Ham and beans please! More kidney-friendly ham and beans

Lower Sodium Ham And Beans

Ham and beans please! More kidney-friendly ham and beans

This tasty little serving of ham and beans is low sodium and low potassium | renal diet | renal nutrition

Oh, what we would do for a simple plate of ham and beans!! This dish is as old as time and steeped in tradition.  Did you know that ham and bean soup is on the U.S. Senate’s restaurant menu every single day. (No, really, check it out here!)  The problem for the renal diet with classic bean soup is 3-fold: sodium, potassium, and to some extent phosphorus.  It is no small task to make a kidney friendly ham and beans, so we aimed for “more” kidney friendly (and the result was so good!)

What’s in Ham and Beans?

The potassium and sodium are the two biggest concerns with a ham and bean soup.  The phosphorus found in the beans is not readily absorbed, but should still be monitored if your phosphorus levels are up.

A cup of ham and bean soup, per the NCCDB, contains a whopping 800 mg of sodium and 632 mg potassium.  It rolls in around 140 mg phosphorus. The phosphorus is primarily organic phosphates so these are not readily absorbed, although we took this in consideration.

A bowl of ham and beans sits on top of wood and burlap in the lower right hand quadrant of the picture. In the upper right hand corner a small black dish is filled with additional cubed ham for garnishing. To the left of the bowl a book lays open with collard green leaves resting on top of the pages and chive sitting below the book.

The Challenge of Ham and Beans for Renal Diet:

The hard thing about making a low sodium ham and beans, is that the “comfort” flavor of ham and beans is, well, salt. It is a salty dish.  It’s meant to be a salty dish.  Beans without salt are paste. There is  no way around a little salt being needed with beans. So there we have it – a salty dish that needs low sodium

At KidneyGrub when we make a dish, we start with no salt.  Then we add 1/4 tsp until we feel like it is reasonable.  We had to add some salt to this dish, but in the end, we feel like we had some major wins in making this “more” kidney friendly.

A blue and white bowl with red trim sits front and center with brown and orange hued ham and beans. A few pieces of cubed ham sits atop the spicy dish. Faint in the background are a mason jar of ice cold water, a book, collard green leaves, and a small black dish of additional cubed ham.

Simple, Basic Recipe (because everyone has their own variation!):

First things first:  Everyone has their own take on what ham and beans should taste like.  Some like a bit of sweet tone, almost akin to baked beans.  Other people like a pure savory ham and bean taste.  And then there’s those like me, who like a little lot of heat!   This recipe is very basic. You can add whatever you like to it to make it more to your taste!

(Side note: If your ham and beans recipe is the best, you can enjoy it my serving yourself a small portion (~1/2 cup) over rice.  The rice will absorb so much of the flavors but not add much potassium, phos, or sodium.)

Our recipe is a great basic recipe with the all important sprinkling of hammy saltiness.  We cooked the rice and beans together in the pressure cooker hoping to achieve the creamy texture that comes with a good ham and beans.  We didn’t put the ham in the beans when we cooked them, but rather opted to sprinkle small diced ham over the top of the dished beans.

This beautiful kidney friendly ham and beans recipe is lower in potassium and sodium then traditional ham and beans.

Our Hacks to Cut Sodium and Potassium:

We cut salt by using HEAT (jalapeno), a touch of vinegar, and by sprinkling the ham on top instead of cooking into the mixture.  This guaranteed we could use less ham, but still have some in every bite.  This is still a bit saltier then we typically like in a dish, which is why we call it the “more” kidney friendly dish.  It is better then a typical dish, with a more than 30% reduction in potassium and a significant improvement in sodium.  We based our nutrient analysis off a full cup of ham and beans, which is a pretty significant serving.  So while this is a little bit salty by our standards, it is probably as low as you can go without really sacrificing flavor big time for a beans dish.  AND we love to promote legumes whenever possible because we love more plant foods for the renal diet.

A lower sodium and lower potassium ham and beans choice for the renal diet.

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"MORE" kidney friendly ham and beans

This recipe includes modifications to make it more of a renal diet recipe. Although potassium has been decreased from a typical ham and beans recipe, it is still a high amount.  If you are following a potassium restriction please be wise with your portion size or talk with your dietitian about how to fit this in your diet.
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Course: Main
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Low Calorie, Low Phosphorus, Low Potassium, Low Sodium
Diet Type: CKD, Dialysis
Servings: 6 cups
Calories: 293kcal

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup low sodium ham
  • 1 cup baby lima beans raw
  • 1 cup white or brown rice raw
  • 1.5 cups onion diced
  • 3 tablespoons oil
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 32 oz low sodium chicken broth
  • 2 jalapeno peppers optional

Instructions

  • Add beans and rice in the pressure cooker with 2 cups water and the low sodium chicken broth. Cook per pressure cooker instructions (we did 45 minutes for our dry, unsoaked beans - 20 minutes at pressure and then natural release.
  • While the beans are cooking, chop and sauté onion and garlic in oil. In a small bowl, make a seasoning mix by combining the vinegar, honey, paprika, salt, pepper, and jalapenos. Once rice and beans and finished, add the onion, garlic, your seasoning mix, and ham. Mix until fully combined. Serve. Can garnish with chives. 

Notes

Note: You can also make this recipe with traditional soak and cook methods. It may be difficult to find unsalted baby lima beans in can for this recipe. Substitutions of cannellini beans or other white beans will increase potassium content.

Nutrition

Calories: 293kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 305mg | Potassium: 477mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 226IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 2mg
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6 thoughts on “Ham and beans please! More kidney-friendly ham and beans”

  1. Hi Terry,
    Most artificial salt or salt substitutes are very high in potassium (in fact they are potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride). If you have very early stage kidney disease without any potassium issues you could probably use them safely (depending also on what blood pressure meds you are on- as some can cause potassium to be high). However if you’re on dialysis on later stage kidney disease, there is a definite risk of getting too much potassium and it would be better to use an herb blend like Mrs. Dash. If you decide to use salt substitute, it would be a good idea to talk with your doctor or dietitian and ask their opinion. I also like the Sea Seasoning Kelp Granules. Sounds weird, but has a lot less sodium compared to salt. You’d still want to watch your portion and make sure you aren’t just adding more of it to compensate for less sodium of a taste. One thing to always remember is that our taste buds adjust to sodium. As you cut back on sodium your taste buds will adjust and what used to “just right” will become “too salty.”

  2. Serves 1

    Serving Size: 1 cup

    Calories Per Serving: 2678

    That can’t be right. That’s 2 days worth of calories for one meal!

  3. HI CStrauss,
    We are in the process of updating nutrition info so some of them are not completely converted yet. You’ve caught me right in the process and you’re right – that amount is not correct. I’ll send out an update when it is complete (today and tomorrow).
    Jess

  4. Hi, love the looks of this recipe. How do I access the nutritional information for each recipe? Also I see that it is a printable recipe but I am not seeing a way to print. Thank you for your help.

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