This is how easy it is to make pressure cooker ham and beans in your Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi. Make it into a healthy bean soup using leftover ham, or thicken it up. Load it up with vegetables and it is a complete meal that everyone will love. No soaking required to cook these Northern dry beans!
I wanted to use our leftover ham from smoking it the other night and thought I’d attempt to cook some pressure cooker ham and beans! Using dry Northern beans and a few other simple ingredients it came out great. Just another easy Instant Pot recipes. (originally published 5/18, affiliate links present)
Just one of the Instant Pot bean recipes we share on The Typical Mom blog.
Seriously, leftover ham is so versatile. We make tons of things with it after the holidays like this and our Crockpot ham and potato soup too.
Let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- This is a great InstaPot cookbook and set of wooden utensils are great to grab too.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot. It is easier to clean and will avoid the burn message too.
For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have and use for all recipe creations.
These are the ingredients we used this time. Of course you can tweak the seasonings but I really like them subtle so you can taste the meat.
Instant Pot ham and beans
- 16 oz. dry Northern beans
- NO need to pre soak the beans
- Water
- Diced ham
- we used leftover ham after cooking a Ninja Foodi ham or Instant Pot ham
- or you could use a smoked ham hock and add in with beans
- Celery
- Chicken or vegetable broth
- Onion
- Salt
- Carrots would be a great addition as well
Bay leaves are optional. If you use them just remember they’ll need to be removed at the end of course.
Here are a few questions you might have before you get going on this one.
Yes! Especially if you use dry beans they are low in saturated fat and cholesterol. It’s also a great leftover ham recipe so no food goes to waste. A super cheap Instant Pot recipe we love every year.
You can soak them overnight in about 6 cups of water. Then you can decrease the initial cook time from 40 to about 20 minutes or until they’re nice and tender.
I didn’t feel the need to add anything at the end but if you did use cornstarch, flour or arrowroot. Set to saute to boil again. In a small bowl whisk one of these with some water until smooth, then add in.
It is high. The pot will default to 30 minutes but then you can adjust that using the – or + buttons.
In case you don’t have an Instant Pot we have instructions for slow cooker ham and beans here as well.
- Ninja Foodi cooking times would remain the same as below.
- Of course timing will vary depending on how many you’re making and how tender you like them.
If you’ve never made a pressure cooker bean soup from scratch it is really quite simple.
You can even cook things like Instant Pot black beans from dry that are great inside burritos or taco bowls.
I share Instant Pot cooking times for beans here so you can see how long dry beans take. Really it is no time at all using an Instant Pot, Crock Pot Express or Ninja Foodi!
Most take about 30 minutes to cook beans in an Instant Pot so they’re tender. If you like your beans on the softer side though, then aim for a 40 minute cook time. Add additional minutes for super soft.
- That’s what we did for this Instant Pot ham and bean soup. I gauged the time off the white kidney bean timing.
- Of course you can load this pressure cooker ham and beans recipe up with lots of vegetables!
I made a video of how I make it and explain the Instant Pot buttons a bit for you here too, hope that helps. 😉
Watch how I make this healthy soup from scratch!
Once you are familiar with cooking with dry beans you should try these other Instant Pot soup recipes. Most can be made in 15 minutes or less. This one is longer if you choose to make from scratch.
Want to make this a different way and let it cook low and slow all day? We make Crockpot ham and beans all the time too! It comes out thicker like a stew almost and is killer the day after Easter.
Black eyed peas and ham in your electric pressure cooker are fabulous year round
- Pressure cooker chili with dry beans uses a 13 bean mix and is great with baked potatoes
- Instant Pot split pea soup recipe takes just 17 minutes and is great with a ham bone
- Crockpot baked beans are way easier than you might think to make
- Pinto bean soup is similar to this with a few variations.
You can find over 100 more easy InstaPot recipes here too! Pressure cooking is the way to go nowadays with our busy lives. You can cook at high pressure for 20 minutes and have a complete meal done and ready to eat.
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Brief step by step directions are below. There is also a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post too.
Time needed: 50 minutes.
Pressure Cooker ham and beans
- Prepare beans
Rinse dry Northern or white beans under water, put them into your Instant Pot with your 6 cups of water.
Put lid on, close steam valve, and set to bean setting for 40 minutes. (timing will depend on how soft you like them but 40 works well for us). Then do a natural release for 5 minutes.
If you’re using canned beans you would skip this step and start with adding vegetables below with your canned beans. - Add ingredients
Drain beans, and set aside. Add carrots, celery, diced ham, salt, diced onion, broth, and your drained beans back into your pressure cooker. Stir gently.
- Cook
Put lid on, close steam valve, and set to pressure high for 10 minutes. Do a quick release, stir and serve!
- Thicken
If you want it to be more like Instant Pot ham and bean soup don’t do anything. To thicken, whisk water with about 3 tbsp cornstarch. Set pot to saute, add when bubbling and serve when it’s the consistency you like.
Pressure Cooker Ham and Beans
Ingredients
- 16 oz Northern beans dry beans
- 6 c water
- 32 oz chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 2 c ham diced
- 1/4 tsp salt optional
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 onion diced
- 2 carrots sliced
Instructions
- Rinse dry Northern or white beans under water, put them into your Instant Pot with your 6 cups of water.
- Put lid on, close steam valve, and set to bean setting for 40 minutes. (timing will depend on how soft you like them but 40 works well for us). If you’re using canned beans you would skip this step and start with adding vegetables below with your canned beans.
- Do a natural release for 5 minutes, drain beans, and set aside.
- Add carrots, celery, diced ham, salt, diced onion, broth, and your drained beans back into your pressure cooker. Stir gently.
- Put lid on, close steam valve, and set to pressure high for 10 minutes.
- Do a quick release, stir and serve!
Sharon
Thursday 24th of December 2020
Justine, I just made this tonight for Christmas Eve dinner for the two of us. I had a ham bone with lots of ham still attached. I removed the ham and added the ham bone in with the beans in the 6 cups of water. I added about 2 TBSP of garlic powder, 1 1/2 TBSP dried fresh Thyme, S & P. Let Pressure Cook for 30 min. Then instead of totally draining the beans, I reduced the liquid by about 2 1/2 cups but did not add any broth as it tasted very good. Added 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped celery ribs, 1/2 chopped onion and 2 TBSP dried fresh parsley. Pressure cooked this for 10 additional minutes while the cornbread was cooking. This recipe was marvelous...... And made totally in 45 min.....With no soaking of the beans instead of soaking the beans overnight and cooking the beans all afternoon. This will be the ONLY way I make this meal in the future. Thank you so much.
suzanne
Wednesday 10th of June 2020
if not trying to do soup in my foodie just beans i wonder how much broth should i use?
Diane
Wednesday 29th of April 2020
I made this yesterday, and while it was very good then, I had another bowl today and it is now absolutely delicious! Letting the flavors blend overnight is the way to go. It's going on my "yummy" list and I will certainly be making it again. Thank you so much for this recipe!
The Typical Mom
Wednesday 29th of April 2020
Yeah!
Julian Hudson
Wednesday 26th of February 2020
I made this today and it turned out very tasty. I will make it again for sure.
The Typical Mom
Wednesday 26th of February 2020
Oh good, glad you loved it
Jill belecky
Monday 11th of November 2019
My mom would add small can of tomato sauce after pressure cooking to give some Color and thickness and always used bay leaf During processing was always amazing.
The Typical Mom
Tuesday 12th of November 2019
That sounds good too.