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
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to my Newsletter and come hang out with me on INSTAGRAM, or give me a follow on FACEBOOK or see what I’m pinning on PINTEREST.
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
Is there any suggestions on other seasonings? I'm not a huge fan of the seasonings called for and dont want to spend a bunch of money buying them if there is something else I can use.
Thyme is pretty common for this soup, as well as bay leaf, parsley and garlic. Rosemary and Herbs de Provence are very distinct and stronger, so maybe just thyme would be more to your liking. Hope that helps.
With everyone stocking up here, there were no dried beans at all, in two different stores. 🙁 I had to get canned Northern beans instead. Can you tell me what adjusted time would be?? And I assume I drain the beans first .. ? Thank you for the help!
I would cook as directed without the dried beans and adjust the time to 25 minutes to make the broth, natural release for 10 minutes. Shred the meat and then add your drained and rinsed beans and heat for about 5 minutes on the sauté setting.
Lol first time I ever made ham n bean soup because I never wanted to soak my beans.....love my Instant Pot!! This turned out exceptional. Used my leftover Easter Ham bone with added meat. Didnt have minced garlic so used 1.5 tsp of garlic powder. Didnt have Rosemary so used 2tbsp of just Thyme. Used 5cups water n 5 cups chicken broth because I think I had more meat n carrot than called for. No need for salt but did add black pepper before cooking.
I'm so glad to hear this, your tweaks are perfect!
I used 4 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of water instead of the recommended 8 cups. I didn't have any ham, but I cooked a pkg of bacon in the oven and then crumbled it in at the end. It was delicious! The beans were perfectly cooked in the specified time. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Sounds delicious!!
This was delicious! I used my ham bone I had previously frozen on Christmas. I did need to add 5 minutes to the beans, but will adjust by 5 next time.
Yay!
We have the IP Ultra - I did need to return the beans to high pressure for the suggested extra 5 minutes and they were perfect after that second time. Used half chicken broth and half water as other commenters recommended and my husband, who will normally eat all the goodies out of a soup and leave the broth sitting, literally drank the bottom of the bowl clean (twice)! Will definitely make again and simply add an extra few minutes on cook time from the beginning. Thank you for the recipe!
You're very welcome, glad you enjoyed it.
This was delicious! Since I was late getting started on dinner, I put the liquid (I used 4 cups water and 4 cups unsalted chicken stock) along with the ham bone and dried northern beans and 2 tsp dried thyme on high pressure for the recommended time of 35 mts with a 25 minute NPR. While the beans and liquid were coming to pressure and cooking, I chopped and sautéed the onion, carrots, celery and garlic in a skillet on the stove top. After the NPR, some of the beans were still slightly chewy. I added the sautéed vegetables and chopped ham to the mixture in the instant pot and let simmer on the sauté function for about 15 mts. It was perfect and so tasty!! Thank you for sharing.
You are so welcome, happy to hear you liked it and your adjustments worked out so well.
I made this as directed except used low sodium vegetable broth instead of water and left out the ham shanks. It's delicious. Definitely going in my soup rotation.
Glad you liked it!
After looking at other's comments, I soaked my beans for 3 hours , just in case. They came out perfect. I also added a generous handful of chopped kale while I was chopping up the ham at the end. Great recipe for a cold winter's day!!
I want to try this today. Can I substitute baby lima beans for northern?
Yes, I think you can. I never have and I’m not sure about the time but I've seen baby limas recommended as a substitute.
I didn't like the Rosemary in this recipe.
I have a 8qt instant pot so would it be ok to double this recipe?
I don't know about doubling the recipe, you could add a little more of everything and watch the fill line maximum but I wouldn't straight out double it.
10 stars
First off the final result was delicious but I had the same complaint as others. My beans were only half done at the end. I had to cook the soup for an extra 30 minutes to get the beans fully cooked. I have a new instant pot and this was my second time cooking with it. Looking at other recipes online for ham and bean soup, they were calling for 60 minute cooking times for dried beans.
Have this in the pot now. I'm looking forward to eating this. I would, however, point out that the time it takes from preparation to the table is a bit disengenuous. I selected this recipe because of the it claimed it took to make (I'm hungry and baking for Xmas.). Once I got into the recipe I see that it takes much longer. Luckily, I'm cheating and using canned beans. Thank you for the recipe ?
Sorry for any confusion on the time, total time didn't appear in the recipe card, but the prep and cook times, including bringing to pressure and releasing pressure is about 1½ hours.