This super easy Instant Pot Ham Bone Soup Recipe is filled with tender navy beans and the perfect way to use up that leftover ham!
With Easter right around the corner, I figured it was the perfect time to share with you what I like to do with my leftover ham bone!
Leftover Ham Bone Soup Recipe
After you’ve enjoyed a delicious Ham, don’t throw away that bone! It’s perfect for using in soup. The pressure cooker makes it super easy to just toss all the ingredients in, set it and come back to a deliciously seasoned broth with bits of ham that just falls off the bone.
Can I Freeze a Ham Bone?
YES! You can definitely freeze your ham bone for use later. Freeze for up to 3 months. What’s great about this recipe is that you can just toss the frozen ham bone right into the instant pot along with all the other ingredients and let it cook.
What If My Ham Bone Isn’t Frozen? Even if your ham bone isn’t frozen, you can still toss it in the pressure cooker and cook for the same amount of time.
What Beans To Use For Ham and Bean Soup?
For this recipe I used 1 pound of dried Navy beans, but you can also use dried pinto beans, black beans or any other type of dried bean that you like. A classic Ham and Bean Soup Recipe usually consists of navy beans, so that’s what I went with here and it’s a delicious choice.
Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup Instructions:
Don’t have an instant pot or pressure cooker yet? No worries! You can easily adapt this Ham Bone Soup Recipe to work in your slow cooker as well.
You’ll need to soak your beans in a few inches of cold water overnight first, drain and then add all the ingredients to your slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.
I’ll also add these instructions to the printable recipe below.
Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup:
What’s great about cooking this recipe in the pressure cooker is that you do not need to soak your beans overnight. In fact, you can just toss in your dried beans and have plump, tender cooked beans in a 50 minute cook time!
Once the soup is cooked, you’ll simply remove the ham bone and any cartilage that’s left behind and toss those out. Shred the ham (it’s super tender) and add it back to the soup. Give it a little stir and you’re ready to eat!
Ham Bone Soup Tips and Variations:
- Chop your carrots a little on the thicker side, so they still have some consistency to them after being cooked.
- Feel free to swap out any of your favorite beans instead of the Navy beans.
- Try tossing in some baby potatoes for an even heartier soup.
- If you don’t have 6 cups chicken broth, you can use water and chicken bouillon in it’s place.
What To Serve with Leftover Ham Soup?
We love to have either a simple side salad or Caesar salad along with some homemade rolls to make this a complete meal. There are usually a few leftover rolls from the dinner that the actual ham was served at, so that makes this recipe even more amazing!
I know you’re going to LOVE this super simple soup recipe! Don’t forget that you can freeze that ham bone for up to 3 months to make this easy soup!
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Instant Pot Ham Bone Bean Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Ham Bone or Ham Hock, fresh or frozen
- 1 lb. dried Navy Beans
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cups diced celery
- 1 1/2 cups diced carrots
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients into the liner of the pressure cooker and stir. Secure lid on pressure cooker and make sure valve is in the closed position.
- Use the Bean/Chili setting for 50 minutes (or HIGH pressure). Let the pressure naturally release when finished cooking for 30 minutes, then carefully release the pressure the rest of the way.
- Remove the ham bone from the pressure cooker and shred any meat and return it to the pot. Discard the bones and cartilage along with the two bay leaves.
Notes
Nutrition
PIN THIS IMAGE TO SAVE THE RECIPE:
Easy Carrot Cake Mug Cake Recipe
Missy
This was so so good! I followed the recipe except subbed great northern beans for navy beans. Ate it with some good crusty bread. A pretty classic ham and beans recipe but the cumin is a fabulous addition!
Sarah Perdue
I made this with the hambone from Easter. My youngest who isn’t usually and bean and ham soup fan even said it was good! My oldest said he loves it. So easy and flavorful.
Natasha Vanderlans
Would this recipe work with canned beans and if so, what would you change the timing to?
Donna
We really enjoyed this soup very much although I did change three things. I did not use the bay leaves because I do not enjoy them at all. I put the carrots in after I took out the ham bone and and cooked them for 2 minutes. One minute might have been enough. I used my immersion blender on about two cups of soup to give it more body. It was very testy.
Kelly Gillund
Perfect recipe! I made this soup exactly as the recipe states and it was easy & delicious!!
Melissa
Delicious and easy. I followed the recipe exactly as written. I saved this recipe for the next time we have left over ham-definitely a keeper!
S A Adams
Followed the recipe except I used ham chunks, left over from Thanksgiving, instead of ham bone. I had given the bone to my daughter for bone broth. It turned out delicious, Next time I’ll keep the ham bone.
Dianne
Just made this soup. It was very easy and I followed the directions including time and instant Pot function buttons( chili/bean setting) it took roughly 25 minutes to get to temperature and cooking began the countdown of 50 minutes. I let it vent naturally as directed for 30 minutes released rest after that. Opened, stirred and removed the bone took off the meat shredded added back. My beans are PERFECT. I did a quick rinse in cold water to check for stones or other debris before adding to the pot. Keeper! And the taste and smell…. Mmmmmm. Thank you for such an easy and quick recipe.
Ashley
It was great! Just what I wanted. I made it as written (slow cooker version), except I chose to saute the onions and carrots, celery, and garlic a little before throwing them in.
For everyone who’s losing their mind about the cumin – try it! I love cumin, but this soup does not taste cumin-y – it just tastes good. Everyone in my family (me, husband, 10-year-old, 8-year-old, and 1-year-old) liked it.
Carla Buxton
I’m not completely sure on the cumin. The soup is very good, I halved the cumin and its still a bit much for me. Guess I was just looking for traditional bean n ham. Otherwise it was pretty tasty. Just not exactly what I was looking for.
Melissa
I made this recipe yesterday and it turned out great. I used dried navy beans and followed the cooking instructions. I didn’t soak the beans and they turned out great. The only thing I changed, was the size of the carrots. I cut them on the chunkier side and they turned out just right. The ham fell off the bone and there was just the right amount of broth. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
P.S. For those of you that had issues with your beans not being fully cooked, be sure you are adjusting your cooking times based on your sea level, etc. I learned about his little trick when I was learning how to make bread.
Thanks again.
Stephanie Tilley
Cooked with black beans and 2 potatoes. Based on other reviews added thyme, didn’t use cumin, cut carrots large. Cooked in 6 quart IP 50 minutes high, NP release 15 minutes. Beans were slightly underdone and everything else was mush. Flavor was ok but not sure if I can get past the textures of mush and slightly chalky beans. I’d try it again but maybe soak my beans first and add ketchup like someone else on here did.
Shawn
Next time I would try the recipe as it’s written and rate that. Based on the alterations you made, it sounds like a completely different soup. Hope you give my recipe a try next time! 🙂
B. Ellis
OOOPS…I forgot I added kale – lots of kale since I had it on hand and it really shrinks down when cooked – we loved it!
B. Ellis
Great recipe, but the cumin concerned me. I went with some advice offered by other posters – just a tad bit of cumin and used fresh thyme. I used 8 cups of chicken stock. I also sauteed half of the chopped onion first to get that flavor going in the pot. I deglazed the pot with chicken stock, then added all the ingredients (reducing the cumin and adding thyme). Set for 50 minutes to cook and then 15 minutes before releasing pressure. REALLY GOOD SOUP! Such flavor! Highly recommend and easy to make! Thanks for the basic recipe!
Lori
The soup was perfectly delicious and so very simple. My neighbors who aren’t bean soup fans, were quite impressed!
The texture of the beans were perfect at the recommended cook and natural pressure release time. As was suggested, cutting the carrots on the chunky side was the right idea – no mushiness here!
For my own preference, I used half the indicated amount of cumin and added diced up chunks of ham at the end of the cooking time and allowed some time for it to heat, before serving. Definitely will make this recipe again!
JeanBean
Sooo delicious! I cut back on the cumin (a couple shakes), added a small amount of thyme, and a couple squirts of ketchup. I used kidney beans since that is what I had on hand. And I didn’t have any celery. I also released the pressure as soon as the 50 minutes of cooking was up because several people had commented that the time was too long. It was perfect length of time. Such rich flavor! I’ll have to start buying more ham just so I can make this again!
tony
This recipe was delicious. I am just curious about the serving size for the 193 cal count. What is the serving size?
Thanks
Matthew L Hill
I was pretty sure cooking the vegetables a whole 50 minutes plus depressurization time would turn the veggies to mush, all but indistinguishable, but I tried it as-written just to see. Not surprisingly, I was right. I added fairly large chunks of potato and now if I can see any at all it’s difficult to tell whether or not it’s a white bean.
The beans don’t need nearly that long but the bone does and the bean texture is a bit soft but otherwise good.
I’d advise sautéing the veggies (minus potatoes) in another pan while the bone and beans cook. Then get the bone out, throw the potatoes in, and put the instant pot on sauté so it boils them for 10-15 mins. You can shred the meat at this time. Put the sautéed veggies in for just another 5 mins or so and everything will have good texture, nothing melted away.
I added a lot more chopped ham because my bone didn’t have a lot on it.
The last thing I’d recommend is thyme instead of cumin. Cumin is an odd choice here. I’m sure it’s still good but it would make it taste kinda-sorta-texmex. Thyme is just classic “savory dish”. Spice it however you want but I was glad I used thyme (and more of it—two big pinches probably around 1 tablespoon total.
It needed a lot more salt at the end too, which I pretty much figured it would.
The flavors are great but the texture just needs some help. Mine all but completely melted away.
Jeff Harvey
you only cook for 30 min then leave lid tight for the other 20 min to depressurize.
Caroline
The recipe says put it on for 50 and let depressurize for 30. Please fix.
Jackie Marquess
The recipe clearly states to use chile/bean setting, or high pressure for 50 minutes, manual pressure release after 30 minutes of natural pressure release. All over cooked using those directions I’m afraid.
Susan Yee
I just made this and followed the recipe except I used great northern beans because that’s what I had. It is amazing!! I might add tomato’s and some kale next time. Delicious cozy recipe perfect for a chilly day. Thank you so much