Suspects
- 3 leftover rotisserie chicken carcasses, all bones, skin and leftover meat
- 3 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered
- 6 carrots, unpeeled and halved crosswise
- 4 celery stalks with leaves, cut into thirds crosswise
- 4 parsnips, unpeeled and halved crosswise
- 20 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 15 sprigs fresh thyme
- 20 sprigs fresh dill
- 1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in half crosswise
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
The Plan
Place the chickens, onions, carrots, celery, parsnips, parsley, thyme, dill, garlic, salt, and peppercorns in a 16- to 20-quart stockpot.
Add 7 quarts or more of water to cover and fill pot.
Bring to a boil.
Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 4 hours, skimming off any foam that comes to the top.
Set aside until cool enough to handle.
Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander and discard the solids.
The rotisserie chickens give a depth of flavor that is remarkable as well as a deeper color to your stock.
Tuscan White Bean and Ham Soup
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Loading...Ingredients
- The Usual Suspects
- • 2 tablespoons butter
- • 4 strips of bacon, cut up in ½-inch lardons
- • 1 cup sweet onion, chopped
- • 1 cup carrots, chopped
- • 1 cup celery, chopped
- • 4 cloves garlic, diced
- • 1 poblano pepper, chopped
- • 1 teaspoon thyme
- • 1 teaspoon black pepper
- • 1 teaspoon oregano
- • ½ teaspoon salt
- • ½ teaspoon celery salt
- • ½ teaspoon cumin
- • ½ teaspoon paprika
- • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- • 3 bay leaves
- • 2-quarts homemade chicken stock, (***recipe follows)
- • 2 to 3 – 2 lb ham hocks
- • 1 lb cannellini beans, soaked and drained
- Garnish
- • Monterey Jack Cheese
- • Cilantro
- • Tortilla Strips
- For the Chicken Stock
- The Usual Suspects
- • 3 leftover rotisserie chicken carcasses, all bones, skin and leftover meat
- • 3 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered
- • 6 carrots, unpeeled and halved crosswise
- • 4 celery stalks with leaves, cut into thirds crosswise
- • 4 parsnips, unpeeled and halved crosswise
- • 20 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
- • 15 sprigs fresh thyme
- • 20 sprigs fresh dill
- • 1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in half crosswise
- • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- • 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
Instructions
The Plan
At least 8 hours or the night before you make the soup, place the beans in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover the beans by 3 inches.
Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Drain the beans, rinse under cold running water, and drain again.
Set aside.
In a heavy Dutch oven, melt butter.
Add bacon to Dutch oven and sauté until bacon is browned and a little crisp, using a slotted spoon remove bacon from Dutch oven and drain on paper towels.
Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic and poblano pepper to Dutch oven. Let sweat until tender, about 7 to 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring often.
Add all seasonings to vegetables and toss to coat. Let cook for about 5 minutes on medium/low heat, stirring often.
Add chicken stock and ham hocks to mixture then let simmer on medium/low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally.
Add beans and let simmer for another 2 hours until ham is falling off the bones and beans are tender.
Remove ham from pot and pull off the meat and then add ham back to pot, discard the bones.
Discard Bay Leaves.
Add bacon back to pot and stir.
Garnish with Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, and tortilla strips.
Soup can thicken as it cools, so to reheat you may need to add a little water or additional stock to the bowl.
For the Chicken Stock
The Plan
Place the chickens, onions, carrots, celery, parsnips, parsley, thyme, dill, garlic, salt, and peppercorns in a 16- to 20-quart stockpot.
Add 7 quarts or more of water to cover and fill pot.
Bring to a boil.
Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 4 hours, skimming off any foam that comes to the top.
Set aside until cool enough to handle.
Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander and discard the solids.
The rotisserie chickens give a depth of flavor that is remarkable as well as a deeper color to your stock.
