Ham + Potato Soup

We are heading into soup weather here in Iowa and I can’t get enough of it. The soup, that is…not the weather. It’s always amazing to me how easy it is to come up with ingredients for a pot of soup from my cupboards and refrigerator/freezer, even if I don’t plan ahead for it.

One thing I almost always have in my freezer is ham. I buy it and then we just don’t eat it fast enough before it’s going to go bad, so I toss a few pieces or an end into the freezer for later. (Don’t you just hate wasting food? It seems like we still do, even though I try to plan closely for our needs.) This ham + potato soup recipe is the perfect place for all those odds + ends to go because it’s all getting chopped up anyway!

Another left-over I used while making the soup was mashed potatoes. We were in charge of making the potatoes to Thanksgiving for both sides of the family and I never know how much we’ll need, so I had quite a bit left-over. Now, they’re fine on their own or made into potato cakes, but I knew I wanted to make this soup, so I decided to try them in the recipe instead of using the cubed potatoes like the original recipe called for. I can safely say that I will always use mashed potatoes for this soup…it turned out so creamy + delicious that way!

What You’ll Need:

2 Tbsp. butter

1 small white onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

2 large carrots, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced (I use pre-minced—I’m lazy)

¼ Cup all-purpose flour

2 Cups chicken stock (I used low-sodium)

3 cups milk

1.5 lbs. potatoes, cooked + mashed

2 Cups ham, diced

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground pepper

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in celery, carrots, + garlic. Cook for 4 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in flour until combined, cook for 1 more minute, stirring occasionally.

2. Gradually add chicken stock until combined. Stir in milk, potatoes, ham, bay leaf, dried thyme, salt + pepper until combined. Continue cooking until mixture reaches a simmer, but not a boil.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10-15 minutes. The original recipe uses this time to cook the potatoes, but I used mashed, so this time is used to thicken + heat the soup through.

4. Serve with some crusty bread + enjoy!

My only regret about this soup is that I didn’t double the batch. I know for next time!

*Original recipe found HERE.