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Hearty, starchy, and filling, this rustic Instant Pot Ham White Bean Soup is the epitome of comfort food. This soup is an easy and satisfying way to transform leftover ham and a ham bone into a hearty meal.
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Table of Contents
- Why you will love this ham and white bean soup recipe!
- Ingredients For Instant Pot White Bean Soup
- How To Make Ham White Bean Soup
- Stovetop Version
- Recipe Notes and Tips
- Storing
- Can you freeze this soup?
- Can you make it ahead of time?
- Recipe FAQs
- More Instant Pot Soup Recipes
- Ham White Bean Soup (Instant Pot, Slow Cooker, Stove Top) Recipe
When it’s cold outside and all you want is to stay cozy and warm, the best thing to do is make a large pot of this hearty soup. Especially, now when I make this soup in a pressure cooker, it is very quick & easy – and ready in minutes. Just chop the vegetables and dump them in the electric pressure cooker, and soup cooks in only 15 minutes on Manual High Pressure after it comes to pressure.
It’s one of my favorite soups from my childhood, and one my grandmother used to make very often. We enjoyed it for lunch and for dinner, and I never got tired of eating it. It was so good! Made with love!
I tried to make the soup just like my grandmother used to make it. While it can’t compare to the soup from my childhood, I think it turned out pretty good! This soup tastes great and it is even better the next day. The flavors of the ham, beans, and vegetables have time to blend together and they taste wonderful. The starch from the beans thickens the broth and makes the soup creamy and so comforting. On cold days like today, there is nothing more satisfying and delicious than a warm comforting soup.
This ham bean soup is a great way to use up any leftover ham from Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.
Make sure you also try my Instant Pot Ham and Potato Soup and Instant Pot White Chicken Chili.
Why you will love this ham and white bean soup recipe!
- Hearty: This instant pot recipe won’t leave you wanting more. It’s filling and it makes for a great main meal.
- Great for a crowd: This recipe is perfect for a crowd or a large gathering. And it can be easily doubled.
- Make ahead & freezer-friendly: This pressure cooker beans and ham recipe is perfect for weekly meal prep or to freeze for later.
Ingredients For Instant Pot White Bean Soup
- Olive oil
- Vegetables: carrot, onion, garlic, tomato
- Ham: Either leftover ham shanks or cubed ham. You can also add ham hocks.
- Beans: 3 cans of Great Northern, Navy beans, or Cannellini beans, or 1 lb Great Northern beans, soaked for 1 hour using the quick soak method (see notes)
- Vegetable stock: You can use vegetable or low sodium chicken broth/stock
- Water: I use about 1 to 2 cups of water depending on the consistency you like. Keep in mind that the soup thickens as it cools.
- Seasonings and spices: salt, freshly ground black pepper, dried mint, thyme, paprika, bay leaves, fresh parsley
How To Make Ham White Bean Soup
For stovetop and slow cooker instructions, check the recipe card below.
- Saute onion, carrot, garlic and tomato in the pot.
- Add the beans, ham, seasonings, chicken stock to the Instant Pot and close the lid and cook for 15 minutes.
- When the ham and bean soup is done, let the the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, and then quickly release the remaining pressure.
- Serve warm, the soup will thicken as it sits, and if you leave it in the fridge overnight.
Stovetop Version
For the stovetop, heat the oil in a large pot over medium and sauté the carrot, onion, garlic, and tomato for a few minutes. Add the beans, ham, seasonings, vegetable stock, and enough water to reach your preferred soup consistency. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook until the beans are tender (about 1–1½ hours for dried beans, or 20–30 minutes if using canned). Taste, adjust seasoning, and serve warm.
TIPS FROM NELI’S KITCHEN
Recipe Notes and Tips
- For even more flavor, you can also add a ham bone if you have any leftover Thanksgiving or Christmas bone-in ham.
- If you use dry beans and you don’t presoak them, increase the cooking time to 40 minutes. If the beans are not done after the cooking cycle is over, cook them for an additional 5 minutes.
- If you use dry beans, you probably need to add 1 to 2 cups of water, additionally.
- Make sure you let the pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure.
- This soup is great on its own or served with crusty bread to mop the bowl.
- The soup will continue to thicken as it cools.
Quick Soak – Place the beans in a large saucepan with about 7 cups of water. Bring to a rapid boil on medium-high heat, and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour. Drain soak water and rinse beans.
Overnight Soak – Place beans in a large saucepan with about 7 cups water. Cover and let stand overnight, or at least 6-8 hours. Drain soak water and rinse. *Initially, the recipe called for 2 cups water. I reduced it to 1 cup after some readers’ feedback that it was too liquidy. Note though, that if you leave the soup in the fridge overnight, it gets thicker.
Storing
Once the soup cools down, you can store it in the refrigerator for about 4 – 5 days. You can also store it in the freezer for up to 6 months for best texture and taste.
Can you freeze this soup?
Yes, this soup recipe is freezer-friendly. You can keep it in the freezer for about 6 months. Once it is cooled, portion it into freezer safe containers or freezer bags, and freeze it. I like to use these 1 cup or 2 cup souper cubes for freezing soup. When ready to eat, you can defrost the soup slowly in the refrigerator overnight, and heat it on the stove. If it’s too thick, you can add a little bit water to thin it.
Once a year, I like to make several batches of this soup on a weekend and freeze it for later. And when I am short on time, and don’t have enough time to cook, I just defrost this soup or some of my other freezer meals. This soup recipe is so simple, inexpensive and so good.
Can you make it ahead of time?
Yes, this soup keeps well in the refrigerator for several days. You can make it on Sunday when you meal prep for the week. You can also chop and prepare the ingredients and just pressure cook the soup when you are ready to serve it.
Recipe FAQs
You can cook this ham white bean soup without soaking the beans. Just add 1 or 2 cups of extra water, and increase the cooking time to a total of 40 minutes.
I usually soak my beans for 1 hour using the quick soak method (I used Great Northern beans) before I put them in the Instant Pot but if you are short on time, and don’t have time for soaking the beans or the longer cook time, you could also use 3 cans of Great Northern or Cannellini beans in this recipe. In which case, you don’t need to increase the water or the cooking time.
If you are looking for a delicious vegan white bean soup, you can omit the ham.
More Instant Pot Soup Recipes
If you loved this bean soup recipe, make sure you check out some of my other comforting soups:
- Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
- Instant Pot Potato Soup
- Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
If you enjoyed this Instant Pot Ham Bean Soup recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
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Ham White Bean Soup (Instant Pot, Slow Cooker, Stove Top)
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Ingredients
- 1 lb Great Northern beans, soaked for 1 hour using the quick soak method (see notes) or 3 cans Great Northern or Cannellini beans
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium tomato, peeled and chopped
- 1 lb ham, cubed
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 1 – 2 cups water *, depending on how thin you like your soup
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions
- Press the “saute” button on the Instant Pot, and add the oil, carrot, onion, garlic, tomato to the pot. Cook stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. (This is an optional step. You can dump everything in at once if you want).
- Add the beans, ham, seasonings, chicken stock to the Instant Pot and close the lid. Lock the lid, move the valve to 'Sealing' and cook on Manual for 15 minutes.
- When the ham and bean soup is done, and you hear the beep sound, press the Cancel/Keep Warm button. Let NPR for 10 minutes, and then QR until all the pressure is out.
- Open lid and serve warm.
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Add everything to the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours (or on high for 4 hours).
- Serve soup warm.
Stove Top Instructions
- Add cold water to a dutch oven to cover the soaked beans by about 1 inch. Bring to boil over high heat, boil for 5 minutes.
- Add sliced carrot, tomato, onion, garlic, ham, and drizzle about 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, crushed mint, thyme. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally, or until beans are tender.
- Serve soup while it’s warm.
Video
Notes
- For even more flavor, you can also add a ham bone if you have any leftover Thanksgiving or Christmas bone-in ham.
- If you use dry beans and you don’t presoak them, increase the cooking time to 40 minutes. If the beans are not done after the cooking cycle is over, cook them for an additional 5 minutes.
- If you use dry beans, you probably need to add 1 to 2 cups of water, additionally.
- Make sure you let the pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure.
- This soup is great on its own or served with crusty bread to mop the bowl.
- The soup will continue to thicken as it cools.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer: Nutritional values are estimates and may vary with ingredients, brands, and portion sizes. For accuracy, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this recipe is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical or nutritional advice. I am not a doctor or a dietitian. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized guidance regarding your diet or health. For more details, please read my full disclosure page.
I can’t wait to try this soup! It sounds delicious!
I’m new to Instant Pot and wasn’t sure I could use it for a bean soup – so happy now, yay! Thanks for a lovely recipe!
As we were eating dinner tonight and talking about the weather cooling, my husband and I recalled this magnificent soup, which I made last spring. We think it may well be the BEST soup we ever ate. Make this and enjoy it, Jocelyn!
Thank you so much for the kind words, Karen! You made my day! So glad to hear that you loved the soup! It’s definitely one of my favorite Fall recipes!
I need this soup in my life!!
You will love it, Jocelyn! 🙂
This was tasty but there was WAY too much broth at the end which made it way too watery. I ended up taking some of the beans and pulverizing them to help make the broth thicker, but it was still way too watery. So I made a thickener with flour and water and that made the broth a better consistency. Next time I would cut way down on the water, possibly even eliminating it a cup at a time.
Hi Eric,
thanks for your feedback. Could you please tell me which cooking method you used – instant pot, slow cooker or stove top?
Instant pot
I have about 8 cups of homemade ham stock I made when I boiled ham bones. How can I incorporate this in? I am thinking omit water and veg broth and add all of stock. What do you think?
Absolutely! It will turn out delicious with the homemade ham stock! I don’t know if you already added salt to your stock or not. But if you did, adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly.
Fantastic soup!!! My family loved it. I prepped everything this morning and soaked my beans while i was at work. the only thing i didn’t do was add mint (not a fan) but it turned out fantastic and will definitely make again. thanks for the great recipe 🙂
So happy to hear that, Mandy! Glad your whole family enjoyed it! It’s one of my favorite soups too! 🙂
How do I adjust the recipe by switching to canned white beans and Italian sausage? I mainly need to know how long to cook under pressure. Also, do you ever use the soup setting instead of the manual setting? Thank you.
Hi Jeanette,
since the canned beans are already precooked, this means you need the right time for the sausage and the vegetables. Based on the IP’s cooking guide and my previous experience with cooking Italian sausage and vegetables in the IP, I would suggest about 8-10 minutes, and do QR once it’s done, instead of NPR. I have not cooked with precooked beans in the IP and I don’t know if they will turn mushy or not though. Hope this helps you and it turns out fantastic! 🙂
I find that using the Manual function instead of the Soup function saves more time.
Neli, this recipe is a real winner…thank you. I made this in my Instant Pot today and I used slightly more ham and no mint (did not have any on hand). I also subbed a can of diced tomatoes for the fresh tomato. I did not add any salt, because my broth was not salt-free. The ham turned out so tender and succulent, and the beans were cooked exactly right – I quick-soaked them for a bit more than an hour after boiling for five minutes. A perfect dinner with some hot rolls and a bit of fruit.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the soup, Karen! I love bean soups and this one is my favorite comfort soup! Thanks for stopping by! You made my day! 🙂
This sounds wonderful. I am always looking for new bean recipes and I plan to make this soon. You mentioned the ham bone in your narrative, but it is not in the recipe. I would like to include the ham bone, as I have done when I make split pea soup. How would I do that with this recipe?
Hi Sylvia, you can just add the ham bone in the Instant Pot and cook it with everything else. It will add a lot of flavor! 🙂 Just remove it before serving. Hope you enjoy this recipe!