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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.
Oh. My. Goodness!!! So simple and so delicious. It reminded me of my mom’s navy bean soup, but so much faster! My navy beans were a little overdone, so next time I will cut down the natural release time (from 40 min to 20). The flavor from the smoked ham hocks is devine!
This recipe is a keeper!! Thank you!
Hi Susie! I’m so happy that you liked this soup! Looks like we both had moms who could make a great bean soup! Thanks for your review!
Can I use frozen ham hocks?
Yes
My IP has the buttons soup/stew or beans/lentils. But the recipe calls for beans/stew button. Which one should I use or shouldn’t it matter? What’s the difference between the 2?
Hi Heather, the only difference is that the button has a preset time. They are both High Pressure. You could use the Pressure Cook or Manual button as well, and then the +/- button to adjust the time in minutes.
just made this recipe added chopped celery carrots onion and cubed ham. Flavor was fabulous!
Sounds great, Ed! I’m glad you liked it! Thank you for your review!
Hi Sandy! This recipe is really close to the one I’ve been using for years. We use pinto beans, as they have such a creamy texture. We also have to get smoked ham shanks from a specialty butcher, as the hocks sold at our local grocery store have almost no meat on them. One other thing that my mother taught me was to “de-gas” the beans: covering them well with water, stirring in a couple tablespoons of baking soda, and soaking them overnight. I’m unsure if this really does anything, but I do know that we never have any “musical” problems after eating this delicious recipe. We also saute the onions in olive oil for about 3 mins, then add the garlic and saute for another minute, then stir in the carrots and celery for another minute. This, along with the overnight soaking, makes the cook time an exact 25 minutes.
HI Mark. I’m also not sure about the baking soda trick, though only certain beans make me “musical.” Thank you for the comment!
Absolutely perfect! My mother made navy bean soup with ham hocks. In her day it took hours and hours. I never forgot her soup, you gave it back to me. Thank you.
I’m so happy for you. A mother’s cooking is pretty powerful. It is a blessing when you can reconnect with her in such a comforting way.
Made this with a leftover ham bone from easter. Did as written, except no Bay leaf or parsley when served. Had it with some cheddar cheese and a French baguette. Totally awesome. Might try serving with some crushed red pepper flakes, or throw a jalapeño pepper when cooking.
Hi Tom! I’m happy that you liked this soup! The cheese and French baguette sound like perfect accompaniments to this! Thank you for your review!
Great recipe! I added a red & green bell pepper & the flavor was amazing!!
Hi Denise! I’m so glad you liked this recipe. Green bell pepper is good in so many recipes. I wouldn’t have thought to add it to this one. Thanks for the tip! Thank you for your review!
How can I do this with canned Great Northern Beans, in my ip? I only have half a bag of dried. Boooooo!
Hi Tina, because the ham hock needs that time to cook, I would add the canned beans after pressure cooking, then add the beans, put the lid back on and set for 3 minutes and that will cook the canned beans.
Made this as stated using a leftover ham bone. Except used dried basil instead of thyme (didn’t have on hand). Changed cooking time. Did a quick soak with the beans. Bring water to boil with beans, turn off on let sit for an hour. Reduced cooking time to 8 mins. Turned out wonderful. Great flavor!
Hi Charlie, that’s a great way to speed up the cook time. I’, glad you liked it, and thank you so much for your review!
how can I use regular pressure cooker for your recipes…I do not own a instanpot.
Hi Vicki, stove top pressure cookers cook faster, so I would try a recipe that has fewer ingredients and cook it for 10% less time and see how it comes out (to get a reference point). Stove top pressure cookers take longer to come down in pressure, so that’s something to factor in. Also, there are many resources for converting stove top to electric, so you could find one and just do it opposite.