Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup in Pressure Cooker
Our Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup has tremendous flavor and wonderful bean texture. You don’t have to pre-soak the beans at all and in about 75 minutes, you have a delicious ham and bean soup for the whole family.
How to Make Ham and Bean Soup in Pressure Cooker?
First of all, it’s super easy to make Instant Pot Pressure Cooker ham and bean soup. Seriously, we never thought making ham and bean soup would be this easy. Second of all, we’ve made so many variations of ham and bean soup in the stove top and the slow cooker. With different tests of soaking and not-soaking the beans, the flavors are great but they all take time to prepare. None of it is quick and when you’re looking for a quick and easy ham and bean soup recipe, you often will be compromising flavor. But when you make ham and bean soup in the Instant Pot, you’ll be in for a real treat! The time to make a huge batch like this is literally under an hour and a half, but without sacrificing flavor and texture. If you want to make a stove top version, here’s our Quick & Easy Ham & Bean Stove Top Recipe.
Video: Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup Recipe
Ham Flavor in the Soup
There’s plenty of delicious and savory ham flavor that you really barely need any salt because between the stock and the ham, everything was well seasoned. Using regular chopped cooked ham will give you lots of flavor. But if you decide to use a smoked ham hock, you’ll have even more flavor and be super delighted with the outcome. We tested a version with a smoked ham hock and it was out of this world DELICIOUS. The smoked flavor was incredible. So if you can get your hands on a smoked ham hock, we totally suggest this route.
How long to cook the dried beans in the Instant Pot? Do beans taste good?
We were a little cautious about how the dried beans would cook and if they would be mushy. But they weren’t mushy at all and this bean soup was definitely one of the best we ever had. The Instant Pot pressure cooker cooks the beans perfectly and stews all the flavors together wonderfully. The beans were tender, delicious and the rest of the vegetables and ham were delicious. We used dried beans without soaking and it took a little over an hour (time to come to pressure, cooking and releasing pressure).
Do you need to soak the dried beans for the ham and bean soup?
There’s always a lot of discussion and debate if you need to soak the beans. We tried both methods and for the most part, they tasted the same. We always used dried white beans (regular size) or dried cannellini beans. They cook great and perfectly tender. Other types of beans might cook differently, so you’ll have to be open ended to different cooking times and textures when not soaking other beans. Soaking takes an extra step and we found that we didn’t need to do that. It was easier to just add the dried beans in the pressure cooker and then cook it for a little longer. If you’re used pre-soaked beans, you can cook it for about 20 minutes less.
Our Favorite Cookers & Goodies for Entertaining:
Whether you prefer a slow cooker, pressure cooker, or a multi-cooker, these kitchen counter appliances help make dinner a little easier for the busy household, plus with an added bonus of some of our favorite finds for entertaining:
The original slow cooker. On this on the lid locks down which is great for transporting to potlucks and such. Simple, inexpensive and reliable.
It has cult-like following for a reason. It’s a pressure cooker and so much more. Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, & Yogurt Maker. It’s awesome! If you want a pressure cooker that has a few more bells and whistles (like hands free steam release), this Breville Pressure Cooker is also great.
If pressure cooking is a not your thing but want a bit more than just a slow cooker, this multi-cooker is perfect for you. It can Sauté, Steam, and Slow Cook. Perfect to create those one pot meals.
This recipe was originally published in 2017 and re-published in 2022 with updates.
Instant Pot Ham Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large ham bone or ham hock, if needed cut at the joint so it will fit in the Instant Pot
- 1 1/2 cups (170 g) cooked diced ham
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
- 1 onion , diced (use a sweet onion, it’s delicious!)
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 7 cups (1.66 L) chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) Worcestershire sauce
- 2-3 stalks celery , diced
- 2-3 carrots , peeled and diced
- 1 pound (454 g) dried navy beans , great Northern Beans, pinto beans, etc…
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon (25 ml) dried thyme or dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground cumin (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) kosher salt , or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) fresh cracked black pepper , or to taste
- 1 cup (70 g) chopped kale or cabbage, optional (to make it healthier!)
- minced parsley for garnish, optional
Equipment
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot on "Sauté”, and add oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft, about 2 minutes.
- Add the ham bone, diced ham, broth, Worcestershire, celery, carrots, dried beans, bay leaf, dried thyme, optional ground cumin, salt and pepper. And add any additional optional veggies. Stir the mixture.
- Close the lid, set to high pressure, and after the pressure cooker reaches full pressure, cook for 60 minutes (These are the steps we did for our Instant Pot: Press "Cancel" to stop the "Sauté" setting. Press the "Manual" button. Set the time to 60 minutes.)
- After the cooking time is complete, press “Cancel” and carefully release the pressure.
- Remove ham bones and any excess fatty chunks from the Instant Pot and pull off any ham meat and cut into small pieces. Add the ham back into the Instant Pot. If you want a thicker soup, mash a few of the beans in the soup. Give the soup a good stir and add additional salt and pepper, to taste.
- Garnish with minced parsley (optional). Serve warm with bread.
Notes
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
More Easy Recipes
- Air Fryer Green Beans
- Fresh green bean casserole
- Garlic Butter Green Beans
- Sesame green bean stir fry
- INSTANT POT PORK ROAST WITH VEGGIE GRAVY RECIPE
- ALL OUR INSTANT POT AND SLOW COOKER RECIPES
- TENDER AND JUICY POT ROAST RECIPE
- CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP RECIPE
- And have you ever tried making dessert in an Instant Pot? Here’s a fabulous Instant Pot RicePudding Recipe to try your hand at making sweets!
- Here’s the official link to Instant Pot.
71 Comments on “Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup in Pressure Cooker”
Absolutely delicious! I didn’t have a ham bone or hocks, as am not a fan, but had a beautiful ham steak. Diced that up and sauteed it with the onions/ garlic. Also added half a head of cabbage(chopped). Amazing. My new favorite go-to soup recipe. And so healthy.
Absolutely perfect! Very easy to follow with a wonderful result. Next time I make it I’ll wait until it’s done before adding salt. It seemed plenty salty from the ham Inused.
This recipe looks delicious. I’m anxious to make it but I only want to make half a batch. How long should I cook it in the IP? Thank you
Hi Sharon, we think it would be the same amount of time, especially if you’re using dried beans. This will ensure that the dried beans cook all the way through.
Really great soup! Love letting the slow cooker do all the work for me!
Our family really loves this soup! It’s delicious!
I’m an ok cook, but am of the opinion that I make great soups, usually soaking beans overnight, and simmering on the stove all day. Learning to be friends with my IP, I tried this recipe today, somewhat skeptical that the dried beans would be done in only an hour. But they were! I used a ham-flavored soup base instead of chicken broth, added Goya Ham-flavored seasoning because I don’t make any ham-and-bean thing without it, and omitted the salt assuming there was already more than enough in the ham, broth, and seasoning. Wow! Really, really good! Thank you for posting this recipe and helping me to not be intimidated by my IP. I’ll be sure to give your others a try!
I made this soup for my mom with our christmas ham leftovers and bone. She said it is the best Ham and bean soup she has ever had. I just got done making another pot for her. She went out and purchased 3 hams just for this recipe. Thank you very much for this recipe.
Hi Molly, thanks so much for sharing and we’re even more thrilled that your Mom enjoyed it. Thank you!
I can’t believe how easy this was and it only took an hour of cooking time. This normally takes several hours if you do the quick cook on the dry beans. First time to use instant pot and wont be last.
Used this to use up holiday ham. Now a wish I had more ham. Going to make this for Christmas lunch next year. So much flavor. We just could not get enough.
That’s awesome that you made good use out of your holiday ham! And happy that you liked it.
Yum!!! Directions were spot on! I left out the celery (personal preference) and added the kale. Such an easy recipe and sooooo good!!! We loved it!
Yum! the addition of kale is great and one of our favorite veggies to add too! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
My family loved this soup! It was easy to prepare and all the leftovers were eaten!
Can I make without a ham bone?
Hi Sara, yes you can totally make it without the bone. It won’t be as flavorful, but it’ll still be tasty.
Very good. I was looking for a good ham and bean soup recipe. This one is quite good. I had a bone and some leftover double smoked ham and that added an extra smokiness.
We got our Instapot this past week and sat there looking at it, intimidated! Trying this recipe today and hoping it doesn’t blow up. Change this up by adding chicken, some red, green, and yellow peppers and chilies and you have white chicken chili.
Looking for a great recipe for ham and bean soup, I gave your recipe a try, now that the South is getting cooler weather, Hallelujah!? This recipe isn’t great, it’s fantastic!!! Oo-la-la!?
Excellent. Perfect ratios.