How to Make Ham Soup Stock with Leftover Ham Bones and Vegetables
Homemade ham stock filled with flavor and nutrients. For more tips and answers to common questions refer to the bottom of this blog post.
Prep Time25 minutesmins
Cook Time4 hourshrs
Total Time4 hourshrs25 minutesmins
Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: ham bone, ham soup, ham stock
Servings: 6cups
Calories: 44kcal
Author: Getty Stewart
Ingredients
1-3large cooked ham bones & trimmed bits
1large onionroughly chopped
2celery ribs & leavesroughly chopped
2carrotsroughly chopped
any vegetable peelings & endsif available*
leftover tomato salsa, sauce or juiceif available**
any vegetables hiding in the back of the fridgeif available***
2-3sprigs fresh thyme1 tsp dried
2bay leaves
1/2cupchopped parsleyleaves & stems
1tbspvinegar
1tspsalt
5black pepper kernels
4-6cupswaterjust enough to cover everything
Instructions
After your ham dinner is finished, slice off as many lovely, large slices as you can from your ham. Save the nice large slices for sandwiches or leftovers. Then use a smaller knife and remove as many little pieces of ham as you can. Store these these smaller pieces in the fridge until your ready to make your final soup. Place any pieces that don't appeal to you into the soup pot. If there are pieces that are just fat, toss them in the garbage as they will leave your stock too fatty and you'll have to skim your stock later.
Once you've picked off all the good bits from the ham bones, place them in the pot with any of the other trimmings. If you'd like, you can crack or split the bones at the joints if possible to get even greater flavor and to get the most gelatin. It's okay to skip this step and toss in the whole bone as is if you prefer.
Add vegetables,any leftover sauces, herbs, vinegar and spices.
Cover with 4 to 6 cups cold water so that everything is covered by no more than one inch of water. Too much water will prevent good flavor from developing.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat immediately to a low simmer. Simmer for 2 hours.
Remove from heat and carefully remove and discard large pieces of vegetables or bones from the pot. Pour stock through a fine mesh strainer into a clean pot or bowl.
Cool and store in a refrigerator, preferably over night.
When the stock has cooled, skim off any fat that has collected on the top with a spoon.
Heat and use your stock as desired. Adjust seasoning accordingly.
Makes 4-6 cups of stock
Notes
*Potato or sweet potato peels will make stock cloudy. **Tomato products will change the overall flavor of your stock, but if you're planning to make soup with tomato flavoring go for it. ***Avoid using strong tasting vegetables so they don't overpower the flavor of your stock (beets, broccoli, fennel, asparagus, rutabaga, parsnips, cabbage, cauliflower etc.) Starchy veggies like potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash will make your stock cloudy. ****Make this in a crock pot. Simply toss everything in a crock-pot, turn to low and cook for 8-10 hours.