Butter Bean Soup with Ham and Cabbage

Butter Bean Soup with Ham and Cabbage can be made with dried or canned beans; use Lima Beans if you don’t find butter beans. 

PIN Butter Bean Soup with Ham and Cabbage!

If you’re someone who might be inclined to turn up your nose at the mention of butter beans or lima beans, stay with me for a minute here.  I first made this Butter Bean Soup with Ham and Cabbage with Florida Butter Beans, (a type of heirloom baby lima bean, also known as Calico Pole Beans) that I bought in San Francisco from Rancho Gordo Beans.  The Florida Butter Beans are creamy and delicious, and if you can find those (or something similar) I highly recommend making this soup starting with dried beans that you’ve soaked overnight.

But when I decided this recipe *must* have an updated photo, I decided to try it with canned butter beans from the supermarket, and I was happily surprised at how good it was that way too.  If you still can’t wrap your mind around the idea of butter beans or lima beans, try the soup with a different type of white bean!

I first made this soup when I had a bad cold that hung on for weeks and I needed some comfort food. But it was just as delicious when I made it again recently on one of those cold winter days where nothing sounds as appealing as soup simmering on the stove!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

How to Make Butter Bean Soup with Ham and Cabbage:

(Scroll down for complete recipe with nutritional information.)

1. If you’re lucky enough to have some dried Florida Butter Beans or another type of dried butter bean or large white bean, soak them at least 8 hours, then drain the beans.
2. If  you have canned butter beans, drain them into a colander and rinse well with cold water, until no more foam appears.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot and saute the onion and celery a few minutes; then add the Dried Thyme (affiliate link) and cook a couple of minutes more.
4. Add the beans and 2 quarts water (for dried beans ) or 6 cups water (for canned beans.) 
5. For dried beans, simmer on low until the beans are tender, probably an hour or more. 
6. For canned beans, simmer about 20 minutes. (Add more water as needed while the beans are cooking.)
7. While the beans cook, finely chop the cabbage.
8. I started with this boneless ham steak from Costco for the ham. Cut up enough ham to make about 2 cups of diced ham. (Depending on how flavorful your ham is, you may want to add a little ham bouillon to the soup when you add the ham.  Goya Ham Bouillon (affiliate link) is my favorite brand, but there are other good brands.)
9. When the dried beans are nearly soft, add the ham and cabbage and cook about 30 minutes more at a low simmer (or maybe a little longer for dried beans), until the beans are quite soft and the cabbage is completely soft and almost dissolving into the soup.
10. And here’s how my soup looked after it had simmered more and was ready to eat.

More Recipes Using Butter Beans or Large White Beans:

Ottolenghi’s Fried Beans with Sorrel, Feta, and Sumac ~ David Lebovitz
Spanish Chicken Baked with Butter Beans, Chorizo, and Olives ~ Cook Sister
Southern Butter Beans ~ Never Enough Thyme
Florida Butter Beans with Caramelized Onions and Bacon ~ The Kitchn
Butter Bean Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, Feta, and Basil Vinaigrette – Kalyn’s Kitchen

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep  to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Dried beans are approved for all phases of the South Beach Diet, but the serving size is limited for phase one. Since this soup has other things besides beans, you could eat a small bowl for phase one or a larger bowl for phase two or three. Soup with beans like this is too high in carbs for a low-carb diet plan.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Soup Recipes to find more tasty soups like this one! Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

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