Instant Pot Ham and White Bean Soup
Smoky ham and white bean soup made easy in the Instant Pot, no need to presoak the beans.
I think my favorite thing to make in my Instant Pot so far, has been soup. I've made a lot of soups and my pressure cooker is my go-to for making chicken stock (or bone broth, if you prefer). Instant Pot Ham and White Bean Soup is so easy and so good. We love it.
I used to never make soups from dried beans because I was always turned off by having to soak them overnight. Don't have to do that with the Instant Pot. I didn't and they were perfectly tender. I wanted cannellini beans, but couldn't find dried, so I used Great Northern beans, which is probably the preferred white bean to use anyway. You need a one-pound bag of beans.
I love ham shanks for soups, they are meaty and add so much flavor. You could use a smoked ham hock but you won't get any meat to shred for the soup. You're better off with shanks or a meaty ham bone with some extra meat added. Just sayin'
I flavored the soup a couple different ways, each time I made it. I like fresh rosemary and thyme (or dried) a lot. I also like herbs de Provence. Whatever you got and like. And a bay leaf. That's it. Well, along with the onion, celery, carrot and garlic, that's it.
It all goes in the Instant Pot and you can walk away while it does all the work. While the actual cooking time is about 35 minutes, it takes awhile to reach pressure as well as naturally release the pressure. Count on about an hour and a half, start to finish.
Recipe Notes and Tips
- I do not presoak the beans and never have a problem with them cooking all the way. Use the manual pressure cook setting, set at high pressure. Do not use the bean or soup setting. I can not stress this enough.
- Make sure to use a natural release of at least 20 minutes before you open the pot.
- If the beans are not tender, remove the ham shanks and cook the beans under high pressure an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
- The soup will thicken upon standing as well as after refrigeration. I like it on the broth-y side but also like it after it sits for awhile and thickens.
- Use a ham bone, either leftover or shanks, to cook with the beans to make the best flavored broth. Add any leftover ham not on the bone at the end.
- Total time to make this soup is about an hour and a half. It takes some time to come to pressure and then the natural release time, but it's all hands off and easy.
Instant Pot Ham and White Bean Soup is a favorite around here. We love a hot bowl of soup for dinner, with crusty bread and a salad. It's even better the next day for lunch, and I usually manage to stash a quart in the freezer for later. I think you'll like this, homemade soup is so tasty and comforting. Enjoy, Kelly🍴🐦
If you're looking for Instant Pot recipes to try, you might like these favorites of mine:
- Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
- Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noddle Soup)
- Country Green Beans, Potatoes and Ham
- Easy Barbecue Ribs
- Split Pea and Lentil Soup
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Instant Pot Ham and White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried Great Northern white beans, picked over and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary and thyme, minced or 2 teaspoons dried, or 2 teaspoons herbs de Provence
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 pounds meaty, smoked ham shanks
- 8 cups water
- 2 sprigs parsley
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot on sauté setting and heat olive oil in insert. I use the medium heat setting for sautéing. Add onion, celery and carrots and sauté until starting to soften, a few minutes. Add garlic, stir a few seconds until fragrant, then add herbs and bay leaf, stir and turn off sauté function.
- Add the dried beans to the pot along with the ham shanks. Pour in 8 cups of water and combine gently. Toss in 2 sprigs of parsley.
- Close lid and seal pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure and set timer for 35 minutes. It will take about 25 minutes to reach pressure and then the timer will start. When finished cooking, let pressure naturally release for 20 minutes.
- Manually release any remaining pressure, carefully open pot. Remove ham shanks to cutting board and shred/cut meat into bite-sized pieces. Add back to soup and season with kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and serve with a little hot sauce on the side.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
We absolutely loved! We had friends over for dinner and it's a hit for them too. I did make a few edits and added our favorite garnishes to serve. Not that this recipe needed any changes!
I subbed chicken broth for water, upped garlic to 10 cloves of roasted garlic, upped olive oil to 3T, upped bay leaf to 3, upped celery to 5 stalks, eliminated carrot.
GARNISHES: raw onion, chopped radish, favorite green salsa 😉
I made your recipe using great northern beans that had been soaked over night. Had lots of celery and onion and grated a large carrot along with lots of garlic. Put in dried thyme. rosemary and bay leaf. Substituted chix stock (8 cups) and 3 cups of cut up leftover ham. I used the regular soup setting and added 2 tablespoons of butter after the button dropped. It was so good and there is lots of leftover soup for lunch tomorrow. Thank you for the great recipe.
Not sure what's different about your instant pot in regards to beans not cooking thoroughly for all of us. Before starting I read the comments about the beans and went with 45 mins/20 mins release... Beans were half done. Giving it another 20 mins. Smells delicious though!
I made these beans in my IP last month, they where by far the tasiest beans ever! The recipe of ingredients are so perfect! I read all the comments too. Seems many IP owners experienced the same issue with the amount of time to cook. I found maybe because I have the ilder model I too had to cook much longer. I think I let I had to bring it to pressure two more times. So I'm gonna soak my beans irst then cook for 35 minutes and the next time after this Im going to cook in my old IP for 50 -60 minutes. I loved them so did my family and my 2 best friends whom I shared the soup with the next day!
Plus shared the recipe! Thank you kindly for your blog and so far for this awesome bean recipe!
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My God this was the Best tasting beans I've ever made and Ive been cooking them for over 30 decades. I do believe many who may have the older 6qt IPs takes lonher to cook than 35 minutes without presoak. It took me like an hour all together of combined natural release plus quick a couple times. Gonna pre soak next time and or cook longer. Perfect herbs especially fresh if you have em!
Thanks so much! I think it takes an hour total on the manual pressure setting, set at high. Most people have no problems, some do and I'm at a loss. 35-40 minutes under high pressure and at least a 15-20 minute natural release ALWAYS gives me perfect soup. Maybe the differences are size and models?
I tried your recipe today and it turned out delicious. I kept the beans in an additional 5 minutes and gave a quick blend with the immersion blender to thicken them up. I wanted something warm and quick (i.e no soaking of beans required) and this hit the spot!
I followed recipe and the beans were not done in 35 minutes. I recommend cooking time 1 hour.
My husband was dubious that this could taste as good as the all day slow cooker method, but wow - this was not as good, this was BETTER. Thank you for providing such a great recipe!
I made this in the slow cooker when I was visiting my mom, she had a leftover ham bone and wanted this soup. It was good, but I, too, think it's better in the pressure cooker. Glad your husband liked it!!
I was really looking for the basic way to cook dry beans in an instant pot when I found this recipe. I didn't have any meat so I used chicken broth. I used the same veggies, but cooked my beans an extra 15 minutes because they weren't soft enough for me. I used a Smoky maple bacon seasoning instead of the herbs in the recipe.
The soup was delicious.
My kitchen smells amazing!
It's important when posting recipes for Instant Pot to specify the use of Manual vs. any other setting such as Soup or Stew.
This recipe did not specify the use of Manual, and I used Soup. It took me through setting it to High Pressure, as well as setting it to 35 minutes. The numbers 240 appeared on the screen, which I had not seen before. I began to realize that something was wrong when I noticed the numbers were actually counting backward at about 170....which means that my soup was on high pressure for 70 minutes.
I manually released the pressure immediately, but my beans are a quite a bit mushier than I like. The flavor is fantastic, but I do prefer a bean with texture. Perhaps this recipe could be updated to include this information??
Thanks for pointing that out, yes, the time is for manual pressure cook setting at high pressure.
I made this last night. I used chicken broth instead of water, all other ingredients were the same. My beans were only 1/2 cooked at 35 minutes so I put them back on for another 25 minutes. Perfection!!! The flavor was so good! I’ll definitely be making it again.
I'm happy to see you adjusted your cook time accordingly and all was good. It's such a great soup for the cooler weather. We love it!
I made this soup today and the family loved it. My husband said it is reminiscent of a rustic French soup. Great recipe!
Thanks for letting me know, glad you liked it. It's our favorite!
This is very delicious, thank you!! Made it last night and it was a hit with everyone!!
You are very welcome, glad it was a hit ?!
This was definitely some of the best bean soup I've ever made or eaten for that matter. Hubby had 2 bowls. Didn't have fresh herb so just used dried. Can't imagine it being any better with fresh. Will share with friends and make it again.
All I have is canned white kidney beans? Put them in at the same time?
The recipe is timed for dried beans. Try this, make it as directed but don't add the beans and cook for 20 minutes under high pressure. Release the pressure, open and add the beans. Seal and cook another 5 minutes. Release the pressure and continue with recipe, removing and cutting the ham. That should work and give you a good flavored broth.
I made this soup with the original ingredients but,I had a half a cup of homemade marinara in my instant pot from canning this morning and used that. Also I had 4 cups of homemade bone broth in the freezer that I added as well as a wrinkly orange pepper and a fairly large jalapeno. I didn't have a full pound if great northern beans so I used the rest of a package of 15 bean soup. I pressured cooked it for 45 minutes and did a natural release. Very very tasty. My husband loved it. The pot likker is the best!