If you’re wondering what to do with your leftover Christmas ham, I have the answer! THIS: Ham and Lentil Soup.
The most delicious soup made with melt-in-your-mouth red lentils and ham! Topped with crispy bits of ham on top – this is going to be your go-to soup this holiday season.
We decided that since this was Tony’s FIRST CHRISTMAS that we would host a Christmas party! After the party, we had a good amount of ham leftover, which was awesome because the truth is that I like ham better as an ingredient in a recipe than on its own. The leftover hambone is worth more to me than the meat itself – it imparts SO much flavor in soup!
I know lentils never really look very appetizing but anyone who has tried them knows how tasty they are. This soup is comforting and filling and the perfect dish to enjoy around the holidays. It makes A LOT of soup too, which is great for those hosting family or for those looking to stash the freezer with tasty leftovers.
Fry up some chopped pieces of ham and top your soup with them – it makes this “nice” dish feel “naughty.” Yes, I definitely just called ham soup “naughty.” I don’t even know… just trust me and try it!
This Christmas has been a really special one for my family because… we have a little baby in the house! Our little guy isn’t even three months old yet but he has made this Christmas so much fun for us. We put up more decorations this year both inside and outside the house (love these solar power outdoor Christmas lights!). And we decided to have our very first Christmas party, which will hopefully now be an annual event! We invited all of our Pittsburgh friends, and we all crammed into our tiny cozy living room and had a blast. We played Christmas music, served mulled wine and hot chocolate in my two Instant Pots (so people could serve themselves), and catered most of the food (because #newmom). I had my husband dress up as Santa Claus!
Here’s a picture of the three of us from our party:
Baby Tony loved meeting Santa! Well, actually, at first, he pulled on Santa’s beard – probably to make sure he was the real deal. But once he confirmed that Santa was legit, he decided the two of them were cool.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and we wish you all the best this holiday season!!
For more leftover ham recipes, you might like:
- Creamy Ham and Wild Rice Soup (instant pot)
- Split Pea Soup with Ham (instant pot)
- French Garbure Soup
- Cantonese Ham and Lotus Root Soup
Need to make a ham first? Here’s my recipe for ham with a spiced honey glaze (instant pot).
Ham & Lentil Soup (Instant Pot & Slow Cooker)
Ham & Lentil Soup (Instant Pot & Slow Cooker)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 2 onions diced
- 3 stalks celery diced
- 3 carrots sliced
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 8 cups water
- 1 meaty ham bone
- 1 pound red lentils
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 ½ teaspoons black pepper adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
Instant Pot Directions
- Press the sauté button on the Instant Pot, and add the oil, onions, celery, carrots and garlic to the pot. Stir-fry for 5 minutes. (This is an optional step. You can dump everything in at once if you want).
- Add the remaining ingredients to the pot.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 35 minutes at high pressure.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Remove the ham bone from the pot. Once cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone and put it back in the pot.
- Serve the soup with fried pieces of chopped ham (make sure you do this! It takes the soup to another level!).
Slow Cooker Directions
- Add everything to the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
- Serve the soup with fried pieces of chopped ham (make sure you do this! It takes the soup to another level!).
Notes
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve the soup with fried pieces of chopped ham (make sure you do this! It takes the soup to another level!).
- If reheating, thin the soup out with water or broth.
Lygia says
Made this recipe this evening. Absolutely delicious!😋 I used mostly homemade chicken broth for the liquid and added about a teaspoon of Madras curry powder, garam masala, and 1/2 tsp of cumin, plus some chopped celery leaves (2 tbsp-ish) I’d frozen from the garden. This is now my go-to recipe for the classic hambone pea soup my mom used to make, since pea soup doesn’t agree with me but lentils do! Thank you so much!! 🙏🏾
Abbie says
Delicious. I really enjoy your recipes.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Abbie! Happy to hear that 🙂
Deb says
Delicious! I only had cubed leftover black forest ham, so I used chicken stock instead of water to make up for flavor lost by not having a ham bone. Also did not add salt and used a smaller amount of dried thyme instead of fresh. Thickens up and tastes even better the next day.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Deb, that’s great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how much you liked it 🙂
Sue B says
I already have ham off the bone from another recipe, do I still need to cook for 35 minutes?
Darin Diehl says
I made this as my first meal in our new Instapot. So delicious. Really pleased with the texture and how well the flavours combine.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Darin, I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how the soup turned out for you 🙂
Patty says
Excellent recipe! I used other lentil I didn’t have any red. And I topped with extra crispy bacon I forgot to take ham off the meaty bone. This soup was gone in less than an hour, for three people.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Patty, that’s great to hear! Glad you liked this recipe so much!
Stephanie Crum says
I couldn’t find red lentils and had green ones in my pantry so I am currently making this in my crockpot with green lentils. I’m hoping it comes out tasty with this substitution.
My Heart Beets says
I’m sure it’ll be good with green lentils – please let me know how it goes 🙂
donna says
Can you make this with green lentils?
Val says
Very hearty soup! Perfect for a winter dinner. I substituted half of the water with chicken stock. The cayenne pepper does make a big difference – I omitted it so my daughter would eat it during cooking but added some to my portion and it really does elevate the flavors.
My Heart Beets says
Val, I’m glad you liked this soup 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you!
NigTex says
Can you make this with other lentils
Tesscod says
This was so flavourful! I made it in the Instant Pot and used Better than Bouillon vegetable stock and omitted the cayenne. You were absolutely right about the crispy ham. Delicious soup and I will definitely make this again.
My Heart Beets says
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for letting me know how the soup turned out for you – and the crispy ham 🙂
Dan McAuliffe says
We just made this tonight and are eating it as I type.
On the plus side, the consistency is excellent and the flavors are great. I am shocked, however, as to the level of heat provided by the cayenne. It’s INCREDIBLY spicy. With just a 1/4 tsp of cayenne I am surprised by its dominance.
Is that consistent with other’s experiences?
Tri says
Love this recipe. The only thing I changed was using my stick blender to smooth it out. This makes recipe number 2 of yours that I love!
My Heart Beets says
Tri, that’s so great to hear! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you! Hope you’ll keep letting me know what recipes of mine you try 🙂
Julie says
I had a lot of left over ham so I decided to do a taste test. I made a batch in the instant pot and one in the slow cooker. They tasted the same but sure liked it being done in 1 hour vs 8. Both were excellent! Planning on taking some to work to share at lunch. What do you think about freezing some?
My Heart Beets says
Julie, that is awesome!! I’m so happy to hear that you did an instant pot vs slow cooker cook off lol! I think it’d be fine to freeze 🙂
Dayton says
I subbed low sodium chicken broth for water and used some poultry seasoning instead of thyme (I was out). I also added 2 tsp of Spanish paprika. This was by far the best soup I have ever made. Thank you so much for sharing!
My Heart Beets says
That’s awesome!! So happy to hear that 🙂
Jack says
Great recipe, but the cooking time seems way off. I set my instant pot for 15 minutes at high pressure and then let the pressure release naturally (about 30 minutes) and it came out perfect. 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Jack! I call for that amount of time to get as much out of the ham bone as possible 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
Vicki says
This is so delicious and easy!! I can think of so many uses for the fried ham bits – this is a game changer. My husband loves it too, so this one is definitely going into the rotation.
My Heart Beets says
Vicki, I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Theresa says
This is a very good and easy recipe. Just made it and the addition of the cayenne to the recipe is amazing and takes the spice level so much higher. Additionally, this is the first time when making lentil soup that the lentils did not turn to mush. This is a keeper!
My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Theresa! So happy to hear that you liked it!! 🙂
LkM says
I made this today and am eating it right now and it’s really good! I’m so happy I finally found use for the baggies of red lentils that have been in my pantry forever!
My leftover ham did not include a ham bone so I used chicken stock as liquid (instead of water as stated in recipe) to give it some flavor and I also put in about 1.5 cups of chopped up ham in the soup to cook with all the vegetables, once again, to give the soup flavor to make up for the missing ham bone.
I had a less lentils than stated (probably half a pound) in the recipe therefore put in less broth – probably just 6 cups max. I kept the quantities of vegetables the same because I love vegetables. Since I used a chopper the vegetables were chopped up small so I only sauteed for a couple minutes and then set pressure cook time to 30 minutes. I didn’t want to overcook the ham.
It turned out great! Plenty of flavor and that kick from cayenne added to it. The fried ham definitely added to the flavor but for the second bowl I didn’t even bother, it was good in and of itself especially with the ham in the soup that I added. Thanks for the recipe! I’m new to this site (this recipe brought me here) and now I’ll have to look around to see what else I might want to try from here. I do love beets so you may have similar taste buds to mine. 🙂
My Heart Beets says
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂 Hope you’ll let me know if you try any more recipes from the site!
Susan Baer says
Amazing soup ! Just finished making it in the instant pot
My Heart Beets says
Susan, that’s so great to hear! Glad you liked it 🙂
JT says
made this tonight. Not impressed lentils turned to mush and the soup was very thin and bland. I simmered it down to half and put it in the blender. Added fried ham. My husband said it was just ok. This really needs some acid or zest. Something to brighten up the flavor.
My Heart Beets says
Sorry to hear that you didn’t care for the recipe. Just so you know though, the red lentils are supposed to melt into the soup – they do not retain their shape…
Marcia Davidson says
Hearty, delicious, a keeper, could become legendary. Kept it on warm when done and had a bowl for lunch and again at supper! Had taken our left over spiral hambone and cooked in Dutch oven on stove for a few hours. Removed ham bone. Put broth outside overnight (Wisconson winter)to let fat rise to the top and skimmed off next day. Not much meat left on bone so fried up bacon and crumbled in. Added a can of coconut milk, a few extra carrots. My new favourite!
My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Marcia! I think “could become legendary” is the best compliment one can get about a dish, lol! Appreciate the review 🙂
Tandy ingro says
Loved this recipe. Made it tonight with my leftover honey baked ham bone from Thanksgiving. Big hit.
My Heart Beets says
I’m so happy to hear that you liked the soup! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Julielyn says
How many servings does this make? Am I right in guessing 4-6?
My Heart Beets says
Yes, I’d say 4-6 🙂
Eric says
Love your recipes! I would love to try making this but I cannot find “Meaty Ham Bone” at my grocery store. Is there a certain approximate amount of ham meat you recommend I use? Congratulations on the birth of your child…I am sure you are busy!
My Heart Beets says
Hi Eric, thank you! I use a leftover ham bone – the next time you buy a ham, just save the bone! The flavor mostly comes from the bone so it can have as much or as little meat as you’d like on it.
Julielyn says
For anything like this, I always look for a Ham Hock. They’re not always readily available, but definitely, ask your butcher or grocery store meat cutter about them.
I found a great local butcher and order four of them at a time. They aren’t too big and are just fine to freeze until you need them.
debrazgalaxy says
YUM. Excellent flavor! I altered it a bit due to lack of Thyme or tomato paste-
Excellent instructions especially for a newbie like me to make. Thank you.
My Heart Beets says
Happy to hear that you liked it! 🙂
Beka says
Can you do this with the regular (brownish) lentils you find in the regular grocery store isles? I mean I know that kind isn’t the red kind, but is it a huge difference? Thanks!
Ananth says
Had a chance to try this tonight. If I had one word to describe this recipe it would be “hearty”….and if I had three words to describe this recipe it would be “really darn tasty”. The chunks of ham are critical in my opinion and certainly are delicious when fried beforehand as suggested. The salty-sweet ham chunks enveloped by the creamy lentil soup is a wonderful interplay of flavor. Certainly an excellent dish for a winter lunch or dinner.
My Heart Beets says
I’m so glad you liked this soup, Ananth! Such a great review of the recipe – thanks for letting me know how it turned out 🙂
Angela says
Can I do it with leftover ham that is no longer on the bone?
My Heart Beets says
Hi, yes you can! It may not be as flavorful but it’ll still be good 🙂