When cooking a ham for the holidays and you've eaten all the meat, save the ham bone to freeze. Later you can pull it out of your freezer, throw in some beans with your frozen bone, and make a nice soup.
By Diana M.
Check out these recipes.
This was made from my ham bone from Thanksgiving I froze the bone that day after carving it. I took it out recently and let it boil all day long.
I buy the leftover bone from Heavenly or Honeybaked Ham, defrost it and then remove as much fat as possible. There's usually about a pound of ham left on the bone! - and I grind it with cheddar cheese and pineapple slices to make a great sandwich spread.
This page contains the following solutions.
I love honey baked ham but the price is way beyond my means. My son loves my soup made from leftover ham bone cooked with dried 8 bean mix, so last year he bought a soup starter ham bone (which they keep frozen) and gave it to me.
I boil the ham bone with wedged cabbage, rutabaga, potatoes, whole onions, and squash. It makes wonderful meal.
This past Easter I baked a bone-in ham, wrapped in foil, then unwrapped and covered with a glaze. Delicious! In the past, I had never bothered going to the trouble of using the ham bone for soup or whatever, so I usually just picked off as much ham as possible and discarded the bone.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Any one know of a recipe that I can use a ham bone in? I had a huge ham in my freezer that I finally got around to cooking and dividing up for dinners and lunches. Now I have a this ham bone and I don't want to waste it.
When I had my dog, this was not a problem. Now that he is gone, I want to make a soup or something out of it. Thanks for your help.Hi, I have done this a couple of times with holiday hams. I just make a broth, similar to making a chicken or turkey stock. I would cover the ham bone in several cups of water. Add a cut up onion, some carrot and celery (with leaves), a bay leaf and some peppercorns. If you have some fatty meat to add, this will just make it richer. Simmer this for a few hours, stirring and breaking up the bone occasionally.
Then use the broth to make a bean soup. I get the package of 16 bean soup and follow the directions on the package but throw away the ham seasoning packet (or save it for something else) and use the broth instead of the water after the beans have soaked. It has always been delicious!
Jess
I usually make Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
Any dry bean is better with a ham bone. My favorites are lima or blackeye peas. Soak beans overnight, rinse, add fresh water and hambone, season as needed, and simmer until done. You can make soup the same way. Choose a mixed dry bean, canned tomatoes, onion, celery, and bay leaves. Cook up some fresh cornbread and either one is cheap, filling, nutritous, and overall excellent meal.
Make a boiled dinner.
Boil the ham bone in water - add cabbage wedges, potatoes, Rutabaga, carrots, wedged onions and some extra meat if you have it. cook til done. Yummy.
Split pea soup and a ham bone, heaven!
What else? Pea soup. The only reason I buy a ham is to get the bone for pea soup
Put the bone in water in a big pot, add chopped cabbage and boil until cabbage starts getting soft, then peel potatoes and cut into small chunks, add to the pot and salt and pepper to taste. Let cook until all is soft and pour into soup bowls, serve with bread and butter and enjoy.
My all time favorite use(s) for a ham bone are either homemade split pea soup or lima beans and hamhocks or use a ham bone instead. Just put the beans in water (sometimes soaking overnight) or use a crock pot, add onions and other vegys and had the ham bone and let cook most of the day on med-low heat, checking the water level once in awhile.
My favorite way is to boil it until meat is loose, and you can remove bones. Add a large can of crushed tomatoes, a can of Rotel tomatoes, (I use mild), one or two large chopped onions, and one cup of brown rice. Stir and return to boiling, addint salt and pepper,cover, and cook on low heat for about and hour.
Make lentil, or split pea soup you can usually find the recipe on bags of dried beans. For split pea just boil the ham bone for about 2 hours, remove and add dried peas and finely chopped carrots, celery and onion. You can also add broken of spaghetti. Try it it's good! The ham will be very tender so you can add it to the soup too.
Hambone & beans; I also add the few bits of ham that are left over from making sandwiches. Tip: After washing beans, add cold water and 1/4 tsp soda, bring to boil, remove from heat & soak for 1 hour; drain & rinse well in colander. Then add to ham bone & cold water (bone may be pre-cooked , if you like, in which case you may add the beans to the hot ham bone & broth).
Make ham pot pie with ham bone and some ham. Boil the bone with carrots,celery,onions,ham dash pepper no salt 1/2 hr Or until tender. Make dough, roll out, cut up and drop in boiling broth boil slowly 20mins or until everything is tender.
Ham and bean soups are easy to make, economical, infinitely variable, and definitely perfect for cold weather meals. This page contains some tasty ham and bean soup recipes.