Prepare a steaming bowl of Southern comfort with these Instant Pot Ham and Beans, a perfect way to make the most of leftover ham. In this cozy dish, white beans are cooked in a rich ham-infused broth until they achieve a soft and creamy texture. The dish is somewhere between a soup and a stew.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword Beans, Beef Stew, Ham, Ham and Bean Soup, Instant Pot Bean Recipes, Instant Pot Ham recipes, Instant Pot Stew, Soup Recipes
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 50 minutesminutes
Coming To Pressure & Release 30 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour30 minutesminutes
Servings 6
Calories 341kcal
Author Irena Macri
Ingredients
1tablespoonolive oil
1onionmedium, diced
1carrotsmall, diced into cubes
1celery stickdiced
2clovesgarlicfinely diced
14ozwhite beansdry, unsoaked, such as Great Northern or Navy
2bay leaves
1teaspoonsalt
1teaspoonblack pepper
1ham bone or ham hock
1.5cupshamdiced 8-9 oz. / 250 g
5.5cupswater
1tablespoonlemon juiceoptional but recommended
parsley or scallions, a couple of tablespoons, chopped
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients. If using leftover holiday ham, slice off as much meat from the bone as you can. Dice enough ham to fill about 1.5 cups. Chop all the vegetables.
Set the Instant Pot to Saute on Normal mode. Add a splash of olive oil, chopped onions, celery and carrots and cook for 3-4 minutes to soften and caramelize slightly. Some people dump-n-go all the ingredients but we prefer to saute the vegetables first to get them extra sweet and flavorful.
Add the ham, beans, garlic, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Add 5.5 cups of water and stir through. Place the ham bone or ham hock in the middle and nestle it in the beans.
Secure and lock the lid. Set the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook/Manual setting on HIGH for 50 minutes with natural pressure release at the end. For larger white beans, set to 55 minutes. Note, that our cooking times are longer than the usual recommended times for beans in the Instant Pot but that's because most ham and beans recipes need to have very soft beans, to get that thick texture in the stew.
Once the pressure is released, open the lid and carefully remove the ham bone. The meat will fall off the bone, make sure to scoop it out so you can discard any little bones and chop up the meat to add back to the stew.
Stir ham and beans. Mash the beans with a potato masher slightly to break some of them down, which will thicken the stew with their soft flesh. You can also scoop a cup of the beans and liquid into a bowl or a jug and puree it using an immersion blender stick or you can do this in a blender/food processor. You can also use an immersion stick directly in the pot, just blitz it 2-3 times so you don't over-puree the contents.
The final step is optional. Add a tablespoon or two of lemon juice and stir through. We think it really improves the stew's flavor and brightens it up. Garnish with parsley or scallions when serving (also optional).
Notes
If you have the time, sort through the beans before cooking and remove any little pebbles or shrivelled-up beans. These will not plump up like the rest of the beans and will not be as tender. The little pebbles are not pleasant on the teeth!
Beans can be soaked to reduce the cooking time. Soak beans in water for 8 hours and up to overnight. Be sure to drain the water and start with fresh water before cooking. Reduce cooking time to 15-20 minutes.
If the beans feel not quite done to your liking, put the lid back on the pressure cooker and make sure the release valve is set back to "sealing." Cook at high pressure for another 5 to 10 minutes. The pot will quickly come back up to pressure because the contents are already hot.