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by Diane
Buy our air fryer e-cookbooks today 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 .
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.
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This recipe was originally published in 2017 and re-published in 2022 with updates.
Instant Pot Ham Bean Soup
Yield: 10 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes mins
Cook Time: 1 hour hr
Total Time: 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
If you’re using a ham hock with ham meat, you don’t have to add the additional cooked diced ham. We used a ham bone that didn't have much meat, so we added the extra diced ham.
The saltiness of the broth will vary greatly depending on how well seasoned your chicken broth is and if the ham is salted. Make sure to taste the broth after cooking and adjust seasoning accordingly.
Dried beans cook differently too. After several tests, we found that an average cooking time of 1 hour worked best to ensure that different types of dried beans were thoroughly cooked. If you're using larger beans like dried lima beans, they will need an additional 15 minutes cooking time. Instant Pot needs to be a 6-qt size or larger.
4.84 from 53 votes
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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
Calories: 195kcal, Carbohydrates: 32g, Protein: 12g, Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 798mg, Potassium: 819mg, Fiber: 11g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 3130IU, Vitamin C: 22mg, Calcium: 102mg, Iron: 3.2mg
Course: Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: American
Calories: 195
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posted in: 300+ Easy Meals, Healthy, Instant Pot | Pressure Cooker, One Pot Dishes, Paleo, Pork, Side Dishes, Soups | Stews 71 comments
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Christy Denney — Reply
I’m always looking for instant pot soup recipes and this one is a fave. -
DMMarshall — Reply
Used my Instant Pot for the first time today. Made this bean soup recipe (my family loves bean soup) and it was hailed by everyone as delicious!!-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
Delicious dinners mean we done good 😉 . Thanks!
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Barb — Reply
We loved this. I will be making this often throughout the winter and maybe even all year.
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Denise — Reply
This was soooo good! Enjoyed every bite! I like to take a few beans out and mash them to get a little thicker. I did and it was perfect! Thank you!
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Best Recipe Box — Reply
Love mashing beans to make the soup thicker. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
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Joseph — Reply
I found out adding a few russet potatoes in with the cooking time and taking out and mashing up and throwing back in gives a bit of thickness too
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Jenny — Reply
I never thought of adding ham to soup… I really love the combination. Great recipe!-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
Yeah, it’s a classic and always a popular favorite!
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Pauline Davignon — Reply
excellent
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Diane — Reply
Delicious. I did use an immersion blender to break up some beans, thickening the soup. Then I added one can of cannellini beans to put some whole bean texture back in.-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
That’s a great idea with the immersion blender!
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Rodney — Reply
Excellent recipe! Perfect ingredients I added red pepper flakes and garlic powder. -
Doreen Walker — Reply
I don’t even know what to say except that this recipe was better than AMAZING!!! My husband had four helpings and wouldn’t stop complementing me, my picky 10-year-old son devoured it and my 13-year-old daughter who refuses to eat beans because she’s afraid she will fart in class all day, LOL, told me that it was totally worth the embarrassment! I will absolutely be making this again!-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
That’s so cool that this our ham and bean soup is such a hit with your family! Thanks for the great feedback.
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Melanie — Reply
This was delicious. I used your suggestion of mashing the beans for a thicker soup and it came out amazing! -
Lori — Reply
My granddaughter loves her bean soup. I’ve been making it for her for 6 years. This recipe is amazing and simple and I loved the addition of Worcestershire as this is something I’ve never done. Really good.-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
What an honor it is that you love our recipe. Thank you! Worcestershire always adds a wonderful depth of flavor.
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Tamiko — Reply
Hi how many ham hocks should I use? I’m using smoked ham hocks but am not sure if it’s one or two for the recipe. Thank you.-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
You can maybe use two small ham hocks and all the extra flavor doesn’t hurt! But make sure it’s not too big where the pressure cooker overflows. If it is, then it’s safer to just use one. Thank you!
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Aims — Reply
This recipe sounds delicious! I can’t wait to try it! Would you add the kale before or after you pressure cook the soup?
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Mary Ellen — Reply
I had already soaked the beans before I found your recipe! How much cooking time do you think I can take off?
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Tony B — Reply
Made this with dried pinto beans and cooked for 1hr with just the garlic, onions, chicken broth, all of the herbs,and the ham bone from our spiral Easter ham. Quick released, fished out the ham bone, and added diced ham, sliced carrots, and celery, then cooked for an additional 10 min. Cooking the vegetables for the entire cycle makes them too mushy. Even my picky housemate said it was delicious! -
Rita Torres — Reply
Great & easy recipe on rainy day. I added shallots, mixed veggies, and some fresh oregano from my yard. I took it easy on the salt since the ham has a ton of salt. I figured I could add some if needed. I will sprinkle some red pepper flakes for a little kick. Thank you-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
Love the addition of shallots and your garden oregano! Thanks for enjoying and sharing.
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Anne — Reply
My first meal in my Instant Pot! It was delicious! I like a little heat so I added a little jalapeño.
Are your recipes in a Cookbook?-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
Thanks for the feedback Anne! right now we only have air fryer ebooks. Hopefully one day we will have an actual printed cookbook.
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Marianne — Reply
Wow. Just wow! This soup is so delicious. I live alone and I have been eating it for every meal so it doesn’t look like it’s going to make it to the freezer as planned. I will be making another batch. I added cabbage and it really added a nice flavor. This is a keeper recipe.-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
Love the addition of cabbage Marianne! Thanks for sharing!
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Sherry — Reply
Excellent. Perfect ratios. -
Laine — Reply
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!? -
Cate — Reply
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.
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Greg — Reply
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. -
Sara — Reply
Can I make without a ham bone?
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Best Recipe Box — Reply
Hi Sara, yes you can totally make it without the bone. It won’t be as flavorful, but it’ll still be tasty.
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Nicole — Reply
My family loved this soup! It was easy to prepare and all the leftovers were eaten! -
Leigh Anne — Reply
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!-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
Yum! the addition of kale is great and one of our favorite veggies to add too! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
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Daphne — Reply
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.-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
That’s awesome that you made good use out of your holiday ham! And happy that you liked it.
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Andy — Reply
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. -
Molly — Reply
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.-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
Hi Molly, thanks so much for sharing and we’re even more thrilled that your Mom enjoyed it. Thank you!
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Laurie — Reply
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!
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Jan — Reply
Our family really loves this soup! It’s delicious! -
Hailey — Reply
Really great soup! Love letting the slow cooker do all the work for me! -
Sharon — Reply
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
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Best Recipe Box — Reply
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.
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Michelle Baker — Reply
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. -
Tammy Kline — Reply
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. -
Linda Hall Smith — Reply
Delicious! I had a Honey Baked Ham bone from Christmas with lots of meat on it. I followed recipe and did use Immersion Blender on half of the soup to thicken it! Really good and super easy!-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
Hi Linda, thickening with the immersion blender is a great idea to make it thick. Thanks for sharing!
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Phil — Reply
The best ham and bean soup recipe, great job-
Best Recipe Box — Reply
thanks Phil!
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Laurie — Reply
I already soaked my beans. Will the HP time change? Thanks. Recipe looks delicious.
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zoe — Reply
this was such an easy soup to make. I basically let the slow cooker do all the work. thanks for the recipe. -
Stephanie — Reply
Such a good recipe! First time ever making bean n ham. Glad this is the one I went with! Whole family loved it. Thank you!!-
Diane — Reply
Thanks for sharing Stephanie! So glad your whole family enjoyed the recipe!
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Kristy — Reply
This soup was delicious! The beans were buttery soft, my husband commented how perfect it was. Thank you!-
Diane — Reply
Yay! So glad your husband enjoyed the recipe too. Thanks for sharing Kristy.
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Sara — Reply
We’ve been hooked on our slow cooker lately. This soup came out so good. -
Mary — Reply
Great recipe! I found that my beans were still a little tough after an hour, so I cooked them for another twenty minutes. Soup came out thick and amazing!-
Diane — Reply
Thanks for letting us know Mary! Yeah, different beans might require a little more time. So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
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Little1 — Reply
As far as ham and bean soups go – this is one of the best recipes I have tried. My husband didn’t even “doctor” it up as he usually does. He immediately told me to save the recipe! I did adjust it a bit as far as cooking time and the amount of broth. I live at 8500 feet above sea level, so I cooked my unsoaked great northern beans for 1hr and 20 minutes – worked perfect. I also only had 6 C of chicken broth, so that was what I used. It was plenty. I may even decrease the amount a bit, depending on the amount of dried beans I have. I used my potato masher a couple of times to thicken the soup a bit. Great recipe!-
Diane — Reply
Thanks for all the helpful info and for sharing your results. So glad you and your husband enjoyed the recipe!
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Megan Golani — Reply
Just delicious and super easy to make
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Krystal — Reply
I’m so glad that I can let my slow cooker do all the work. It’s perfect for the autumn and winter season. -
Kimberly P — Reply
I made this today!! Super excited to see the recipe since I was craving beans and had no time to soak. I stayed true to recipe (but no ham hock on hand) so I added more mesquite smoked ham. I let everyone add extra S&P to their liking. Really good soup, satisfied my craving. I did mash a little up to thinker the broth and was exactly what I wanted. Thanks for sharing! Will make again.-
Diane — Reply
Fantastic! Bet the mesquite flavor was amazing. Thanks for sharing Kimberly!
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Stacy Fletcher — Reply
Excellent recipe! I was excited to see one so close to my old recipe (don’t know where it is?). The flavors are all the same and the cooking time of 1 full hour was great timing. I think it’s a winner. I am loving how to cook with a pressure cooker. Thank you for sharing! -
Liz — Reply
Really great recipe for the winter season. It’s simple to make yet comes out so delicious and fresh.
