Creamy Onion Soup with Ham

This rich and savory creamy onion soup with ham tastes like a long simmered soup. It is so quick and easy enough for a weeknight meal, you will want to put it on your meal plan often! It's made lower carb by not using flour as a thickener in the recipe.

What ingredients are in this recipe?

• yellow onions
• chicken stock
• heavy cream
• cooked ham
• Arrowroot powder
• Sherry cooking wine
• roasted red peppers
• butter
• garlic, salt, pepper

What onions are best to use in this recipe?

Yellow onions are perfect for this soup. They are considered an all purpose onion because they are used in so many different recipes. Yellow onions actually get a bit sweeter the longer they are cooked. Huffington Post has a great article about choosing the perfect onion.

How to make Creamy Onion Soup with Ham?

• Melt butter in a large pot on medium heat. Saute' sliced onions and red peppers until onions are soft and light golden brown.
• Add garlic and cook for a minute. Pour in chicken broth and bring to boil. Cover pot, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.
• Carefully pour soup, ⅓ of the batch at a time, into a blender and puree.

• Return pureed soup to pot, stir in cream, ham, Sherry, salt and pepper. Bring to a low simmer and lightly sprinkle in the Arrowroot powder. Stir it well and let simmer for another 10 minutes or until soup is thickened and heated through.

FAQ and Substitutions

• What kind of ham should I use? The best choice would be if you had leftover ham from a ham dinner. But you can use thick sliced ham from your deli. There are also ham steaks in the meat section of the grocery store. These are a bit saltier so if you do use them, I would lightly rinse it off and pat dry before chopping to add to soup.
• How can I make soup thick and creamy without flour? If you are looking for a low carb option, I prefer using Arrowroot powder in this recipe. It is a gluten free choice that will thicken the soup without adding many carbs. Just make sure to sprinkle in slowing or it can get a bit gummy in texture.
• What can I use instead of Sherry cooking wine? Since the recipe only uses a few tablespoons, you can easily use a dry red wine or a Port to substitute the Sherry. Any one of them gives the soup a richer flavor and a bit of a tang.
• You can use half and half instead of heavy whipping cream. It might affect the thickness of soup, but the flavor should not be affected.
• I have substituted the chicken broth for vegetable and/or beef broth for this soup. We preferred the chicken, but the other broths were tasty as well!
• Some shaved Gouda or parmesan would be delicious on top of the soup.
• Also, my keto rolls are amazing to dip in this soup!

How long will the soup keep?

You can store any leftovers in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Just reheat on a low simmer on the stove. Due to the heavy cream, I don't recommend freezing the soup. Dairy tends to separate and get grainy when frozen.

Some other soups you may like to try:

Slow Cooker Manhattan Clam Chowder

Ham and Lentil Soup

Red Pepper and Sweet Potato w/Sausage Soup

Cream of Onion Soup with Ham

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• Author: Deb
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 60 minutes
• Total Time: 65 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x

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Description

This rich and savory creamy onion soup with ham tastes like it was simmered on the stove all day.  But it is quick and easy to make for a weeknight dinner.  It's also lower in carbs without any flour to thicken the soup.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 large yellow onions, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 5 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups chopped cooked ham
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons cooking Sherry *
• 2 tablespoons roasted red peppers, chopped (jarred)
• 1 tablespoon Arrowroot powder **
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

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Instructions

1. Over medium heat, melt butter in a large pot.  Add the sliced onions and roasted peppers and saute' until onions are soft and golden brown.  This should take about 15 minutes.
2. Add the minced garlic and saute' for a minute, don't cook longer or it may burn.  
3. Add the broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes in pot.
4. Carefully, pour about ⅓ of the soup at a time with a ladel, into a blender and puree.  Continue with the rest of the soup. ***
5. Return the pureed soup to pot.    Stir in the ham, cream, Sherry, salt and pepper.  Bring to a low simmer and sprinkle in the tablespoon of Arrowroot powder.  Stir well and cook for 10 minutes until soup is thickened and  heated through.

Notes

* Sherry can be substituted with any dry red wine or a Port.  

** If carb count isn't a concern, cornstarch or flour can be substituted to thicken the soup.

*** You can also use an immersion blender in the soup pot to puree the soup.

• Category: Soup
• Method: Stove Top
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: Creamy Onion Soup with Ham