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This Slow Cooker ham and beans is the kind of recipe that practically makes itself. Three ingredients — dried beans, a ham bone, water — and eight hours later you’ve got a thick, creamy, deeply savory soup that tastes like you actually tried. Toss it together before work and come home to a house that smells incredible. That’s really it.
Why You’ll Love This
- Only 3 ingredients — dried beans, a ham bone, and water do all the work.
- Incredibly creamy broth — the beans release their starch as they cook and turn the liquid into something thick and almost gravy-like, no cream required.
- Budget-friendly — a pound of dried beans costs under two dollars, and you can feed six people for next to nothing.
- True set-it-and-forget-it — ten minutes of prep, then the Slow Cooker handles the rest all day.
- Reheats perfectly — the soup actually gets better the next day, making it great for meal prep and lunches all week.
About the Ingredients
The beans: I use great northern beans and have never really questioned it. Navy beans work too, and cannellini if you want something a little creamier and bigger. Don’t use black beans — wrong soup, wrong flavor profile, trust me on this one.
The ham: If you have a bone from a holiday ham, this is its moment. A meaty bone is ideal — you want some actual ham still clinging to it, not just a bare knob. If you don’t have one, a smoked ham hock works great, or honestly just two to three cups of leftover chopped ham (the kind from those oval foil packets works in a pinch).
The water: Just water. Not broth. The ham and beans make their own broth, and it’s better than anything out of a carton.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried great northern beans, rinsed and sorted through (pick out any shriveled ones or little pebbles)
- 1 meaty ham bone, or about 2 to 3 cups chopped cooked ham
- 8 cups water (give or take)
Instructions
Prep the beans: Rinse your beans under cold water and look through them to discard any pebbles or debris. Spread them in the bottom of a 5- or 6-quart Slow Cooker.
Assemble: Nestle the ham bone right in the middle (or scatter your chopped ham over the top). Pour in the water.
Slow Cook: Cover with the lid. Cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours (recommended) or on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours. The beans are done when they are completely tender and the broth is beautifully thick and cloudy.
Shred the meat: Carefully fish out the ham bone. Let it cool slightly, pull off any remaining meat, and stir the meat back into the pot. Discard the bone.
Thicken: Take the back of a big spoon and mash a small portion of the beans against the side of the pot to extra-thicken the broth. Stir well.
Season: Taste before adding any salt (the ham is naturally very salty). Season with black pepper or hot sauce to taste.
Playing Around With It
I’ve made this with a splash of cream stirred in during the last hour — maybe half a cup — and it makes it even richer if you’re going for something more indulgent. It’s still technically three ingredients, just one of them is cream now.
You can also do a half-water, half-milk situation, but add the milk toward the end or it can get a little weird-looking. Not bad weird, just… separated in a way that I find annoying even if it tastes fine.
If your ham is really lean — like sliced deli ham, which I don’t recommend but sometimes that’s all you’ve got — throw in a smoked ham hock alongside it. You need that fat and smoky depth or the broth tastes flat.
Leftovers & Storage
This soup keeps in the fridge for four or five days, and it thickens up considerably overnight. Don’t panic. Add a splash of water when you reheat it and stir it around and it comes right back.
I portion leftovers into individual containers for lunches, which sounds very organized of me. In reality I usually do it Sunday night while watching something on TV and feel extremely virtuous about myself for approximately forty-eight hours until I remember I also need to figure out dinner again.
It freezes well too, though I’ll be honest — it never lasts long enough in our house to make it to the freezer.
How to Serve
Serve it with cornbread if you’re doing this right. Or crusty bread, or even just buttered toast — anything that can soak up that thick, porky broth. A green salad on the side if you want to feel balanced about the whole thing.
Sliced white bread and a glass of sweet iced tea is still, honestly, my favorite way to eat it. Some things don’t need improving.
I should probably go check on that ham bone in the freezer.
Slow Cooker 3-Ingredient Ham and Beans
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried great northern beans rinsed and sorted
- 1 meaty ham bone or 2 to 3 cups chopped cooked ham
- 8 cups water give or take
Instructions
- Rinse the dried great northern beans under cold water and sort through them, discarding any debris or shriveled beans.
- Spread the beans evenly in the bottom of a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker.
- Nestle the ham bone in the center of the beans, or scatter chopped cooked ham over the top.
- Pour the water into the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 8–10 hours, or on high for 4–6 hours, until the beans are completely tender and the broth is thick and cloudy.
- Carefully remove the ham bone and let it cool slightly.
- Pull any remaining meat from the bone and stir the meat back into the beans.
- Discard the bone.
- Mash a small portion of the beans against the side of the slow cooker with the back of a spoon to thicken the broth.
- Stir well, then taste before adding salt.
- Season with black pepper or hot sauce to taste and serve warm.