Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup—a classic after-holiday recipe using leftover ham. But it can be made any time using ham steak purchased from the grocery store. It is a delicious brothy white bean soup with chunks of ham.
Related: Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup
Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup
Today’s recipe comes to you from a new cookbook called The “I Love My Instant Pot®” Affordable Meals Recipe Book by Aileen Clark*. I was intrigued as I thumbed through this cookbook to see that each recipe costs less than $12 per meal. And each meal serves 4-6 people. There are 175 different recipes in categories such as breakfast, soups, beans, appetizers, side dishes, chicken, beef, seafood, vegetarian and desserts.
Some recipes that I thought sounded good were:
- Ham and Egg Breakfast Burritos
- Spicy Mushroom Rice
- Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwiches
- Mongolian Beef
- Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
This book is a good option for Instant Pot fans who are looking to cut costs and want fast, fresh, and delicious meals the whole family will enjoy. Right now on Amazon is only costs $12.70.*
My family enjoyed this simply brothy ham and bean soup. The flavor is so tasty thanks to the chunks of ham, the bay leaf and the fresh garlic. If you’re a ham eater on Thanksgiving you may want to use your leftover ham in this healthy, delicious inexpensive dinner. But even if you don’t have any leftover ham you can still make the soup by buying ham steak at the grocery store.
More Instant Pot Recipes with Ham…
Instant Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta
Instant Pot Tomato, Ham and Bean Soup
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make 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.
Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Total Time: 14 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Ham and bean soup is a classic after-holiday recipe, using up leftover ham and bones. But it can be made any time with the use of ham steak purchased from the grocery store.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried great northern beans (or two cans of great northern beans)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, peeled and chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (16 ounce) ham steak, cubed with bone reserved
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Soak beans overnight or quick soak beans in the Instant Pot.
- Set Instant Pot to Saute. Put oil and onion into Instant Pot. Cook onion 2 minutes until soft.
- Add in garlic and cook 30 seconds. Turn Instant Pot off.
- Add beans, ham and ham bone, broth, carrots, parsley, pepper and bay leaf to Instant Pot.
- Close lid and set pressure release to sealing.
- Press Manual or Pressure Cook button and adjust time to 4 minutes for canned beans or 20 minute for soaked beans.
- When the timer beeps, quick release pressure and then unlock lid and remove it.
- Remove bay leaf and ham bone. Serve.
Notes
Recipe is from The “I Love My Instant Pot®” Affordable Meals Recipe Book*
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Calories: 435
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 1068 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Carbohydrates: 53 g
- Fiber: 14 g
- Protein: 37 g
Want more tried and true Instant Pot recipes?
The 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking website has 3-4 new Instant Pot recipes a week! If you sign up for my emails (fill out the form below) you’ll receive an email each time something new is on the site. You can also join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group which is run by my husband Greg and myself. If you’re a visual learner consider subscribing to my YouTube channel where I share Instant Pot stuff with you weekly.
I received a review copy of this cookbook, all opinions are my own.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Karen, thanks so much for sharing this recipe! You inspired me to make something yummy from my Canadian Thanksgiving ham leftovers this year 😋. I tweaked your great recipe and added a few things:
Used large onion, not sml. Added a couple chopped celery ribs & some leaves. Upped carrots to 3. Add ~1 cup chopped kale leaves. Used a cup more chicken broth. 2 Bay leaves instead of 1, plus 1/2 tsp dry thyme leaves. Fresh parsley over dry. Added 2 tsp Worcester sauce. And finally, followed your helpful tip: was a little short of 1lb of Great Northern beans, so subbed the balance with pintos.
The soup came out delicious and improved with time! 😁
Wow that sounds like a great version! I love those ideas. Thanks for sharing.
Can I add a can of diced pottoes
Are they cooked? If so I would add them after the pressure cooking time so they don’t get overdone.
Made this last night, and it will definitely make again! I paired it with salad and cornbread. This great recipe was the first soup my husband liked, and went back for seconds! I did add an additional can of beans, and it seemed like the perfect amount.
★★★★★
How awesome Ashlee, I’m glad you both liked it!
Made this last week. The flavor was amazing. I had quite a bit of broth leftover so I refrigerated it and used it in other recipes that called for chicken broth. Definitely amped up the flavor.
That’s a great idea!
I made this today in two batches. I used canned beans. I combined my batches, and learned a lot. The combination is wonderful:
1. I used a total of three cans of great northern beans and one can of Mexican Goya white beans. I liked the flavor.
2. Drain your canned beans.
3. Go heavy on onions, garlic, and carrots.
4. I used the Better Than Boullioun (sorry sp?), so I used six cups of water and six teaspoons of BTB. Used heaping spoonfuls – more flavor!
5. Probably used extra parsley and pepper. I use my hand and pour heavy.
It’s still a thinner soup, but the flavor is excellent. Probably give it mor onions nest time because they give the soup body.
Thank you Karen!!!
Love all these tips and ideas! Thanks for sharing your experience.
What are the directions for quick soak beans in the Instant Pot, please…
Hi Trish,
How to Quick Soak: Add the beans to your Instant Pot with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil using the saute setting. Once the water is boiling then quickly cover the pressure cooker and and turn valve to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 2 minutes. When time is up slowly move valve to venting. If foam escapes then move valve back to sealing for 20 seconds and try again. Remove the lid. Then rinse and drain the beans and use them in the recipe.
Is there another type of bean that would go well with the ham in this soup? I’m not a big fan of white northern beans.
My favorite is navy beans!
yeah I’d say navy beans or even pintos
I make dry lima beans with ham and bacon. I saute the bacon, cubed ham and onions on the saute (instant pot). Once the onions are translucent and the bacon is cooked, turn off saute. Ad a pound of dry lima beans (no need to soak ahead of time), 6-8 cups of chicken broth, set the IP on pressure cook and then the bean button. It should give 25 or 30 minutes cooking time. When the time is up, do the natural release. I then thicken my broth a little with a cornstarch slurry. Also salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes I add diced carrots. Enjoy.
One of the things I love most about the Instant Pot is no need to soak dry beans before cooking. The time on this recipe seems way off even for dry beans that have been soaked. I can see 4 minutes for canned beans, but is this really enough time for soaked dry beans? Did I miss something?
right you are…I have corrected the recipe to reflect time differences in canned and soaked.