The Best Instant Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup Recipe

Learn how to make this Instant Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup recipe!  Nothing warms you up on those cold nights quite like a bowl of homemade Ham Bone and 15 Bean Soup, especially when you can make it in about an hour in your Instant Pot®.

Hello, dear Kenarry readers! I’m Pam from The Birch Cottage where I share family-friendly recipes, DIY projects, craft tutorials and lots of free printables. However, you’ll find me right here on Ideas for the Home by Kenarry® each month sharing ideas, like How to Paint Terra Cotta Pots, How to Make Coasters from Ceramic Tiles and this 15 bean soup pressure cooker recipe!

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Easy Instant Pot Recipe

I am thrilled to share a soup recipe with you that only takes an hour to cook.

We’ve had a pretty snowy winter so far, along with some really cold temps – like single-digit cold! It was on one of those cold wintery Ohio days that I decided to experiment with my Instant Pot.

We had a couple of frozen ham bones in our freezer leftover from Christmas dinner and a couple of bags of 15 bean soup mix in our pantry just waiting to have a little party!

Soups Are Perfect in the Instant Pot

I did a search online for “pressure cooker ham and bean soup” recipes and there were a lot, but most of them also contained vegetables. I really didn’t think my hubby would appreciate having all those veggies in his bean soup. He’s kind of a purist when it comes to bean soup – ham, beans, and onion for garnish. So, experiment is what I did!

How to make ham and Bean soup in the pressure cooker

After all my experiments, I found the perfect way to make amazing ham and bean soup. And it only takes a few minutes! That’s the beauty of the Instant Pot.

What you need:

Before you make your own soup, these are the things you will need. After you gather all your supplies, the entire soup will cook in just an hour, from start to finish.

Kitchen Tools:

The most important tool of all is the Instant Pot.

• Colander
• Chef’s Knife
• Cutting Board
• Instant Pot

Ingredients:

These are the ingredients you’ll need. All the exact amounts are in the printable card at the bottom of this post.

• HamBeens 15 Bean Soup Mix
• Water
• Onion, diced
• Garlic cloves, chopped
• Ham hock
• Salt
• Pepper

Instant Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup Recipe

You won’t believe how easy and quickly you can make bean soup in the Instant Pot! I mean, I’m still amazed! I think bean soup was just meant to be made in an electric pressure cooker.

I’ll share the full recipe with you in just a moment. You can make this bean soup in any electric pressure cooker. If your pressure cooker doesn’t have the sauté function, just omit that step – no big deal!

I have the complete recipe in a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. But first, here’s a quick overview and answers to some questions about the recipe.

1. Add 2 Cups of water to The Instant Pot

First, you’ll want to add 2 cups of water to your Instant Pot and turn it on sauté (because that helps heat up the water and contents, thereby reducing the amount of time it takes for the pressure cooker to build up its temperature and pressure).

I recommend starting with 2 cups of water because you may need to adjust the amount of liquids. If you’re following this recipe exactly, you’ll end up adding 6 cups of water total.

2. Rinse the Beans

While the water is heating up in your pressure cooker, open your bag of 15 bean soup mix and pour into a colander and rinse under running cool water. Be sure to look for any pebbles or dirt that might have been left behind. Once rinsed, add the beans to the pot as well.

3. Dice the Onion and Garlic

Then you’ll dice up one whole onion and 4 cloves of garlic. Add the onion and garlic to the pressure cooker, followed by salt and pepper.

4. Add the Ham Bone

Next, place your ham bone (frozen or thawed) into the pressure cooker. But, you should know, the ham bone does not have to be thawed! (Amazing, right?!) Now, assuming you have room in your pressure cooker, add four additional cups of water. Be sure you don’t overfill your pressure cooker.

5. Seal it and Cook It

Finally, you’ll secure the lid on the Instant Pot, making sure the vent is closed. Press the Bean button and adjust the time to 35 minutes.

When the cook time is up, your Instant Pot will make an audible sound. Allow natural release for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the lid and behold, your amazingly delicious and quick Instant Pot Ham Bone and 15 Bean Soup!

Ready to Eat

Now you just need to carefully remove the ham bone from the soup. Any meat left on the bone should be literally just falling off. You can add the ham back to the soup and discard the bone.

If you like the seasoning and thickening that you get from the little seasoning packet that’s typically included in the 15 bean soup mix, you can add that to the soup now. Give it a good stir and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

What spices taste best in ham and bean soup?

I used a seasoning packet, so that takes all the thinking out of it. But if you like creating your own seasonings, try these combinations in your soup.

• Rosemary and thyme
• Herbs de Provence
• Bay leaf

Optional Vegetables to add to the soup

My husband doesn’t like vegetables in his soup, so the only veggies in it are the onion and garlic.

But if you want to add some vegetables, try these:

• Celery
• Carrots
• Peas

Better yet, make cornbread in your Instant Pot to go with your ham bone and bean soup! I found this amazing Pressure Cooker Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread recipe from Marci on Tidbits. I’m just dying to give it a try! If you try it, be sure to let us know how you liked it!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

3.53 from 17 votes

Instant Pot Ham Bone and 15 Bean Soup Recipe

The Instant Pot turns an all day soup recipe into the ultimate comfort food soup that’s hearty, heart healthy and ready in about an hour!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time55 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: ham bone, ham bone soup, instant pot, soup

Servings: 6

Calories: 88kcal

Author: Pam Baker: The Birch Cottage

Ingredients

• 1-20 oz bag of HamBeens 15 Bean Soup Mix
• 6 cups Water
• 1 Onion diced
• 4 Garlic Cloves chopped
• 1 ham hock
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions

• Place 6 cups water in electric pressure cooker pot.
• Rinse beans and add to the pot.
• Add diced onion, chopped garlic, salt and pepper
• Add ham bone to the pot.
• Secure the lid.
• Press Bean button and adjust time to 35 minutes.
• Allow natural release for 20 minutes.
• Carefully open lid. Remove ham bone, adding any meat back to the soup and discard the bone.
• Optional: Add spice packet to soup and stir.

Nutrition

Calories: 88kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 68mg | Potassium: 135mg | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 0.5mg

Did you make this recipe?Tag us on Instagram at @kenarryideas or leave us a comment rating below.

Instant Pot Recipe App

That reminds me, you know the saying, “There’s an app for that!” Well, guess what? Instant Pot now has a free recipe app. It’s available on the Apple Store and Google Play. I recently shared a post on The Birch Cottage blog outlining the current features of the Instant Pot Recipe App. You can also read more about it on Instant Pot’s website.

More Instant Pot Recipes & Articles

If you liked this Instant Pot recipe, you might also like this recipe for Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings or these other posts from The Birch Cottage:

• What’s an Instant Pot?
• Favorite Instant Pot Accessories
• Barbecue Sauce & Grape Jelly Crock Pot Meatballs

I imagine with spring still a few months away, I’ll be making this Instant Pot Ham Bone and 15 Bean Soup a few more times! I’m hoping to make the cornbread in the next few weeks, too. If you make this soup, I’d love to hear about it! Please come back and leave a comment below!

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What’s Next?

While you’re here, be sure to check out other easy dinner ideas on Ideas for the Home by Kenarry® –

• Cheesy Chili Noodles: One Pot Dinner Idea
• Easy Spaetzle Recipe: How to Make German Egg Noodles
• Easy Sesame Chicken Stir Fry Ready in 20 Minutes
• Slow Cooker Chicken Chili Recipe

Updated October 2020.