Crockpot Ham and Potato Soup

Crockpot ham and potato soup with heavy cream and ham hocks is amazing! You can use leftover ham too with carrots and celery to make this creamy bowl of comfort food for your family tonight.

It’s that time of year again. When it’s chilly outside you need to make this with diced russets or frozen hashbrowns. I promise you it will become your new favorite Crockpot recipe.

This is the best way of how to cook ham hocks in slow cooker, not alone but into an entire meal everyone at your dinner table is going to love.

It also a fantasic leftover ham recipe you can create after Thanksgiving or Christmas time. It is thick and creamy like chowder, a true dump dinner you’ll love. We like to make it cheesy too with some inside and more shredded on the top. If you need a dairy free version I will add suggestions for that as well, we have made that too.

Ham Hock Soup

If you’ve never bought those weird looking bones with bits of meat surrounding them in the store, you should! OH How I love them. We have made slow cooker ham and beans with them before too and it is an amazing way to add a ton of flavor (and cheap).

Ingredient Notes

We are focusing on smoked Ham hocks, or diced up leftover ham to add meat to this dish. I picked up a package of two of these at the store the other day. Total was 1.5 pounds and it was only $4.23. Talk about a cheap and easy Crockpot soup idea!

For the initial liquid to cook most of the day to get the meat to pull away from the bones and get the vegetables tender we use Chicken broth. Honestly, if all I have is vegetable broth, I would just use that. Use what you have on hand I say.

Let’s talk about potatoes. I usually have a bag of russet in my pantry. We do live in Idaho so…….that’s a given. Red are great too though. The biggest difference is how firm they are and remain during the cooking process. Even after 6 hours these held up really nice, just remember to not dice them up too small.

We like to add some diced Onions and minced garlic to add flavor with any seasonings that you wish to add. Oregano and Basil are what I typically will add. Garlic salt and/or pepper is an option too.

Carrots and celery cut into small bite size pieces or you can throw in baby carrots like you see here, the more veggies the better if you ask me but they should be submerged.

Heavy cream will make it creamy. I recommend “regular”, not low-fat as that isn’t as thick and we are going for comfort food here (don’t count the calories). This is a heavy cream substitute you can use if you don’t have any on hand.

Cornstarch and a bit of cool water is a thickener for the end. If you need a gluten free alternative you can use arrowroot flour instead.

If you want it to be more creamy and delicious, rather than chunky then dice the potatoes half this size you see above. You could also use an emersion blender when done right inside the Crock pot.

Ham and Potato Soup with Frozen Hashbrowns

If you wanted to make this one with bagged already cut in the frozen section like our Crockpot potato soup with frozen hashbrowns you could certainly use that. The difference will be the texture at the end, it will be rather smooth and not quite as thick so you may want a bit more cornstarch to make up some of the difference.

Variations and Substitutions

You can dice up a ham steak instead of ham bones so you don’t have to pull meat off the bone but you won’t get that smoky flavor. You can slice more carrots and celery, or omit them all. Top with green onions when serving a bowl for added garnish (color) and a bit more texture. We like to add more cheese by stirring in more at the end, plus on top of each bowl when served.

How do you thicken ham and potato soup?

At the end I wanted it to have a creamier base, but you could leave this part out and enjoy it as is. It would be amazing either way. After that heated up I thought it needed to be a bit thicker so cornstarch was added too. It really is a super easy throw together meal. The only “work” in the middle is if you use ham bone you’ll want to remove the meat and fat mid way through.

To thicken this you just whisk cornstarch in a small bowl with remaining 1/4 c. remaining heavy cream. Stir. Put lid back on and cook on low for 30 more minutes. Sometimes I will add shredded cheddar cheese to the top when served…because that’s amazing too.

Do not cook on high, really. Low and slow is key when you’re making any type of Crockpot potato soup recipe.

Does cream cheese thicken up ham and potato soup?

I mean if you didn’t have heavy cream you could use this instead but you would want to let it sit on the counter to really soften up. Then whisk chunks of it into the broth until it gets smooth. A plus to this is you can find it in dairy free forms which you may need.

How do you make potato soup thick without dairy?

You can find lactose free cream cheese and/or sour cream that can be substituted for the cream. Another option is to thicken almond milk or cashew milk with a bit more cornstarch until you get a smooth mixture and pour that in. Any of these will make it creamy but be free of dairy.

Can you freeze ham and potato soup?

Certainly. The cream may separate a bit when reheated, just keep that in mind. The flavor will remain but the look might be altered slightly. Store when cooled in airtight freezer bowls or bags up to 3 months.

Other easy to prep meals you’ll love

Loaded baked potato soup in the slow cooker is amazing too. We make slow cooker mashed potatoes during the holidays. Baked potatoes in a Crockpot are great with our 5 ingredient chili too.

Wanted to make something similar but faster so I created Instant Pot barley soup. Black eyed peas and ham hock is a great New Years dinner too, they’re known to be lucky you know.