With only eight ingredients and lots of deep savory flavor, this simple Instant Pot® ham and bean soup will become a fast favorite!
I’ve been using my Instant Pot on a regular basis these days. It’s hard not to when using the gadget makes life so very easy.
Take this ham and bean soup, for example.
Sure. It could have simmered away stove top or in the slow cooker for hours.
Instead, I finished work, threw eight inexpensive ingredients into the Instant Pot, set it to “Soup” and then forgot about it for forty-five minutes.
And, as an added bonus, I used up the last of the holiday ham!
Once the ham and bean soup was finished cooking, it was so tender and savory I almost couldn’t stand it.
You know how stodgy beans can be, even the canned ones?
I half-expected to slurp my first spoonful and be woefully disappointed by untender beans.
But no, the Instant Pot doesn’t disappoint!
Not only were the beans the perfect amount of tender, the ham ended up falling apart in my mouth—in the very best way possible.
You guys? You’re welcome.
Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cups of cooked ham, cubed
- 1 40.5-ounce can of Great Northern beans (drained but not rinsed)
- 1 15.5-ounce can of navy beans (drained but not rinsed)
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Put everything into the Instant Pot and give it a stir.
- Lock the lid in place and cook on the "Soup" setting for 30 minutes.
- Release the pressure all at once and serve immediately.
Notes
There's no salt in the ingredient list (I know, shocking) because there's plenty from the ham and the beans. You can always add salt at the end to taste if you think it's lacking.
The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to come up to pressure before it begins the 30 minute cooking period.
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I wonder if you realize with the canned beans, you aren’t actually cooking anything.
Hi Brad! Are you referring to this: “Once the ham and bean soup was finished cooking…” If so, well played. I suppose I could have used “Once the time’s up,” or “Once everything’s hot and bubbly,” or simply, “Once the ham and bean soup finishes…” But, alas, “cooking” seemed to be a general enough term to fit the bill, even with canned beans and an Instant Pot.
We like our ham and bean soup with dumplings. 30 minutes would be a long time for the dumplings to cook. Since Brad so politely pointed out that your “not really cooking anything”, could the time be cut in half to allow the dumplings to cook? I’m a newbie and haven’t used my soup feature yet.
Thanks!
Hi Susan! Even though I use canned beans, I feel like they still have a “tooth” to them if they’re not cooked enough. So, you could set it for manual, high for 25 minutes. Release pressure (after 5-10 minutes), add the dumplings, and then cook for another 5 minutes. Let me know how it goes!
I thought this was perfect. I’m busy as heck and I’m trying to think of home style foods that my mom used to make to feed my family of four. We are all very happy with this. Even though the kids don’t like the idea of ham and beans… still perfect!!
That’s great, Tricia!