hearty ham & lentil soup

Warm up with a steaming bowl of Hearty Ham & Lentil Soup. Loaded with nourishing veggies & bone broth, this is the perfect recipe to make use of the leftover holiday ham. Simple & rustic, this will chase away the winter chills.

Let’s get real – one can only eat so many holiday leftovers. Or is it just me? I’m not a huge fan of leftovers unless we’re talking about a good curry. Yesterday I managed to use up the 96 pounds of leftover turkey we had in the fridge. My puppy is very happy.

Ham soup is pretty forgiving & you can throw whatever blows your hair back into the pot. I opted for carrots, turnips, leeks, rutabagas (known as ‘swede’ in my country), tomato paste, home made stock or broth & a little extra chopped ham. I used the ham bone from the Thanksgiving shenanigans. If your ham was boneless, you can buy one from most grocery stores. Even Wal-Mart sell them. So come on, get rid of those leftovers. Your fridge will thank you. Make a batch of Hearty Ham & Lentil Soup & freeze it for those days when you just don’t have it in you to make dinner. Cheers, Lovoni xo

If ham soup isn’t your thing then check out these other yummy soups:

• Creamy Curry Cauliflower Soup
• Golden Curry Chicken Soup
• Creamy Butternut Squash & Ginger Soup

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hearty ham & lentil soup

This makes the perfect soup for leftover ham after the holidays. Serve steaming bowls of the soup with crusty bread for those chilly nights. The soup freezes well up to 3 months.

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time1 hr 20 mins

Total Time1 hr 40 mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American, Australian, British

Keyword: ham soup

Servings: 6

Author: Lovoni Walker

Ingredients

• 1 leek, trimmed, thinly sliced & washed
• 1 1/2 cups diced carrot
• 1 1/2 cups diced rutabaga (swede)
• 1 1/2 cups diced turnips
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
• 1 ham bone
• 2 cups roughly chopped ham
• 15 oz can brown lentils, rinsed & drained (425g)
• 3 handfuls finely shredded kale
• shaved parmesan cheese, fried onions & warm baguette to serve, optional

Instructions

• Combine leek, carrot, rutabaga, turnips, garlic, stock, tomato paste & pepper in a pot or Dutch oven.
• Add the ham bone. Cover & bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/4 hours. Remove the ham bone. Cut off any ham off the bone, chop it & add it to the pot.
• Add the other 2 cups of chopped ham (if you have lots of ham left on the bone, you might not need 2 cups of extra ham but I just had a small ham bone so I added more). Add lentils & stir to combine. Cook for 5 minutes until hot.
• Add kale & stir for 30 seconds or until just wilted.
• Ladle the soup into heated bowls. Top with parmesan & onions. Serve with torn warm baguette. Serves 6.