All through fall and winter, we enjoy my ham and potato soup. My recipe is unique because it has dill, adding a subtle citrus punch. Don’t be afraid of the dill though, it is subtle and oh-so-delicious.
If you’re a long-time reader, you may remember I originally called this recipe my “Ham and Potato Chowder.” Not very clever right? Ha! This was way back in 2012. While I’ve refined and improved my recipe over the years, I’ve never updated it here on the blog
This brings me to the other day, I was updating this post to the perfect ham & potato chowder, I realized…it is really best to call this a soup with the newly updated recipe.
If I’ve lost you here, let me explain the difference between Chowder & Soup.
Chowder vs. Soup
There seems to be some debate on who brought Chowder to America but most people settle on it being brought over from England or France, (Wikipedia). Today, we use flour or make a roux to thicken the stew, but ThymeMachineCuisine (which is loaded with historical recipe information – love it!) says that chowder was originally thickened by adding hardtack (hard old biscuits) to the liquid.
I guess they had to figure out how to make hardtack edible, and chowder is delicious.
So this brings me to, what is chowder and what is soup? The answer is really quite simple using our trusty dictionary.
Chowder
a soup or stew of seafood (such as clams or fish) usually made with milk or tomatoes, salt pork, onions, and other vegetables (such as potatoes)
Soup
a liquid food especially with a meat, fish, or vegetable stock as a base and often containing pieces of solid food
from Mirriam-Webster
Major Changes to My Ham & Potato Soup
Today I have my absolute, favorite, perfected Ham and Potato Soup (with dill). The original recipe was definitely a chowder. This updated one is a soup. Instead of flour-thickened milk, I now use just milk and more broth.
This soup is creamy and so flavorful in spite of the simple seasonings. Don’t skip out on the dill. You can use dried dill, which adds a nice subtle lemony flavor.
Creamy Ham & Potato Soup with Dill
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. butter or avocado oil
- 16 oz. ham, cubed about 2 cups
- ½ c. onion diced
- 2 stalks celery diced fine
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 ½ c. chicken broth
- ½ lb. potatoes, peeled & cubed or about 2 cups cut-up
- ⅛ tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. dried dill
- 1 c. milk
Instructions
- Melt the butter or add the oil in a medium stockpot over medium heat.
- Sauté the ham, onion, celery, & garlic for a few minutes, or until the onions are tender.
- To the stockpot, add the broth, cubed potatoes, ground black pepper, and dill.
- Cook at a low boil for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are nearly done cooking and fork tender.
- Add the milk to your stockpot and continue cooking for an additional 10 minutes. If you prefer a more rich soup, you may use part cream for the milk portion.
- Continue cooking soup until the potatoes are finished cooking.