This made from scratch Cheesy Ham and Potato Chowder is thick and creamy and the perfect way to breathe new life into your leftover ham. Bacon, carrots, onion, and potato make this one hearty and delicious soup!
Use Leftover Ham
Do you make a ham for the holidays and tend to have leftovers? Well, this soup along with Easy Ham and Cheese Quiche are great for using up bits and pieces of leftover Easter or Christmas ham. Serve with some Buttermilk Cornbread Muffins and you’ve turned a little bit of leftovers into another filling meal.
Lots Of Bacon Flavor
This Cheesy Ham and Potato Chowder has lots of fantastic flavor and it all starts with bacon. Hard to go wrong when you start with bacon. 🙂
The bacon grease gets used to cook some onions and carrots. I love the extra flavor the bacon grease adds and you know we southerners don’t like to put anything to waste! 🙂
Thick Rich Texture
Flour is used as the thickening agent for this recipe. It is added to the sauteed onions and carrots, creating a roux. The flour helps thicken the milk to a degree that it has a really rich texture. For even more thickness and richness, you could add a half cup of heavy cream or half-and-half in place of half a cup of the milk.
Flour, milk, and water are added plus Better Than Bouillon for flavor, along with garlic powder and white pepper. Some diced russet potatoes are added and simmered until soft.
The ham and cheese gets added just before serving. The cheddar cheese is what really makes this soup as delicious as it is. It’s hard to resist cheesy goodness. Plus it helps give the soup a really thick and hearty consistency.
Quick and Easy Soup Recipe
All said and done, you can have this Cheesy Ham and Potato Chowder on the table in under 30 minutes.
Which Potatoes Hold Up Best In Soup?
Yukon Gold Potatoes and Red Potatoes hold up really well in soup and work great for this recipe. I typicaly use russett potatoes because they are what I am most likely to have on hand but they don’t hold up quite as well. You really can’t go wrong with any of them.
More Chowder Recipes To Try
- Cajun Shrimp and Corn Chowder
- Curried Chicken Chowder
- Crock Pot Cheesy Ham and Corn Chowder
- Turkey Corn Chowder
- Corn and Crawfish Chowder
- Southwestern Shrimp Chowder
Be sure to try these slow cooker version of ham chowder.
Watch the short video below to see how easy this recipe is to make.
Cheesy Ham and Potato Chowder
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 slices thick cut bacon,, diced
- 1 medium yellow or sweet onion,, diced
- 2 medium carrots,, peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 teaspoons better than bouillon
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 medium russet potatoes,, peeled and diced
- 2 cups diced ham
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Cook diced bacon in a Dutch oven until crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Leave about 3 tablespoons bacon grease in the Dutch oven.
- Add onion and carrots to bacon grease and cook over medium heat until soft.
- Sprinkle flour over onions and carrots. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
- Gradually stir in milk and water. Add Better Than Bouillon, black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder and potatoes and bring to a simmer.
- Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
- Turn heat to low and stir in ham and cheese until cheese is melted. Sprinkle bacon on top. Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Originally published March 29, 2017
Great recipe! I doubled it and added 8 oz cream cheese. I also used 1/4 cup less of milk (2%). I did add some salted, chicken-flavored seasoning from our favorite restaurant. My husband loved it and his only recommendation was to add some corn next time.
Anyway to let this cook in the crockpot? Or could I cook the night before, then heat up in the crockpot while at church with out messing up the texture? Thinking about serving this after church on a Sunday.
Making this tonight. Used minced garlic. A dash of turmeric. Smoked ham from Thanksgiving. Chicken broth. Sliced baby carrots, vidalia onion. I will let you know how it goes.
I use the frozenl country style hashbrowns
Could u use a chicken stock/broth in place of the water and bullion?
Yes.
There is a ham Better Than Bullion, Turkey, mushroom, and several more.
There. Are three different varieties of Better than Bouillion; beef, chicken, and vegetable. Which did you use?
Chicken, but Vegetable would be fine too.
i ordered then ham better than bullion from Amazon.
It’s a really good recipe but count on more time to prep the ingredients! Love the taste! I tweak a few things for personal preference! Thanks for a great recipe! Yay!
I made this today. I saved sometime by buying pre cut carrots because they were on sale. I find the prep time estimate fairly accurate myself. But I also skipped peeling the potatoes just as preference. Overall I’m a fan of the recipe.
Thanks for the feedback Jen!
Can you use bagged shredded cheese for this or do you need to shred your own? I know some times store bought shredded cheese won’t melt the same.
This recipe does NOT take 25 minutes to cook, I don’t care how amazing your stovetop is, and unless you are a gourmet chef, more than 10 minutes is needed for prep… honest times would be more like 30 minutes prep, and 45-60 minutes to cook… however—the finished product is to die for, and my guests said it was well worth the wait! I would definitely adjust the recipe times, and you’ve got yourself a winning blog post! 🙂
Took me a lot longer than 10 minutes to prep everything. Wish I knew that before I started it so late but my kitchen smells delicious 😋 just about to sit down and eat it now! The tastes I snuck during cooking were amazing. Can’t wait for hubby to dig in.