Ham & Potato Soup recipe

Ham & Potato Soup is one of our favorite meals. I have adapted the recipe to suit our family & wrote it out recently for our girls, so I thought I would share in case anyone else is interested. =) We have a spiral sliced honey ham (from Aldi) about every 4-6 weeks (another one of our favorite meals – it’s also economical & has lots of leftovers for ham and eggs, soup, ham sandwiches, etc.) & save the bone. If we’re not going to do the soup right away, we’ll freeze the bone & some of the ham until we’re ready.

Ham & Potato Soup
Boil a ham bone in a large stockpot for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour – with enough water to cover the bone. It’s fine to have some meat left on the bone also. (I like to let it go in the instant pot for several hours.)

While that is boiling, cut up leftover ham pieces (we usually use about 2-4 Cups, but you can adjust according to what you have or how much you like in it).

Peel, wash & dice up 10-15 medium sized russet potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Soak them in a bowl of cold water to prevent browning if you’re not ready to add them into the soup right away. (Can add more or less to your preference.)

Take the ham bone out & check for any bone or cartilage pieces (a spider is a great tool for this). Add in the drained potatoes & ham pieces.
You can cut off any good ham pieces left on the bone and add them back into the pot as well.

Boil until potatoes are soft (maybe 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes; you want them to be fork-tender)

When the potatoes are soft, or within 5 minutes of being ready, make the roux in a separate pan:
1 C butter
1 C flour (you can add 1/4 C more if you like the soup thicker)
4 C milk or half & half (we usually have whole milk on hand & just use that, it’s more cost effective & it’s what we have on hand already, so it doesn’t require shopping for a special ingredient, but you can use any milk, especially if you’re watching calories, it just won’t taste as rich)

Whisk constantly to prevent burning. When it just starts to thicken (it doesn’t take very long, & you don’t want it to get clumpy!), pour immediately into the big pot. Stir. Add salt & pepper to taste. We usually add 2-3 tsp salt. Fresh minced garlic is a hit also!

**Updated 9/23 to add GF/DF option below**

Since we have been eating GF/DF the past several years, we have finally figured out how to make it good without all the dairy & gluten! 😀

Instead of making the roux, you can either blend up leftover baked potatoes to help thicken it, or make a cornstarch slurry with cold water & mix that it near the end. (Or both!) The soup always thickens as it cools.