Hearty Ham Bone Black Bean Soup

The best black bean soup! If you are looking for a recipe for a hearty, low-fat soup using a leftover ham bone, this is for you! Key is discarding thick fat from the soup and you must use green chiles. Enjoy!

• Preparation Time: 10 mins
• Cooking Time: 5 hr
• Total Time: 5 hr 10 mins
• Calories: 310 Calories

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• ½ onion, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (19 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 drizzle olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped green chilies
• 1 ham bone with some meat
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can vegetable juice (such as V8®)
• 3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped, or more to taste
• ½ (12 ounce) package baby carrots
• 1 cup fingerling potatoes, or to taste
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (Optional)
• 1 (11 ounce) can canned corn (such as Green Giant Niblets®), drained (Optional)

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Place ham bone in a large slow cooker.

Step 2

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute celery, onion, and garlic until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour mixture over the ham bone in the slow cooker.

Step 3

Saute carrots, potatoes, and red bell pepper in the same saucepan until coated in oil, about 1 minute. Transfer vegetables to the slow cooker; add water, black beans, vegetable juice, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, cumin, salt, and black pepper. Cover and cook on High until soup is warm, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Reduce heat to Low; continue to cook for 5 to 6 hours.

Step 4

Remove ham bone from the soup. Separate meat from the bone and return to the soup; discard the bone. Cover soup and refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight. Discard thick fat on the top of the soup and reheat.