Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup {Stove Top Instructions Included}
Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup is a delicious blend of ham and navy beans cooked together in an Instant Pot until the ham is falling off the bone and the navy beans are perfectly tender.
Navy Bean Soup is an after Easter tradition in my family. It’s an awesome way to use up that leftover ham, especially if you have a ham bone too! For years we have cooked Navy Bean Soup in a big stock pot on the stove. It takes all day but at the end you’re left with this amazing soup with beans flavored with salty ham, and tender pieces of ham that just falls off the bone.
Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup gives you all of those same awesome flavors in just 2 hours AND you don’t have to soak the beans!
If you love this you’re going to want to try our Instant Pot Boston Baked Beans, Pressure Cooker Black Beans, and Instant Pot Pinto Beans. They are all quick and easy to make in your pressure cooker.
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How to Make Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup:
- Wash and rinse beans.
- Place beans, ham bone, cubed ham, and water in the Instant Pot.
- Lock lid into place and turn the valve to SEALING.
- Set to HIGH pressure 90 minutes.
- When the timer goes off press cancel and do a natural release for 15 minutes.
- Turn the valve to release the remaining pressure, remove lid, and remove the ham bone, pulling any excess meat off of the bone before disposing of it.
- Serve and enjoy!
How to Make Navy Bean Soup on the Stove Top:
- Wash and rinse beans.
- Quick-soak the beans by putting them in a pot with enough water to cover the beans with an inch of water. Bring to a boil for a few minutes and then turn off the heat letting them soak for an hour. After soaking drain water and return beans to pot.
- Place ham bone, cubed ham, and water in the pot with the beans. In this stove top version you should add enough water to cover the ham bone completely so if you may need more than the amount listed above depending on the size of your pot.
- Bring to a boil and let cook for 5 minutes before turning the heat to low and placing a lid on top.
- Cook for at least 3 hours or until the beans reach the desired tenderness.
- Serve and enjoy!
Do I Have to Use a Ham Bone?
While a ham bone gives this soup lots and lots of flavor if you don’t have one and you’re craving a hot bowl of Navy Bean Soup you can buy a small boneless ham and cut it up to add to the soup.
I also add extra ham when the ham bone I am using doesn’t have a lot of extra meat on it. Feel free to add more ham or use less depending on how “meaty” your ham bone is.
Want More Instant Pot Recipes?
- Instant Pot Boston Baked Beans
- Instant Pot Chili
- Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Soup
- Instant Pot Hoppin’ John
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Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup
Ingredients
- Ham Bone with meat on it
- 12 ounces Ham, cubed (optional see notes)
- 16 ounces Dried Navy beans
- 8 cups Water
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions
- Place beans, ham bone, cubed ham (if using), and water in the Instant Pot. Note: Make sure that the water does not go past the max fill line. The amount of water used may vary based on the size of the Instant Pot and the size of the ham bone.
- Lock lid into place and turn the valve to SEALING.
- Set to HIGH pressure 90 minutes.
- When the timer goes off press cancel and do a natural release for 15 minutes.
- Turn the valve to release the remaining pressure, remove lid, and remove the ham bone, pulling any excess meat off of the bone before disposing of it.
- Serve and enjoy!
Stove Top Instructions
- Wash and rinse beans.
- Quick-soak the beans by putting them in a pot with enough water to cover the beans with an inch of water. Bring to a boil for a few minutes and then turn off the heat letting them soak for an hour. After soaking drain water and return beans to pot.
- Place ham bone, cubed ham, and water in the pot with the beans. In this stove top version you should add enough water to cover the ham bone completely so if you may need more than the amount listed above depending on the size of your pot.
- Bring to a boil and let cook for 5 minutes before turning the heat to low and placing a lid on top.
- Cook for at least 3 hours or until the beans reach the desired tenderness.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Have you ever tried adding onions and/or garlic or does it really have enough flavor without salt and pepper??
The ham itself has so much salt in it that I never find the need to add any additional salt. You can definitely add onion and garlic. I would recommend cutting up a small onion into large chunks and maybe adding 1 or 2 cloves of garlic. Cook everything together and then remove the onion and garlic before serving.
How do you remove the onion and garlic from the beans ?
I followed recipe exactly. Delicious taste. No extra seasoning needed. But a little too watery. Did it in 8qt IP
Horrible receipt. Followed to the “T” minus the bone and most of the beans are raw. I have to finish them on the stovetop. I added them before the water and meat and still rock hard teeth breaking shit. I’m guessing there’s a 1 missing in front of the 90 minutes of cooking.
I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe. I’m not sure why your beans would have been rock hard after 90 minutes of cooking + 15 minutes of natural release.
If your beans were still hard the valve must not have been sealed. Make sure you have it turned to sealing.
Can i use great northern beans instead of Navy Beans?
Yes! You can substitute great northern beans and you should be able to use the same cook time.
Also one time I was cooking up some older beans to use them up. And it took a lot longer to cook even in the instant pot.
But as another commenter thought maybe your instant pot wasn’t sealed properly? Or the guage wasn’t turned to the appropriate location to get up to pressure?
In my pressure cooker right now. I have an instant pot and a pressure cooker xl. I’m using the XL because it’s 8qt. Unfortunately on that one I can’t choose 90 minutes so I did an hour and will restart for 30 min when that’s thru. I’m sure it will be excellent because last year I followed the same recipe. If your beans are not soft, put it back on for 30 min. This of course is for the person that stated it was a “horrible recipe”. The beans you used could have been old, or larger than norm, or any number of reasons. Usually when everyone says it turned out fantastic and one says it’s horrible, all clues point to user error.
Thanks for the great recipe. Now I’m off to look for a split pea IP recipe. I had a lot of leftover ham lol!
Thanks so much for taking the time to write and let us know that you enjoyed the recipe enough to make it twice :). I hope it was just as good this time and you found an equally delicious split pea soup recipe!
In my pressure cooker now. This is our ham and bean soup recipe now, so glad I found you last year!I did 4 cups chicken stock, 4 cups water. I also did 2lbs beans this time because we like it to have a stew consistency. First time tweeting your recipe, hope it works out. 🤞
Did it turn out with the 2lbs.
i like my bean soup thick ….add onion..and garlic and clove….but wonder how long you would have to cook it to make it like you get on the stove top
I agree the stove top version does get thicker since liquid evaporates as it cooks. You could put an immersion blender in it and puree just for a minute or two to puree a portion of the beans to get that thicker texture (or put 1/3 of it in a blender if you don’t have a hand blender).
I haven’t tried this yet but I was wondering if you had to have the bone. Then I saw the negative reviewer didn’t use one. Is that the difference?!?
You don’t have to have the bone but I think it adds a lot of extra flavor. To be honest I’ve never made this soup without using a ham bone!
I have a pretty big ham bone from a spiral ham and it still has quite a bit of ham left on it. Do I have to adjust the amount of water?
Hi Kelsey, sorry I didn’t see this earlier. You only have to adjust the amount of water if 8 cups is too much (you don’t want to fill past the max fill line).
Can I substitute chicken broth for the water?
Yes, you can use chicken broth instead of water. I suggest low sodium chicken broth since the ham will release a lot of salt.
I was raised on this ( Appalachian) and have for 40+ years fixed mine on the stove . I followed your recipe exactly and these are the most delicious, flavorful , fully cooked beans ever. I did take a cup out as always and mash them to thicken the soup. Soooooo good y’all!!!
I’m so glad you liked them!! I am still trying to convince my mom to try them in the Instant Pot ;).
Made this for dinner tonight & it was delicious. I did sauté I chopped onion & 3 cloves of garlic in two Tbs. of butter first. I then followed your recipe exactly. We served it over jasmine rice with some cornbread. Great meal on a chilly night. Thanks for the recipe.
I like my ham and beans a bit thicker, so I pulled off about 1.5 cups of the liquid and added 3 Tbsp flour and thickened in a skillet then poured it back in. Next time maybe 1 less cup of water. I added a bit of salt and pepper and they were delish! Will make again!
Any tips on seasoning. I’m adding a Bayleaf but maybe a little cumin?
I usually don’t not post on things I try, but I had Easter dinner With my daughter and son-in-law and they were just going to discard the ham bone. When I asked if I could have it of course they said yes and the son-in-law left a lot of meat on it. Anyway, I added 2 ribs of celery, 2 skinny carrots and a half of a medium yellow onion. I used the full 8 cups of water then thickened it up with 3 tablespoons of flour as suggested by another post. Everything turned out very very good. Thank you. (Oh I used the Instant Pot.
I’m so glad you liked it!!
Used leftover Easter ham one and ham. Added a medium diced onion. 90 minutes was perfect time.
I used my leftover Easter ham to make it yesterday too and it was delicious!
Delicious recipe! I have made it twice and received rave reviews each time. Thank you!
I USED CHICKEN BROTH INSTEAD OF WATER. ADDED CARROTS, CELERY, IT WAS AMAZING. SECOND TIME MAKING THIS REQUESTED FROM MY FATHER INLAW. THANK YOU!!!
Could you make this using canned beans instead of the raw hard beans?
I would make it on the stove, cut the time and/or add beans toward the end.
I add fine diced onion to my soup – right in the beginning with other ingredients. We don’t have an Instant Pot so I just use my age-old method – a large heavy dutch oven with lid in the oven. The heat surrounds the pot equally and so no stirring to avoid sticking needed.
Amazing soup! Just like the bean and bacon soup from my childhood, but a thousand times tastier! Used the bone from my honey baked ham and a quick couple of pulses with the immersion blender to create a creamier texture. Quite possibly the perfect soup! So simple and easy in the IP. Thank you!
The recipe turned out great. I sauteed some onion and garlic then proceeded as written. I also pureed about 1 cup at the end for a thicker soup. The beans were absolutely perfect! Great instructions. Thank you.
Can I do a double batch in my instant pot? I made it before and my daughter and granddaughter want some too.
Should work as long as your instant pot is large enough. Increase the time also.
Perfection! Thank you so much!
If I double the recipe do I double the time
I haven’t doubled this recipe myself but in general you don’t need to double the time for pressure cooker recipes it will just take longer to come to pressure (which means it naturally extends the cooking time). So you should be able to stick with the times listed. Make sure if you double the recipe that it doesn’t fill the pit above the max fill line!
Like it thicker so you and take some of the beans and mash them up. If you have hard water or water from a water softener, that may be why your beans are still hard. I learned that years ago. Use bottled water.
Can this soup be frozen?
Yes! Let it cool completely and then place in an airtight container to freeze. It can be frozen for up to 3 months. To reheat let it thaw in the refrigerator and then warm on the stovetop.
How big of a ham do we use? With bone in it!
You won’t use the whole ham you would use the ham bone with a generous amount of meat still on it. That’s why this soup is a great way to use leftover ham. If you have a whole ham I’d suggest you cook it and then remove most of the meat to serve sliced or add to sandwiches and then use the bone with some meat still attached.
I have made this recipe four times and has turned out great each time! I did add another eight ounces of beans because we like a lot.
I followed your recipe, and it did the job cooking wise. I like mine a little bit heartier (not so soupy), so I will use 7 – 7 1/4 cups of water instead of 8 cups the next time. I also finely chopped 2 stalks of Celery and chopped up a small – medium sized onion (diced to your preference) and threw it into the Instant Pot with the ham and beans for 90 minutes.
Depending on the salt level of your ham, you may need to add just a little bit of salt, 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon.
I serve mine with sliced Pepperoncini and a few dashes of red-hot sauce (Franks, Tabasco, etc.) on top of the ham & beans when served.
On the side, I cook Jiffy Corn Muffins (1 Egg, 1/3 cup milk and Jiffy Muffin Mix).
This is my go-to food when I have left over ham with a ham bone.
Incredible flavor and it reminds me of my childhood.
Question: I don’t have a ham bone but I do have diced ham and a ham hock. Can I use those instead?
Yes you can!