Instant Pot Chicken and White Bean Soup–dried navy beans are quickly pressure cooked with onion, garlic, spices, carrots, celery and chicken (or you can use turkey). You can make it creamy or dairy free (it’s up to you). For cold nights this soup is a 10 out of 10!
Get the SLOW COOKER Chicken and White Bean Soup recipe here
Instant Pot Chicken and White Bean Soup
Got a bag of dried navy beans and some leftover turkey? I have a recipe for you! This white bean soup is really just so tasty. I love the flavor from the rosemary, thyme and smoked paprika. And I love that the beans don’t need to be soaked. I will be making this again soon.
A few notes:
- Chicken or Turkey–for this recipe you can use cooked chicken or turkey or uncooked chicken. It’s totally up to you. I used uncooked chicken breasts. You can also use uncooked boneless, skinless chicken thighs. If I used cooked chicken/turkey I would add it in after the beans have pressure cooked so that it doesn’t get stringy and overcooked.
- Navy Beans–I used a 1 pound bag of navy beans. I haven’t tried this recipe with other types of dried beans like Great Northern, chickpeas or even pintos. However I think it would work and the cooking time would be similar. Let me know if you do try another type of bean and how they turn out. Personally I liked the size of the navy beans.
- Dairy–I chose to add in a cup of half and half (a product with half cream and half whole milk) into my soup. It gave it a nice, creamy taste. I really loved it with the dairy but if you are trying to cut back on calories or are lactose intolerant you can just leave the half and half out.
- Smoked paprika–if you can use smoked paprika instead of regular paprika. I buy mine in the bulk section at Winco for pennies. The draw with this spice is the smoky quality. Even just a little bit adds an incredibly seductive smoky flavor and aroma to any dish.
More recipes you’ll love…
Instant Pot Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
Instant Pot Homemade White Chicken Chili with Dried Beans
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Chicken and White Bean Soup I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
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Instant Pot Chicken and White Bean Soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 33 minutes
- Total Time: 65 minutes total time
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Dried navy beans are quickly pressure cooked with onion, garlic, spices, carrots, celery and chicken (or you can use turkey). You can make it creamy or dairy free (it’s up to you). For cold nights this soup is a 10 out of 10!
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 3 ribs of celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 pound dry navy beans, rinsed and sorted
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts uncooked (frozen is fine)
- 1 cup half and half (see note)
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. When the display says HOT add in the oil and swirl it around. Then add in the onion and saute for about 3 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add in the chicken broth. Scrape the bottom of the pot.
- Add in the carrots, celery, navy beans, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, smoked paprika, pepper and salt. Stir. Nestle the chicken into the pot.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 33 minutes on high pressure (some people who have made this have expressed that they would cook the beans for 2-5 minutes longer).
- When the time is up let the pot sit for another 5 minutes (display will say L0:05). Then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid when you can.
- Use tongs to remove the chicken and place it on a cutting board to shred. Add shredded chicken back into the pot.
- Warm your half and half before adding it to the pot so it doesn’t curdle. I do this by putting it in a glass measuring cup in the microwave for 1 minute. Add the warmed half and half into the pot. Stir. Taste test. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Ladle into bowls and enjoy!
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. You can use your 8 quart pot for this recipe also. Keep the cooking time the same. You will have to halve this recipe if you’re using a small 3 quart pot. Same cooking time.
You can also use 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs in the place of the breasts. Or you can use cooked chicken or turkey (about 1 pound). Just add the cooked meat in after the beans have pressure cooked. Another idea is to add cubed ham. Ham is salty though so you’d probably want to cut the salt down to 3/4 tsp.
I chose to add in a cup of half and half (a product with half cream and half whole milk) into my soup. It gave it the creamy taste. I really loved it with the dairy but if you are trying to cut back on calories or are lactose intolerant you can just leave the half and half out.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of the recipe
- Calories: 382
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 1019 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 41 g
- Fiber: 15 g
- Protein: 34 g
- Cholesterol: 55 mg
Keywords: gluten free, instant pot
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This is wonderful and so easy. I used a dry 15 bean blend, chicken breasts from frozen, 35 minutes pressure and let sit for 5 minutes before manually releasing pressure. Instead of the various dried herbs, I used 2 tsp herbs de Provence but guess Italian seasoning would work too. I certainly kept the smoked paprika! I used the half and half and it was wonderful!!
★★★★★
Good tips! Thanks Wayne!
I made this and it was delicious! As some suggested, I cooked it for 40 minutes and the beans turned out great, maybe even slightly overdone. I used frozen chicken breasts and they cooked up perfectly. I didn’t have any half and half, but I happened to have 4 ounces of cream cheese that I substituted, which was excellent. I also added a few handfuls of spinach.
Sounds like an amazing bowl of soup!
Pretty good soup. I didn’t have white beans so I used lentils and put a bit more chicken and broth in it. Also I don’t like thyme and neither does my family so I omitted that. Didn’t have rosemary used herbs de Provence instead and added one more bay leaf. The only thing that was missing was bacon. Pretty good recipe though. Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
I made this without the half and half and it was great, but I can see where a little creaminess would put it over the top. Do you think some plain non-dairy milk (soy, oat) or maybe Greek yogurt would do the trick?
★★★★★
Sure that would be great!
This was great and so easy to make, thank you for sharing it! I have been under the weather and just wanted some warm soup on my stomach but definitely not another canned soup. I hadn’t made soup in my Instapot yet but I loved how easy and quick it was. I took your recommendations from a previous comment on how you would cook it with canned beans as I didn’t have any dried beans here and didn’t feel up to running to the store. It turned out awesome so I can’t wait to try it with the dried beans next time. I used Navy beans and Great Northern beans but I should’ve used a third can and mashed some up because I also didn’t have half and half or milk. 5 stars for taste and convenience ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
★★★★★
Feel better soon Natasha!
Thank you for this simple and delicious recipe with staple ingredients. I used dried lima beans, only one chicken breast, increased the cook time to 45 minutes and omitted the cream and it was amazing! My 18 year old twins loved it! All in this soup costs about $4 to make and fed four adults with some homemade crusty bread and butter for the boys.
Nice! What a cost effective meal! Love this.
This looks delicious. I have garbanzo beans, can I use those instead? Is the cooking time the same?
Thank you.
Garbanzos take about twice as long to cook as navy beans. You may want to pre cook them for 20 minutes and then cook for 35 minutes with all the other ingredients.
New Years is coming and I would love an instant pot recipe for spicy black eyed pea soup. Thank you for the recipes!!
Yum! Do you have a normal recipe you use for this already?
The soup had great flavor, however the beans were still chewy. Since I live in a high altitude state, I did the pre-soak method as shown in your youtube, but they still could have been softer. Will try to pressure cook them for 5 to 7 minutes instead of just 2. With the additional 33 minutes, it should work. The frozen chicken breasts were cooked just right. I will also reduce the broth to 5 cups vs. 6 cups. Overall, it was tasty and seasoned just right.
★★★★
This soup is so good. I added 2 extra cups of chicken broth, then added the cream. Love this.
★★★★★
Glad you liked it Stacey!
Thank you so much! I see so many bean recipes that use canned beans with the instant pot which really frustrates me. I’m trying to save money by having a pressure cooker and lower sodium intake by using dried beans. This looks perfect.
Glad you found this recipe!
Delicious!!! The whole family enjoyed it. Didn’t have the bay leaf or the rosemary so I used some Italian seasoning. Cooked for 35 mins and had some beans that were still slightly al dente. Will cook for 40 minutes next time. We forgot to finish with half and half but don’t feel we missed out. It was that good! Love how savory the broth is too. I did use white pepper instead of black as well. Personal choice.
I never see white pepper at the store. But I really want to try it!
Tried it beans didn’t completely
Cook, chicken was good
Can I add rice to this?
yes I’d add brown rice or wild rice so it wont get overcooked.
Can I use fat free half and half?
Yes!
Can you use canned beans
I personally haven’t tried that yet. However if I did try it this is how I would do it. I would put in 4 cups of chicken broth instead of 6 cups. Then I would add in three cans of drained and rinsed beans. Then cook for 15 minutes
This is delicious. I always use some kind of cured pork in my beans but I followed the recipe and used chicken thighs. I added some crushed red pepper. I am definitely making this again!!
★★★★★
I bet cured pork would be amazing in this too!
sounds delicious, and looks even better Thank You, for such useful information.
Delicious! Easy to throw together. I used chicken thighs and I did add the half and half at the end. Wouldn’t change anything except to maybe pressure cook for about 2 more minutes (no more!)—a few beans here and there were just a tad underdone. Husband and I really loved this. Goes in the permanent file!!
★★★★★
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! I’ll put a note in the recipe about the beans 🙂
I didn’t mean to post twice! Thought my first one didn’t go through. However, the recipe deserves 5 stars twice!!
Outstanding! Super easy to put together. I used partially thawed chicken thighs and also added the cream at the end. Husband and I both loved it. My beans were just done-a few here and could have been cooked a little more. I think next time I’ll add 2 mintues to cooking time, but no more. Otherwise, no changes needed for this recipe. A keeper, for sure!
★★★★★
I made this last night and it turned out pretty well. I soaked my beans, so I probably could have lowered the cook time by 5 minutes, but the beans were still intact. I don’t think the half and half is necessary. The soup would be fine without it because the beans, cooked long enough, give a creamy consistency. I think that 1-2 teaspoons of white pepper would add a nice bit of heat, if you like that. I like that this is a pretty healthy recipe, if you omit the half and half.
I’m so glad you liked it Susan! I like the idea of the white pepper.
Could you blend part of the soup (before adding the chicken or turkey) to make it thicker? Any idea on the calorie count if there is no half and half?
Oh yes you could totally do that! Half and half accounts for 315 total calories so if you divide that by the amount of servings (8) it would be 39 less calories per serving. So 343 calories per serving. In my opinion the 49 calories are worth it–lol!
can you use frozen chicken?
yes!!!