Instant Pot Ham and Beans is the perfect weeknight dinner. It's an affordable way to make a hearty meal that is filling and delicious. If you're looking for a comfort soup and a great way to use up leftover ham or ham bones, making a pot of homemade soup is always a good idea.
Get ready to snuggle down and warm up your belly and tastebuds with a bowl (or two) of this delicious soup made with ham and beans.
The best part of this recipe? There's no need to pre-soak the navy beans! You can rest easy knowing that this dump-and-go soup is ready to eat and enjoy in just over 60 minutes of time!
The smells of this ham soup with beans will be wafting through the house, calling everyone to come to the table. All that's needed are your favorite soup toppings to enjoy!
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe Works
Everyone loves a good ham and bean soup recipe. It's one of those classic soups that take you back to Grandma's kitchen. The entire cooking process is easy to do, with the abundance of flavors standing out with every bite.
Soups are not only a great way to stretch the food budget every week, but the recipes make a lot of food that is great for leftovers, too.
- Fast and easy soup recipe for the weeknight or weekend
- Loaded with protein and simple ingredients
- A great way to meal prep for the week for a hot meal with plenty of leftovers
Recipe Video
Navy beans are a certain type of pea-sized White Beans, which is also commonly known as haricot beans, Boston beans, Peas beans, or Yankee beans.
They are closely related to larger white beans such as Great Northern and Cannelloni beans.
If you want to make them separately, check out this Instant Pot Navy Beans recipe.
Recipe Ingredients
Olive oil - Coconut oil can be used as well, or any other type of cooking oil that you prefer.
Garlic cloves - Garlic cloves add the best flavor, but garlic powder can be substituted if needed.
Onion - Chop up a sweet onion to add extra flavor.
Celery stalks - Chop the celery into small bite-sized pieces so that they cook evenly with the rest of the soup.
Carrots - Large carrots or baby carrots will work.
Ham - You can use leftover ham or already cooked ham bought from the store.
Cabbage - Chopped thinly so that it tenderizes with the rest of the soup ingredients.
Chicken broth - Vegetable broth would work well also.
Dried oregano - The dried oregano does a great job soaking in with the ham and beans.
Salt and pepper - To taste.
Navy beans - These beans cook quickly in the Instant Pot - no soaking needed.
Ham bone - This could be optional if you don't have a ham bone but it's great for extra flavor.
Worcestershire sauce - You may not be able to pronounce it, but you need to add it!
How to make Instant Pot Ham and Beans
Be sure to gather up all the ingredients listed above before getting started. They're all important to creating the perfect bowl of soup!
Step One: Add the oil, the chopped onion, and the minced garlic. Saute all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot for 5 minutes.
Step Two: Once that has cooked, add the chopped celery, chopped carrots, broth, and sliced cabbage. Use a wooden spoon and stir the mixture well.
Step Three: After it has been stirred and mixed, add the chopped ham and all the spices and mix well.
Step Four: Pour in the navy beans and the ham bone. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set it to High Pressure for 1 hour and 15 minutes. (75 minutes)
Step Five: Once the cooking time has passed, do a Natural Release and then add in Worcestershire sauce once the lid has been removed. Stir the soup mixture well.
Dish out and serve with fresh parsley on top.
Variations
Add more beans - As long as you're adding dried beans, you can mix and match.
Change up the vegetables - Carrots, celery, and onion are great but you could also add in other vegetables like mushrooms or even a few potatoes!
Make split pea soup - If you are into split pea, try this Instant Pot Split Pea Soup with Ham recipe.
Helpful Tips
- If you want to make this recipe vegan, use vegetable stock and skip the ham.
- Be sure that you're using dried beans and not canned beans for this recipe. The canned beans will become mushy and won't work.
How to Serve
This Instant Pot ham and beans recipe is simple to serve. Grab a soup bowl and fill it full! Don't forget that one of the best things to serve with soup is Instant Pot Cornbread!
If you’re looking for something extra, you can also serve this Instant Pot ham and bean soup with buffalo fish or brats to dip in the sauce at the end. These are simple ways to get extra protein into the recipe as well.
It's also one of the best side dishes for shrimp boil, so you can make a complete meal by using the Instant Pot.
Recipe FAQs
There are so many great health benefits of eating navy beans. Some include:
Healthy for brain cells and are beneficial for folate requirements.
Full of antioxidants especially Magnesium.
Helpful in maintaining healthy blood pressure.
A great source of fiber and protein.
Have detoxifying properties.
No, you don't have to soak the beans overnight. This is where the Instant Pot takes over and cooks them perfectly.
Yes, you can freeze cooked ham and bean soup.
Liquid expands when frozen, so make sure the container is big enough to leave a little bit of room at the top.
Leave about 1-2 inches of space above the soup in the container so that it has room to expand without bursting.
If you don't have a ham bone for this recipe, don't stress. While a ham bone gives this soup loads of flavor, it's not a deal-breaker.
You can also just add in extra ham as well if you don't have a ham bone.
Similar Recipes
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Instant Pot Ham And Beans
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- ½ onion chopped
- 3 celery ribs chopped
- 2 carrots peeled & sliced
- 1 ½ cup ham chopped
- 1 cup cabbage chopped
- 4 cups chicken broth
- ½ tablespoon dried oregano
- ½ tablespoon black pepper
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 1 lb navy beans
- 1 ham bone large
- 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Add the oil in to the Instant Pot and press saute.
- Add the chopped onion and minced garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon.
- Add the chopped celery, sliced cabbage, chopped carrots and chicken broth and mix well.
- Stir in the dried oregano, pepper, salt, hambone, chopped ham and navy beans.
- Put on the Instant Pot lid and cook on high pressure for 1 hour and 15 minutes. (75 minutes)
- Once the cooking time has passed, do a natural release.
- When the lid is removed, add the Worcestershire sauce and mix well.
- Add yhour favorite soup toppings and enjoy.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
- If you want to make this recipe vegan, use vegetable stock and skip the ham.
- Be sure that you're using dried beans and not canned beans for this recipe. The canned beans will become mushy and won't work.
- If you don't have a ham bone for this recipe, don't stress. While a ham bone gives this soup loads of flavor, it's not a deal-breaker.
Three "Stalks" of celery is way too much. You should change to "ribs".
Fixed. Thanks 🙂
When it calls for dried beans, should we assume that they should still be soaked overnite?
Actually, no. One great thing about the Instant Pot is that you can cook dried beans without soaking first. Just add the dried beans and cook for 75 minutes in the Instant Pot, they will turn out perfect!