Instant Pot Ham and Beans

This is our easy Instant Pot ham and beans recipe (no soak) you can make in a Ninja Foodi too. It’s a healthy meal that is great with leftover ham (or ham hocks), celery, onions and carrots. If you loved our slow cooker ham and beans this is faster.

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.

You could use any brand you might have at home to make this. I have them all and Crockpot Express, Mealthy and the Ninja Foodi recipes all basically work the same for pressure cooking except with the latter you need to use the lid that is not attached.

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.

Almost always we will use leftover ham after cooking a Ninja Foodi ham or Instant Pot ham for the holidays. You could use a smoked ham hock and add in with the beans

Ingredient Notes

You could use different varieties of dry beans to make this if you preferred but we like the texture of Great Northern beans the best. Most legumes cook for the same amount of time so the recipe below would still work well.

As for the vegetables you would want to use those that hold up to a longer cook time. I like to peel carrots and cut into dials. You could alternatively just use a handful of bagged baby carrots. Celery is an easy one to add texture and flavor to the broth too. And white and yellow onions are just a given when I cook, no matter what I make.

As for the necessary liquid I prefer chicken broth or stock. Water won’t offer much flavor. If you wanted to tame down the sodium you can buy low sodium or use half broth half water.

Variations

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 with ham hocks or diced leftovers. You could use Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans instead of Northern if preferred.

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 have shared with you this season.

How Long to Cook Ham and Beans in Instant Pot

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.

I share Instant Pot cooking times for beans here so you can see how long other dry beans take too. 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.

I gauged the time off the white kidney bean timing for this dish. I made a video of how I make it below which you should watch before beginning.

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.

FAQ

Other bean recipes you’ll love

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 takes just 17 minutes and is great with a ham bone. Crockpot baked beans are way easier than you might think to make.