Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Ham and Beans

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 Northern beans!

Ninja Foodi Ham and Beans

You could use any brand you might have at home to make this. I have them all and Crockpot Express, Mealthy and the Foodi recipes all basically work the same for pressure cooking.

Typically I will think of this dish when I have quite a bit of leftover ham to use up. I hate wasting food so I like to have options. You can transform it into something totally different, healthy, using dried beans from scratch. My kids even love this one.

How to Make Instant Pot Ham and Beans

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. We make tons of things with it after the holidays like this and our Crockpot ham and potato soup too.

You could use different varieties as well. Like if you wanted to make Instant Pot navy bean soup you could use that variety, most legumes cook for the same amount of time.

1. 16 oz. dry Great Northern beans
   1. NO need to pre soak the beans
2. Water
3. Diced ham
   1. we used leftover ham after cooking a Ninja Foodi ham or Instant Pot ham
   2. or you could use a smoked ham hock and add in with beans
4. Celery
5. Chicken broth or vegetable broth
6. Onion
7. Salt
8. 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. Just one of the Instant Pot bean recipes we share on The Typical Mom blog. Seriously, leftover ham is so versatile.

Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup

Here are a few questions you might have before you get going on this one.

In case you don’t have an Instant Pot we have instructions for slow cooker ham and beans here as well. We like a lot of meat but you could just add a leftover ham bone in there too for the flavor and just little bits.

Instant Pot Ham and Pinto Beans

If you wanted to make this into more of a soup you could thicken the liquid with some cornstarch. We don’t and just enjoy it as is because as you can see there is enough to slurp up as is.

• 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! All are in high pressure with a natural release until all the steam is gone.

How Long to Cook Ham and Beans in Instant Pot

Like I said, use the variety you like. The chart will help you above. 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.

What is the ratio of beans to water in a pressure cooker?

You are going to want to add 3 times the amount of broth or water to the dry beans after you rinse them. They will absorb a lot of it so more is better. You never want to add more than the fill line in that pot though no matter what you are cooking in it. We added 6 cups to the bag which is just about right.

There are really two steps to making something like this or our Black eyed peas and ham in your electric pressure cooker. You first have to get the legumes tender, then release steam, drain, and add ingredients for just the soup in there.

• 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.

How can I thicken my ham and beans?

You have two main options. You can whisk some broth with cornstarch to make a slurry and pour that in. For a creamier option, pour in a bit of heavy cream instead. Brief step by step directions are below. There is also a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post too.

1. Rinse dry Northern or white beans under water, put them into your Instant Pot with your 6 cups of water.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Put lid on, close steam valve, and set to pressure high for 10 minutes. Do a quick release, stir and serve!
5. 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.