Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup is a quick and easy way to enjoy a classic comfort food (with no soaking required)!
Tender ham chunks are mixed with our favorite 15 bean mixture, celery, carrots, and onions to create the perfect cozy soup! This easy ham and bean soup recipe is a favorite way to use up leftover baked ham, and all you need to add is some cornbread!
I am so excited to partner with Hurst Beans and to share how easy it is to cook beans in an Instant Pot!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No soaking required, a pressure cooker gets this meal is on the table in about 90 minutes (most of which is hands off)!
- It’s hearty and flavorful, great made with a leftover ham bone, smoked sausage, or even leftover smoked turkey.
- It’s an inexpensive way to feed a crowd.
- This soup is delicious leftover and freezes perfectly.
Ingredients in Instant Pot Bean Soup
BEANS Of course this recipe starts with beans. Hurst’s HamBeens® 15 BEAN SOUP® is a holiday staple and can be cooked on the stove top or as a slow cooker ham and bean soup recipe. A cozy bowl of bean soup is a favorite way to use up our holiday ham and start off our New Year!
You can find these beans in the dry bean section of almost any grocery store (or you can order them online) and they include an assortment including black beans, kidney, garbanzo, split peas, navy beans, pinto beans, baby limas, and more.
A seasoning packet is included in each package of 15 Bean Soup making it simple and perfectly seasoned every time!
Onions, celery and carrots are the perfect start to this soup and add a great base of flavor. This soup is great for add ins, stir in green beans, leftover veggies, or even squash!
A leftover ham bone adds additional smoky salty flavor to this soup and, once cooked, you can pick the meat off the bone and add it to the soup. If you don’t have a ham bone, you can add any leftover meat (along with the tomatoes) or even smoked sausage.
Variations
- Add some chopped garlic, or your own favorite seasonings. If adding fresh herbs they should be added just before serving (except rosemary, it needs a bit of time to cook).
- Kale or fresh spinach can be added (along with almost any veggie).
- We use chicken broth and a bit of water but you can use beef or vegetable broth if you’d like.
How To Make Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup
To make this Instant Pot ham and bean soup recipe:
- Rinse the beans.
- Add olive oil and onion to the Instant Pot and sauté about 5 minutes.
- Add all remaining ingredients except the tomatoes (per the recipe below), including the seasoning packet from the HamBeens beans, and stir to combine.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot, and cook on HIGH pressure for 60 minutes.
- Quick-release, then remove the ham bone. Add tomatoes and tomato juice and the meat from the ham bone. Turn the Instant Pot onto simmer and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Season with salt & black pepper to taste.
Tips For Making Ham And Bean Soup
- Ham If you don’t have a leftover ham bone, a ham hock from the grocery store or your local butcher will work perfectly. Look for one with a bit of meat on it, so you can add it to the soup once it’s cooked.
- Stock or Broth Chicken stock or turkey stock adds great flavor. If you prefer more liquid in your soup, add a couple of extra cups of broth to the Instant Pot.
- Cooking Beans When cooking with beans, always add acidic ingredients such as tomatoes or lemon juice after the beans are cooked through. The acid binds to the outside of the bean and makes it harder for water to permeate them to cook them.
- To thicken bean soup let it simmer uncovered on “saute” or give it a couple of quick pulses with an immersion blender.
What To Serve With Ham And Bean Soup
If you want to add some toppings, we love adding a dollop of sour cream, cilantro, cheddar cheese, or crispy bacon!
This Instant Pot Ham and bean soup is a stick-to-your-ribs kinda meal. We enjoy a nice fresh tossed salad next to it, and of course, cornbread is a MUST to sop up the leftover soup in the bowl.
Can You Freeze Bean Soup
Beans hold up well to freezing making this the perfect freezer meal for the cold winter months. Once cooled, transfer the soup into individual freezer bags or containers and freeze for up to 6 months.
To defrost, just add the soup to a saucepan over medium-low heat until heated through.
More Easy Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Chicken Broth (or Turkey) – great for this recipe!
- Instant Pot Mac and Cheese – kid approved
- Instant Pot Beef Stew – super easy
- Instant Pot Chili – so comforting
- Instant Pot Chicken and Rice – weeknight favorite
- Instant Pot Minestrone Soup – meatless meal
No Instant Pot? No problem!
You can purchase an Instant Pot here, learn more about Instant Pot here or use your slow cooker to make a Crock Pot Ham and Bean Soup!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 20 ounces Hambeens® 15 BEAN SOUP®
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 3 medium carrots diced
- 1 meaty ham bone ham hock or 2 cups leftover ham
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups water
- 14 ounces canned diced tomatoes 1 can, with juice, *see note
Instructions
- Rinse beans and drain. Sort any unwanted debris and set seasoning packet aside.
- Turn the Instant Pot on to saute. Add olive oil and onion and saute until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients including the seasoning packet except for tomatoes.
- Place the lid on, and cook on high pressure for 60 minutes. Quick release pressure.
- Open the lid and remove ham bone or ham hock. Add tomatoes with juice turn onto saute and allow to simmer while picking the ham off of the bone.
- Return the meat to the Instant Pot and stir and serve.
Video
Notes
- Ham If you don't have a leftover ham bone, a ham hock from the grocery store or your local butcher will work perfectly. Look for one with a bit of meat on it, so you can add it to the soup once it's cooked.
- Stock or Broth Chicken stock or turkey stock adds great flavor. If you prefer more liquid in your soup, add a couple of extra cups of broth to the Instant Pot.
- To thicken bean soup let it simmer uncovered on "saute" or give it a couple of quick pulses with an immersion blender before adding the meat back in.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course, Soup
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So many people here have rated this 5 stars before making it! Stop doing that as you give false ratings and skew the true statistics. With that said, this is a 5 star soup. Whole family (2 young chdren included) loved it. Great recipe, thank you. I didnt change anything, and followed the recipe exactly. Served with warmed crunchy bread. Great meal. May portion out and freeze the leftovers for an easy weeknight meal.
I am excited to make this tonight! I am using leftover Ham, but unfortunately my husband pulled all of the ham off and bagged it, throwing out the bone (crazy, I know!). If I’m using pieces of pulled ham, instead of the ham bone, do you think I should put it in with the other ingredients when pressure cooking or afterwards, with the tomatoes?
Either would work as the ham is already cooked and just needs to heat through. I usually add it before so the broth infuses with the smoky flavor. I can’t wait to hear how it works out for you!
Thank you so much for responding, Holly! This was a HUGE hit with our family. My two year old even asked for seconds. I served it with fresh warm cornbread, and it was perfect. Thank you for sharing easy, but delicious recipes. We love them!
You’re very welcome Erica! So glad to hear that you’re enjoying the recipes!
I am trying your recipe… You really need to fix the recipe that you can print out to be clear about putting in the seasoning packet. I left it out because I was not sure. I did stop the instant pot soon enough to be able to open it up and add the seasoning.
Also looks like the carrots in your picture are much bigger than diced. My soup is still cooking so I hope the carrots are not cut too small for cooking 60 minutes.
All ingredients, except the tomatoes, are added in step 2. Enjoy the soup Reita!
I think the confusion is in the printable recipe. It doesn’t say to add the seasoning packet but rather to “add remaining ingredients”; but the seasoning packet isn’t including in the ingredients list. Not a big deal, but probably why some people are confused and why others forgot to add it all together. Making this later on.
..ill write a review afterwards. Thanks for the recipe. Looks good.
I made this last night. Some of the beans were not tender. Would it be wise to soak the beans next time? I did pressure cook setting.
Did you add any acidic ingredients (tomatoes, lemon etc.) before pressure cooking? These can interfere with rehydration.
Forgot to use flavor pack that came with the beans and still tasted awesome.
So glad you loved it!
The recipe as written says 4 cups of broth and 4 cups of water, but the video only shows using the broth. I looked at the slow cooker version of this recipe, and it too only uses broth. I am planning to make this soup tonight. Which version of the recipe is correct?
You can use either or. If I don’t have a ham bone, I most often use all broth. If I do have a ham bone, I often use 4 cups of each as the bone adds flavor.
Thank you so much for replying to my question, Holly. I made the soup last week and my family LOVED it! We at the whole pot in one sitting — no leftovers! I froze my leftover ham from Christmas dinner, and will be using it to make another pot of your soup this weekend.
So glad it was a big hit with your family Claire!
Your recipes are always so tasty and easy to make.
Do you use the seasoning packet that comes with the ham beans?
Yes, it gets added in step three of the recipe.
Ham hocks are too fatty for me so I used smoked turkey wings in the pressure cooker instead. I added diced ham and some of the turkey meat to the soup at the end and it was delicious! I wasn’t sure about the tomatoes but added them anyway and I’m glad I did. Wouldn’t change a thing! Thank you.
I made this yesterday. I enjoy AND enjoyed easy, tasty, and success equally. I planned to make navy bean soup (Love it‼️). When I looked at my recipes on hand , I saw this one that used beans My husband had bought that I automatically naysayed because I ‘don’t like them’. Too much of a coincidence that I actually had ALL of the ingredients so I challenged my own particulars and made it. And, my mother said, ‘is this Calico Soup? It’s as good as my mother’s, no, it’s better’. It was delicious. Voted 5 Star from all eaters.
So happy to hear that!! What a fun story, thanks for sharing Jacque.
I have been trying for years to duplicate my mothers Ham and Bean Soup. I tried this one tonight. Only things I did different is that I did not add tomatoes, I had 4 cups of ham broth left over (instead of chicken broth) and took some of the beans out and pureed them to thicken it up. It was AMAZING!! The cook time was spot on!
Yay!! So happy you were able to find a recipe similar Stacey! I love the addition of ham broth, so much flavor1
Oh my gosh! This was a fabulous find! I had the 15 bean package in my pantry and as we were taking note of what we have while in lockdown in Wisconsin – Stay home people! I found your recipe. I had everything here to make this and it is wonderful! Thank you for sharing the recipe. We will make this again for sure!
I mistakenly added tomatoes to the instapot. Is it okay to go ahead with the pressure cook?
I haven’t tried this with the tomatoes added early. Let us know how it goes!
Making this now, but I only have fresh tomatoes, do you think those will work?
It should work just fine, you may need to add a bit of liquid to replace the liquid from the canned tomatoes.
Curious as to what size cooker you use for this. I have a 6qt and I’m thinking it may be too small?
I use a 6 qt for this recipe as well.
I only have an eight quart Instant Pot. What would you change if using the bigger pot?
I have only tried the soup in a 6qt Instant Pot, so I can’t say for sure. Please consult your manual to check for any modifications.
Ham and bean soup is my favorite, I can’t wait to make this! SWP Contractor
Enjoy Bailey, it’s SO good!
Would the beans cook better if you soak them overnight? What other type bean can you use because can’t find any Hambeans.?
There is no need to soak the beans as the pressure cooker will cook them perfectly in the time given. I haven’t tried this with other beans besides the Hambeens.
Do you think it would be as good with just pinto beans? I also have black beans and Lima beans! Haha I have everything but the 15 bean soup!
I have only tried is as written, I do think any bean would work well in this soup.
I’ve made this quite a few times and I love it!
I would love to make this recipe, can you buy this soup mix in Canada?
Sorry Cathy, I am not sure if they are available in Canada. But you can always check them out online.