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Instant Pot Ham Hock and Bean Soup is a hearty classic you can make in your pressure cooker. Great flavor from a smoky ham hock, thyme, garlic, and bay leaves. You don’t even have to soak the beans if you don’t want to! This pressure cooker ham hock and beans soup recipe is adapted from my mom’s.
Instant Pot Ham Hock and Bean Soup
I know there’s a month of Summer left, but I’m ready for all of the comfort foods of Fall! Pumpkin everything is already circulating online, so others must be feeling it too. So starts my Instant Pot Soup recipes posts!
Once again, I’m turning to my trusty Instant Pot® to make this Instant Pot Ham Hock and Bean Soup. No need to have a pot boiling on the stove for a few hours, and I didn’t start it early enough to use my crock pot.
In the electric pressure cooker this soup only takes about an hour. That includes the warm up and natural release time. Not bad! Just keep in mind that old beans will take longer to cook.
It is almost impossible to tell how old beans are, so just cook the recipe per instructions, leaving yourself a 15 to 25 minute window of time in case you need to add more time.
Also, on a warm day, I’m not heating up my kitchen. I say that all the time, but it is a huge reason why I will choose to make something like this in the Summer!
This pressure cooker ham hock and beans soup is total comfort food, and sure brings back my childhood!
I have over 70 Instant Pot Soup recipes here on the blog. You can use the search bar in the menu area to search, or search all of my Instant Pot soups here: Instant Pot Soups
Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana (Sausage Potato Soup)
Instant Pot Beef Barley Vegetable Soup
Sandy’s Instant Pot Beef Stew
Instant Pot Mushroom Soup
Did you make this tasty Instant Pot Beans recipe? Please leave a comment with a star rating below. I’d love to know how you like it!
Instant Pot Ham Hock and Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs Ham Hock or meaty ham bone (I use 1 large ham hock)
- 1 lb Navy Beans* (dry, or soaked 2 hours)
- 6 cups Low Sodium Broth or Water, chicken or pork
- 1 large Yellow Onion, chopped
- 3 ribs Celery, chopped
- 3 Carrots, chopped (larger pieces for firmer veggies)
- 4 Garlic Cloves, finely minced
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 3 sprigs Fresh Thyme (or ¼ teaspoon dried)
- ⅓ cup Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to the inner liner of the Instant Pot. Stir (Make sure the beans are fully submerged so you don't get any crunchy ones).
- Put the lid on, and set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
- Press the Pressure Cook or Manual button or dial, then the +/- button or dial to choose 45 minutes.
- When the cooking cycle ends, turn off the pot and let it sit undisturbed to naturally release pressure for 20 minutes.
- Carefully release the remaining steam manually, using short bursts at first to make sure the soup won't spew out of the steam release knob. When all steam is out of the pot, and the pin in the lid drops, open the lid facing it away from you.
- Serve hot with some nice bread or rolls.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this tonight. It was delicious! Everyone raved about it, will make it again. Quick and super easy. I boiled the beans for 1 minute, covered them for an hour and they were good to go.
Hi Linda, I’m glad you all enjoyed the soup! Such a classic. I appreciate you taking the time to write a review!
Hi Sandy, Would substituting pinto beans for the navy beans be okay? I just realized I only have dry pinto beans and red beans.
Hi Viki! Yes, pintos are great with the ham hocks! A little different flavor, but still delicious!
I have great northern beans I smoked over night and ham hocks.. do you think I could put all in but beans cook for 20 minutes.. quick release then add the beans and cooks for 20 more? Or would that be a disaster?
Hi Michelle, did you mean soaked the beans? If so, yes, if you want to take the time to do that, the ham hock will get bore cook time, and end up releasing more flavor and will be more tender. If you are lucky, there will be some tasty meat to toss into the beans. I have found that soaked beans can handle 25 minutes. I tend to like mine a little softer.
What kind of stock do you use when you say stock or water?
Hi Krista, chicken or stock made from ham/pork bones tastes best.
Deeelicious!!
Sandy, thank you for this recipe! I finally got to use my I.P. for the first time! Made this, using black beans as I had no Navy Beans. I used fresh thyme, but dried parsley, adding in a few chunks of ginger to help reduce gassing. (not sure if you meant ONE 1/2 # Ham Hock, or 1 and 1/2 # ham hock, but I just put in 1.5 # ). From start to finish, it took exactly 2 hours & 45 minutes. That includes soaking the beans for ONE hour, chopping the veggies, preheating, cooking and natural steam release then manually releasing. This was fun, and as I’m right now eating the soup, which is delicious, a huge success! I will be using this a lot; I often plan a meal, but forget that it takes awhile to cook, and I get home relatively late so this will mean that I can eat good home cooked food a lot more. A great way to break in my new kitchen toy!
Carol, that’s great! I better go look at that recipe and make sure I am clear on the amount. It is 1.5lbs of ham hock, so you did it right! I’m glad you were able to make this with your substitutions. Thank you very much for the nice comment and feedback!
Great recipe. First time to make this in my IP. I USED 3 CUPS PREsoaked pinto beans and 1 smoked ham hock. LOVE the flavor.
Hi Lydia, I’m glad that you liked this soup! Thank you for the nice review!
Did you soak the beans in the I.P.? If so, could you give complete instructions? I have a new I.P. but have not used it yet…a bit scared to!
Hi Carol You don’t have to soak them. For this blog post I soaked the beans for 2 hours, and I cooked the beans for 35 minutes. If I don’t soak them I cook them for 40 minutes. If you happen to soak overnight, you can cook for 20 minutes, but I don’t recommend that if using a ham hock. The meat needs the time to become fall off the bone tender. You can do it! If you haven’t done the water test yet, do that to get familiar with your IP. Then make something simple like eggs. You will be an expert in no time!
Does this freeze well?
Hi Jill, yes it does. I have to freeze many of my soups as it’s often just Paul and me. Once you thaw them cooked beans are much like canned beans, so heat them in the IP on the steam setting for 5 minutes to start, in a dish (I use a stainless bowl, on a rack, water in the pot below it) or on the stove at a low temperature.
One of my all-time favorites! I don’t have an IP, but I suppose I could make it in a regular pot. Always appreciate a new recipe! Thanks!
Yes, I would soak the beans first so it won’t have to cook so long. Let simmer for about 90minutes. You could also soak and throw it all in your crock pot if you have one. Let it cook on low all day!
This is a favourite of mine, and I was looking for a way to make it in the IP. Looks fab – can’t wait to try xx
I hope you like it as much as we do!
Omg – this was absolutely delicious!!!!
Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Thank you, Kathy! I’m so happy that you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Not sure if this works first time making a comment I think I made a mistake on ham Hock recipe soaked beans overnight and added all of ingredients and bone not sure how to cook because of bone should I cook it on soup setting and how long or presser cook help scott
Use the Pressure Cook button and then the +/- button and select 30 minutes, since the beans are soaked.
can you just use canned kidney beans?
You can, but you will need to cook the ham hock first, then add the beans and cook for about 5 minutes since they are already cooked.