French Ham and Potato Soup

This French Ham and Potato Soup is made with a few simple ingredients but delivers big flavor!  The combo of dijon mustard, herbs de Provence, and kalamata olives have become one of my favorite flavor profiles.   I made this delicious soup with a leftover ham bone, but you can also buy a ham bone from your local butcher or use cubed ham as well.   My kids devoured this soup!

If you are a frequent reader of this website, then you might know that these French Chicken Thighs were one of my favorite new recipes last year.   I have always loved cooking with dijon mustard, and Herbs de Provence is becoming one of my favorite spices to use in cooking.

In true food blogger fashion, this recipe has a little story to go with it.

I am currently reading The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah– a fantastic book.  It’s about when the Germans occupied France during World War II, and the French are living off of food rations.  There is a point in the book where one of the main characters receives a ham bone with her ration ticket and makes potato soup.   Reading this made me remember that I had a ham bone in my freezer, so I took it out and made this French ham and potato soup. 

What makes this soup French?

This soup is made from mostly French-inspired ingredients. 

Ham

Dijon Mustard

Herbs de Provence

Butter

Onions

Garlic

Carrots

Potatoes

Kalamata Olives

I made this soup using my Instant Pot.  However, it can easily be adapted for a slow cooker or a dutch oven.

This soup is super easy to make!  All you need to do is

1. Set your Instant Pot to the saute setting and saute the onions in butter.
2. Add garlic, dijon mustard, and herbs de Provence.
3. Peel carrots and potatoes.  Add them to the instant pot.
4. Add ham bone
5. Add four cups of water.
6. Place lid on the instant pot. Set the pressure release valve to “sealing”  and cook on the soup setting for 12 minutes.
7. Let pressure naturally release
8. Open Instant Pot lid.  Cut any additional ham off the ham bone and into the soup.  Discard ham bone.
9. Use an immersion blender to pulse soup.  Don’t blend it all the way.
10. Serve.  Add kalamata olives to each bowl.

I wish this soup were prettier to look at because it tastes amazing!  I love this soup because it is super simple to prepare, it is budget-friendly, but it is rich tasting and filled with fantastic flavor!

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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small yellow onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
• 2 tablespoon dijon mustard.
• 4 Yukon gold potatoes washed, peeled, and chopped.
• 2 carrots peeled and chopped
• 1 ham bone you can also sub 2 cups of cubed ham
• 4 cups water

garnish

• kalamata olives

Instructions

1. Set your Instant Pot to the saute setting. Add butter, onions, garlic, herbs de Provence, and dijon mustard into the inner pot, and saute until the onions are translucent.

2. Wash and Peel Potatoes and Carrots. Chop and add to the pot.

3. Add Hambone and 4 cups of water to the pot.

4. Close your Instant Pot lid. place the pressure release valve to "sealing"

5. Cook on the "soup" setting for 12 minutes.

6. Let the pressure naturally release

7. Cut any additional ham off the ham bone. Place ham into the soup. Discard the bone.

8. Use an immersion blender to pulse the soup. Don't blend it all the way.

9. Add kalamata olives to each bowl and serve.