Fresh lemon and herby dill are the perfect spring combo in this comforting ham potato soup! Ready in minutes and incredible with crusty bread slices for dipping.
Your Easter ham leftovers are heading to the ultimate final destination today! Doesn’t get much better than a quick and easy soup that comes together in one pot and contains a metric truckload of comfort.
This is one of those soups that bridges the gap between winter and spring perfectly because it’s SUPER cozy and hearty, yet tastes light and springy at the same time.
All hail the almighty combo of lemon + dill is all I’ve gotta say.
The real winning part about this soup is that it’s easy to go off-script and use different veggies, meats, etc depending on what you have on hand. Keep reading for all my suggestions!
This Ham Soup features…
- A bright and flavorful lemon dill broth
- Tender red potatoes, carrots, and ham chunks
- Only a handful of ingredients needed and comes together in one pot
Making the Ham Soup
(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Vegetable oil
- Sweet onion
- Carrots
- Garlic
- Chicken broth
- Red potatoes
- Ham
- Bay leaf
- Lemon
- Dill
Choosing Your Ham
This soup works best with leftover baked ham, both fresh or frozen/thawed. Cut the ham into 1/2-inch pieces and it’s ready to go to soup town.
Tips for Perfect Ham Soup
- Cut vegetables into uniform pieces – aim for 1/4-inch slices of carrots and potatoes so they cook evenly.
- Sauté vegetables – this builds the flavor base to the soup.
- Simmer soup 8-10 minutes – due to the thinly sliced potatoes and carrots, this soup does not take very long to cook so make sure you watch it carefully to prevent overcooking the vegetables.
- Blend 1 cup soup – once the soup has simmered, scoop out 1 cup vegetables/broth, puree in a blender or food processor until smooth, and add back to soup. This pureeing step adds an extra little bit of body and texture.
- Add fresh lemon juice, zest, and dill at end of cooking – adding these ingredients at the end preserves their fresh flavor.
Recipe Variations
Try these ideas for a different twist on this soup.
- Add different veggies – try another kind of potato, sweet potatoes, squash, celery, parsnips, or green beans.
- Try another protein – leftover rotisserie chicken or ground chicken/turkey work great in place of the ham.
- Add greens at the end – add a handful of fresh kale or spinach after soup has simmered.
- Use another fresh herb – try chives, parsley, or basil in place of the dill.
- Make soup vegetarian – skip the ham and replace with a veggie and substitute veggie broth for the chicken broth.
Storing and Freezing Soup
This soup stores well in refrigerator up to 6 days. Reheat leftovers in individual servings in microwave 2-3 minutes or over medium heat on stovetop for larger portions.
To freeze soup, allow to cool completely then store in a freezer-safe container, leaving about an inch of open air on top, and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw completely in refrigerator before reheating or reheat from frozen over low heat on stovetop.
It’s the fresh lemon and dill that make ALL the difference in this soup! It brightens up the typically heavy meat-and-potatoes additions and gives this soup just the right amount of oomph.
My best advice here is to pair bowls of this soup with your favorite crusty bread for ALL the dipping. Lordy, don’t even get me started on how fantastic a grilled cheese would be…
Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.
More cozy soups to whip up next!
Lemon Dill Ham Potato Soup
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Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium sweet onion, finely diced
- 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1-1/2 lbs red potatoes, thinly sliced into 1/4-in pieces
- 2 cups cooked ham, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 dried bay leaf
- Zest and juice from 1 medium lemon
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh dill
- Bread for serving
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a medium pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrots, season with salt and pepper to taste, and sauté 3-5 minutes until onion is translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 additional minute until fragrant.
- Pour chicken broth into pot and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Add red potatoes, ham, and bay leaf to pot and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow soup to simmer 8-10 minutes until vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork.
- Remove bay leaf from soup and discard. Remove 1 cup vegetables/broth from soup and transfer to a blender. Blend until completely smooth and add back to soup pot.
- Stir lemon zest, juice, and dill into soup. Season soup with salt and pepper to taste and serve warm with bread slices for dipping. Enjoy!
George says
This will be the third recipe I’ve made from Whole & Heavenly oven this week so far and it was amazingly good and easy to make. I had the Chipotle Chicken stuffed poblanos last night and for lunch yesterday I had the Turkey Hummus wrap with Sun Dried Tomatoes. Everything was fantastic!
Sarah says
George, that made my day to hear!! So thrilled you’re loving the recipes on my website. Thanks for taking the time to let me know 😊