Tuscan Ham Bone Soup in the Slow Cooker

It’s the perfect time of year to try this Tuscan Ham Bone Soup. Naming this soup has been hard as I never really know what to call something when I just make up a recipe our of nowhere. Should it be called, Tuscan Ham and Kale Soup or a Tuscan Ham and Bean soup? This soup is probably already invented and people have been making a similar ham bone soup recipe for thousands of years but I just discovered this flavor combo!

What’s in this Tuscan Ham Bone Soup?

This soup has all the good things! Ham from the ham bone, beans (pinto was used in this recipe, but anything you have will work), frozen kale from the 2020 garden, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, celery, and a few simple seasonings make this soup full of flavor!

Soup is always best when it starts off with a quick saute of onion and celery in butter and olive oil. The flavor profile of using both is what I like in any soup.

• 1 small to medium onion, chopped fine
• 2 ribs of celery chopped fine
• butter and olive oil for sauteing
• ham bone
• 1 cup of dried beans
• 2 cups frozen or fresh kale- chopped fine
• cubed potatoes, white and sweet
• Italian seasoning blend to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2-3 TBSP Cornstarch

Let’s Put This Soup Together

The way you make this soup may differ from the way I make it depending on your slow cooker brand and it’s capabilities. Mine is a Pampered Chef Rock Crock brand and it is able to be used on my stove top as well as in the slow cooker base. This makes it convenient for sauteing right in the same pan as what we will add to the slow cooker to cook on low for the day. If your slow cooker base is not meant to be used on your stove top, just use a skillet or small pan and then add it all to your crockpot or slow cooker.

• saute celery and onion in butter and olive oil until they start to brown
• Add water and ham bone to slow cooker and heat to boiling
  • You may have to break the knuckle of the bone to get the lid on
• Add to slow cooker base or pour the mixture into your crockpot
• rinse and add beans
• allow to cook for 2-3 hours to get a good ham broth

• remove ham bone and add kale and potatoes (If you want firmer potatoes, wait another hour to add them)
• remove all ham from the bone and add back to the soup
• Add pepper and seasonings, I used about 1 teaspoon of an Italian blend from Pampered Chef
• Continue cooking for an additional 2-3 hours on low until the beans are done

If you can’t take your slow cooker out and use it on your stove top, turn your heat up to high during the last 30 minutes of cooking so you can add a little milk and cornstarch slurry to thicken it up. This will help it to be boiling when you do the next step.

• move the pan back to the stove top and bring the soup to a boil
• mix cornstarch into milk
• add cornstarch and milk to boiling soup and stir until thickened
• remove from stove top and serve in bowls