Slow Cooker Ham Potato Soup
This Slow Cooker Ham Potato Soup is rich, creamy, AND cheesy. It’s also loaded with ham and potatoes for a ton of flavor and a bowlful of satisfying soup that will fill up even the heartiest eaters.
This time of year, soup is always at the top of our recipe list, and one of our favorites to make is this ham and potato soup. We love to use leftover holiday ham and those extra potatoes we have to make this super hearty and delicious soup.
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s a rich, creamy soup that’s full of flavor.
- The ham, potatoes, and cheese make a bowlful of hearty, filling soup everyone loves.
- It’s super easy to make in the slow cooker.
- It’s a great meal for any day of the week and an excellent way to use leftover holiday ham.
🛒Ingredients
You’ll only need a few simple ingredients to make this recipe, and you can find them all in your kitchen or in one quick trip to the grocery store.
All the ingredients you need are listed here, but you’ll find the exact amounts in the recipe card at the end of the post.
- Chicken stock
- Russet potatoes – peeled and chopped
- Onion – chopped
- Black pepper
- Ham – cubed (1/2 cup reserved)
- Evaporated milk
- Cream cheese – softened
- Shredded cheddar cheese – divided
- Scallions
🔪 How to Make Slow Cooker Ham Potato Soup
Making this soup is super easy. The bulk of the cooking is done by the slow cooker, with only a small bit of stovetop frying to get some of the ham crispy. It’s super simple, and it’s perfect for even busy weeknights.
Step 1: Cook the Potatoes
Add the chicken stock, potatoes, onion, pepper, and ham to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours until the potatoes are tender.
Step 2: Add the Milk and Cheese
Add the evaporated milk, cream cheese, and 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, and stir into the soup, breaking up some of the potatoes along the way.
Step 3: Cook the Ham
Fry the reserved ham in a small skillet over medium-high heat until crispy on the outside.
Step 4: Serve
Ladle the soup into bowls and top with reserved cheese, fried ham, and scallions. Enjoy!
📝Variations
Do you want to change up this recipe and make it your own? Here are some ways that you can do that!
- Spicy – Add red pepper flakes for a kick of heat.
- Potatoes – You can use russet or Yukon gold potatoes for this recipe.
- Ham – Use any kind of you like for this recipe. Leftover ham, smoked ham, cured ham – they all work.
- Broccoli – Add broccoli in the last hour of cooking time for even more flavor.
If you love easy, cheesy ham and potato recipes like this one, then check out our crock pot scalloped potatoes and ham.
🥄 Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Slow cooker
- Wooden spoon
🥫 Storage
Refrigerate this soup for up to 3 days in an air-tight container. Don’t freeze this soup. Cream cheese or milk-based soups usually break when reheated.
What to Serve with Ham and Potato Soup
This rich, hearty soup is a full meal all on its own, so we recommend keeping things simple. Serve this soup with:
- Side salad
- Crusty bread
- Garlic bread
- Texas toast
- Breadsticks
💭 Tips
- While you don’t have to fry the ham for this soup, it gives it much more flavor.
- It’s important to break up some of the potatoes as you mix in the cheese. This is what thickens the soup.
- This is the PERFECT soup for using up leftover ham.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
When the potatoes are soft, mash some of them to create a thicker soup. Alternately, you can whisk 2 tbsp of cornstarch or flour with 1/4 cup of cool water and stir that into the soup.
Ham soup is one that never needs additional salt, as the ham itself is so salty. If you season the soup with salt, you will almost certainly have an unpleasantly salty outcome.
Soups made with cream cheese, cream, and/or milk tend to break when defrosted, resulting in a watery, gross mess.
🍽 More Recipes
Do you enjoy soup? Then try these delicious recipes:
🧾Recipe Card
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
Slow Cooker Ham Potato Soup
Equipment
- slow cooker
- Wooden spoon
- ladle
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4 pounds russet potatoes peeled and chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pound ham cubed, reserve ½ cup
- 12 ounces evaporated milk
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese divided
- Scallions
Instructions
- In your slow cooker add the chicken stock, potatoes, onion, pepper and ham.
- Stir together and cover.
- Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours or until the potatoes are tender.
- To the slow cooker add the evaporated milk, cream cheese and 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese.
- Using a wooden spoon stir the cheeses and milk into the soup, breaking up some of the potatoes as go. You want to break up some of the potatoes to help thicken the soup.
- In a small skillet over medium high heat fry up the reserved ½ cup of ham until crispy on the outside.
- Ladle into bowl, top with the reserved cheese, fried ham and scallions.
