A healthier and easy recipe for homemade slow cooker southern ham vegetable soup made with leftover ham bone with meat and mixed frozen vegetables.
My daughter declared his Slow Cooker Southern Ham Vegetable Soup as her absolute favorite meal. Weird that she'd pick soup, right?! It's actually one of my favorites, too. This soup is hearty, nutritious, super tasty, and perfect for a chilly day. I love to make it to use up leftover ham. Sometimes I cheat and buy a Honey baked Ham. They are crazy good, even cold, straight out of the refrigerator. That crust!!! How do they do that?! I haven't mastered it yet, but I'm determined to duplicate it.
I love it when we have leftovers for sandwiches and soup. This year, we had quite a bit left so I trimmed off all of the sugary crust and top layer of fat. I used the entire ham bone with about 1 -2 pounds of meat left in the slow cooker with all of the soup ingredients. The meat just fell off the bone and it gave this soup epic flavor!
Recipe Tips
You might think that a sweeter ham, other than a smoked ham, wouldn't be good in a soup. After the sweet crust is trimmed away, there's only a hint of sweetness left and it really does compliment the flavors in the soup. You can use smoked ham or regular baked ham and it would still turn out delicious, just a slightly different flavor profile. Just use the one you like best!
In the wintertime, I'm a soup girl. I love making a lot of different hearty soups when it's cold outside. It's just the ultimate comfort food. This soup recipe is packed with good nutrition. A few more of my comfort soup favorites are Gluten-Free Lasagna Soup, Cajun Fish Soup, Italian Sausage and Ravioli Soup, Artichoke Soup, Paleo Meatball Soup, Shrimp Coconut Curry Soup, and Chicken Tortellini Soup.
Not to mention, this soup is a delicious way to get your daily serving of veggies!
Serving Suggestions
Do you know what goes perfectly with a big bowl of this ham vegetable soup?? A slice of homemade cornbread....yum. This Jalapeño Cornbread recipe from Simply Recipes is one you should definitely try. Delicious!!
If you love this recipe I would be so grateful if you could leave a 5-star 🌟rating in the recipe card below. I love reading your comments and feedback!
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Slow Cooker Southern Ham Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ham bone with meat
- 45 oz frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, green beans, peas, and lima beans) 3 (15 oz) bags
- 6 oz can tomato paste
- 1 ½ cups organic tomato juice I used & R.W. Knudsen Tomato Red Bell Pepper juice
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon green Tabasco sauce
- 2 teaspoon pepper
- enough water to cover the top of the vegetables
Instructions
- Place ham bone in the slow cooker
- Add vegetables, bay leaf, pepper and diced tomatoes
- Stir together tabasco, tomato juice, tomato paste and chicken broth until blended
- Add to slow cooker and top with just enough water to cover the top of the vegetables
- Cook 8 hours on low, pull meat from bone and stir into soup before serving.
Nutrition
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Peggy
how many servings do you get with this recipe?
Heather
Going to try this ! I winged a copy cat honey baked ham with a crunchy glaze. Key waited to "ice/frost" ham after sugar cooled till almost solid spread over ham. Also added half pack of cinnamon grahmcrackers before letting my glaze cool. Came out with a sticky crunchy spiced honey glaze after being under broiler for 20-40 seconds. Glaze got bubbly and hardened perfectly for me.
Amee Livingston
Awesome job with the copy cat Honey Baked Ham! They are so good! Let me know how you like the soup!
Christopher Ruck
Excellent soup. Added a half teaspoon of salt. Also about half way through the cooking process I added about 2 cups of red potatoes diced up. Magnificent. Thanks for the recipe. Will definitely be making again.
Amee Livingston
Thanks so much for the feedback Christopher! Glad you enjoyed it!
Marianne
Thank you for the recipe! I had a ham bone left from Christmas in the freezer! I made your soup on this cold night! It is sooo tasty!
Amee Livingston
Marianne, I'm so glad that you enjoyed the recipe!! 🙂
Brad Francis
This is a great recipe and easy to pull together. I've made it a few times now and the only change I've made is to use V8 instead of plain tomato juice. My son loves it too, particularly having the leftovers to pull out of the freezer for lunch or dinner. Nice little kick to the taste buds, but nothing overwhelming! Thanks for a great soup option for dinner!
Amee Livingston
That's a great sub, Brad! V8 is great, too! I'm so glad that you and your son enjoy the recipe! Thanks so much for the great feedback!! 🙂
James J OKeeffe
Tried this recipe as is...as a soup. What can I say? EXCELLENT! Tasty, nutritious and warm. I have also ladled it over plain rice, and that is a full-dinner option that satisfies beyond just a soup craving. So many possibilities beyond just souping it. Can't wait to me inspired more. Love the recipe, and overall flavor pleasure! Thanks for your work!
Amee Livingston
Hi James! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! I love that you served it over rice. Perfect!
Lisa C.
This recipe is delicious! My sister-in-law made this last week hen I was visiting and it was so good, I came home, bought the ingredients and it’s now in my crock pot. I didn’t have any leftover ham so I purchased 2 ham steaks with the bone in. I’ll remove the bones prior to serving. Oh, and I added just a little sugar to offset all of the tomato.
Amee Livingston
So glad that you enjoyed the recipe, Lisa! Thanks for the feedback!
Rebecca L Oxford-Bennett
My mom passed recently and this was basically the recipe she used every year with our left over Christmas ham. I remembered her using white wine though, and by the time I'd added two cups white wine and chicken stock, everything was sufficiently covered; no need for water. I also used a pressure cooker rather than crock pot. Follow instructions in recipe, and then set pressure cooker for 30min. Let steam release naturally, and in about 1.5 hours, you'll have amazing soup with deep flavors.
Amee Livingston
Hi Rebecca! I'm so sorry to hear about your mom's passing. I love the modifications that you used to stay more true to her recipe. I'm going to have to give that a try. Sounds delicious with the white wine. Happy New Year!
Dale S.
I must have read through a hundred recipes before I found this one. It looks by far the best. Have everything prepared and getting ready to load it in the Crock-Pot... Fingers crossed
Amee Livingston
Thank you Dale! I hope that you enjoy it!!
Amy Benz
Sounds delicious! How would you modify the recipe for cooking on the stovetop instead of in the crockpot? My crockpot just died, and I'd rather not go out to get a new one with the quarantine right now. Thank you!
Amee Livingston
Hi Amy! It should be fine cooked on the stove, just bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 1-2 hours until the meat falls off the bone. Stay safe and well and I hope it turns out great for you! Keep me posted! I haven’t tried this method yet.
Paula
Delicious! Just what I was looking for. My overcooked ham was perfect in this soup. We both loved it!
Amee Livingston
Thank you for the review Paula! I’m so glad that y’all enjoyed it!
Best Memories
Amee - Tomorrow morning my 31 year old son is coming over to put the leftovers from our Thanksgiving Honey Baked Ham and the other ingredients together in my crockpot. He has listened for decades as I told the story of my childhood memories of my grandmother's ham bone soup. Nothing was better on a cold winter afternoon. I've searched for this recipe for decades with no luck. While he was away in New Mexico for college he stumbled onto your site and found it here. I had sent him a Honey Baked ham that year since he was so far away from family favorites during the holidays. He was looking for something to do with the leftovers. He called me and told me how his entire apartment was filled with the wonderful aroma and how amazing it tasted on a snowy winter evening. Even the weather is cooperating in sunny Florida tonight as we dip near freezing for the first time this year. I can't thank you enough for making tomorrow possible for me and my son. I'm certain my grandmother's spirit will be watching over us in my kitchen. Thank you, Thank you. Thank you!
Amee Livingston
Awe, this just made my day!! You're so welcome. What a beautiful story! I'm so glad that you and your son enjoyed this recipe. 🙂 xo~
kevin
This recipe is amazingly good. I had a ham bone left over with no idea what to with it. Left the hot sauce out, but the flavor was still incredible. Thank you.
Amee Livingston
It's one of my favorites, too, Kevin. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it!