If you’re looking for a speedy way to transform a bag of dried beans into a satisfying meal, you need to try my Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup recipe. Every bite is chock full of tender beans, salty ham, juicy tomatoes, and hearty kale. Plus, this bean soup is super cheap, and makes it to the table in less than an hour, and you can easily make it vegan or vegetarian!
If you haven't noticed yet, I'm a sucker for soups—in fact, I will happily eat them year-round. But right now, smack in the middle of winter weather, they're my go-to meal. And, since I’m still working my way through a no-spend pantry challenge, dried beans are one of my go-tos.
I don’t always have the foresight to soak my white navy beans ahead of time, which is part of why I love this Instant Pot soup recipe—there’s no soaking necessary! It’s also made with cheap, long-lasting pantry staples, making it one of my favorite rent week meals.
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love This Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup Recipe
- Ingredients & Substitutions
- How to Make Hearty Navy Bean Soup in an Electric Pressure Cooker
- Optional Variations & Dietary Adaptations
- Expert Tips
- Storage Instructions
- Why use dried beans instead of canned?
- FAQs
- More Easy Soup Recipes
- Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup Recipe (Vegan Option!)
- 💬 Reviews
Why You’ll Love This Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup Recipe
- Quick & Easy - With just 20 minutes of active prep, you’ll have this soup ready for pressure cooking. It’ll be ready to eat in just one hour!
- Easily Adaptable - Feel free to adjust the recipe to your dietary needs and what you have on hand. Try different types of white beans, swap in other veggies, or make it vegan!
- Perfect for Meal Prep - The best part about most hearty soups is they’re even better the next day! Make a big batch and enjoy the bounty all week long.
Ingredients & Substitutions
As promised, this delightfully simple recipe for Instapot navy bean soup requires cheap and simple ingredients you probably already have on hand. Here’s what to grab:
- Olive Oil - For sautéing your aromatics. Feel free to swap in whatever cooking oil you prefer.
- Mirepoix - This flavorful French trinity of carrots, celery, and onions adds depth of flavor, plus bulks up the pot with lots of veggies! To save time on prep, check the frozen produce aisle — you can usually score a bag for less than $2. Just note that in total, you’ll need 24-30 ounces worth.
- Cooked Ham - My Nana always added ham hocks in her navy bean soup, but they don’t typically have a ton of meat on them. Cooked ham steak is inexpensive and easy to chop, but this is also a great spot to use a meaty leftover ham bone from the holidays! You can also use a ham hock, ham shank, smoked turkey, or omit it if you prefer.
- Garlic - While I tend to prefer fresh or frozen garlic, jarred minced garlic is also perfectly acceptable. Alternatively, add about 1 ½ - 2 teaspoons of garlic powder in a pinch.
- Dried Basil, Oregano, Parsley, & Thyme - This is one of my favorite herb combinations. Feel free to swap in an equal amount of Fines Herbes or Italian Seasoning if you don’t want to fuss with several bottles.
- Dried Navy Beans - Cheap and readily available, dry beans are nearly always in my larder. Feel free to make this Instant Pot white bean soup with any small dried white beans (e.g. great Northern or cannellini beans) instead.
- Canned Diced Tomatoes - I love the acidity and sweetness of tomatoes. You are also welcome to use whole canned tomatoes — just be sure to crush them up into little pieces using your hands or scissors before adding them to the pot.
- Chicken Bone Broth - I love sneaking a little extra protein into my meals, and homemade bone broth is an easy and inexpensive way to do it. You’re also welcome to use regular chicken broth, veggie broth, or bouillon. Note that if you use bouillon (which is typically much saltier than bone broth) you’ll want to dial back the added salt considerably.
- Kale - Feel free to use bagged chopped kale or frozen kale to save time. If you’re using a fresh bunch, note that you can finely chop the stems and add them to the pot to get the most bang for your buck while simultaneously reducing food waste. You’re also welcome to use any other hearty green of your choice, including chard or spinach.
- Kosher Salt & Pepper - For seasoning, to taste. If possible, use freshly cracked black pepper for the best flavor.
- Bay Leaf - Optional, but excellent! Bay leaves are packed with flavor, so adding just one or two to your soup recipes is always a great option. Pro tip: buy bay leaves at a hispanic grocery store or other international market where spices are sold in plastic bags instead of jars—they’re way cheaper!
How to Make Hearty Navy Bean Soup in an Electric Pressure Cooker
This easy navy bean pressure cooker recipe comes together in just a few simple steps:
Prep: Sort Beans. First up, sift through your bag of beans. Generally speaking, beans are left to dry in the fields and then put through a thresher before bagging. This process means that sometimes stones can make it into the bags, as can some less than perfect beans. Pull out the bad ones, then give the good ones a quick rinse under cool water.
Step 1: Sauté Mirepoix. Set the Instant Pot to sauté on high, then add oil to the bottom. Allow it to get nice and shimmery, then add the carrots, onion and celery with a five finger pinch of kosher salt. Stir and cook until the mirepoix is beginning to soften and the onions are becoming a bit translucent.
Step 2: Add the Diced Ham to the mix and stir to coat. The ham holds quite a bit of salt and smoky flavor, so give it about a minute to sauté with the veggies to impart some of that yummy flavor.
Step 3: Add the Herbs and Garlic to the mix. Stir and cook until fragrant, about 30-40 seconds.
Step 5: Add the can of tomatoes with their juices, your stock, the rinsed beans, and the bay leaves (if using).
Step 6: Pressure Cook. Give the pot a good stir, then secure the lid and switch the Instant Pot to Manual/Pressure Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. Allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes.
Step 7: Wilt Kale. After the Instant Pot has naturally released pressure for 10 minutes, hit the quick release button to remove any remaining pressure. Remove the lid, add 3-4 handfuls of chopped kale, and stir to combine. Cook until the kale is just wilted, then season as necessary.
Step 8: Serve & Enjoy! If you'd like, top the soup with a sprinkle of grated parmesan for a bit of extra umami saltiness. As with most soups, a hunk of crusty bread (like a sourdough ciabatta dinner roll) slathered with (preferably grass-fed) butter is always welcome, as is a side of ham delights sliders.
Optional Variations & Dietary Adaptations
As much as I love this navy beans soup Instant Pot recipe, there are lots of easy tweaks you can try. Here are just a few of my favorite renditions:
- To make vegetarian navy bean soup in Instant Pot, swap the ham for a vegetarian parmesan rind and use vegetable broth.
- To make vegan kale and white bean soup, omit the ham. Add 1-2 teaspoons of soy sauce (or another umami booster like Maggi Seasoning) and 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke to emulate the flavor. Use the veggie broth of your choice—my homemade scrap broth is a go to, but I love Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base as a shortcut.
- To make navy bean soup on the stovetop, presoak dried beans for 12ish hours, then drain the beans. Follow the steps of sautéing the veggies and herbs, then when you add the beans and liquid, simmer for 1.5-2 hours, or until cooked through. Alternatively, opt for 3-4 cans of beans that have been drained and rinsed to cut back on simmer time.
Expert Tips
- Perfect Prep: Ensure all your vegetables are diced uniformly, and the garlic is minced finely. This helps ensure your pressure cooker bean soup has evenly cooked veggies. While you don’t have to soak beans for instant pot soup, it can help remove some of the phytic acid (which causes flatulence) as well as ensure more even, quicker cooking.
- Be Patient: Sautéing the mirepoix (carrots, celery, and onions) in olive oil before pressure cooking adds depth of flavor to your soup. Be patient during this step to allow the vegetables to soften and develop sweetness. Don't forget the pinch of kosher salt to help the vegetables sweat off extra moisture.
- Bloomin’ Good: Adding dried herbs to the sautéed vegetables allows them to bloom. This does a better job of infusing their flavors into the soup than adding them to the broth.
- Bean-spector: Before adding the dried navy beans, make sure to rinse them thoroughly and remove any debris. I've found rocks in the past, so fair warning!
- Add Boiling Broth: My one beef with Instant Pot recipes is they never seem to count the amount of time it takes to get to pressure—sometimes that can take 20 minutes! I’ve learned that boiling the liquid first before adding it to the pot helps shorten the time needed.
- Natural Release: Allow for a 10-minute natural release after the pressure cooking cycle ends. This helps the beans finish cooking and absorbing flavors.
- Protect Yourself & Your Cabinets: When you press the quick release button at the end of the 10 minutes of natural release, make sure your cabinets and hands are out of the way of where the steam will release.
- Simmer if Necessary: If the navy beans are not as soft as you prefer after the initial cooking, switch back to the sauté function and simmer the soup while stirring occasionally until the beans reach your desired level of tenderness.
- Add Kale at the End: Adding kale at the end prevents it from becoming too mushy or overcooked. Keeping it away from the acidity of the tomatoes will also help maintain its vibrant color and freshness.
- Adjust Seasoning: Taste the pressure cooker navy bean soup after adding the kale and adjust the seasoning with kosher salt and pepper as needed. Remember, the ham (or soy sauce) adds saltiness, so taste before adding extra salt.
Storage Instructions
- This recipe for pressure cooker navy beans is perfect for meal prep and soup exchanges. As with most soups and stews, it tastes even better the next day.
- Any leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
- You can also freeze leftovers for up to 4-6 months. Make sure to leave a little space (about ½ inch) in your freezer-safe containers to leave room for it to expand.
Why use dried beans instead of canned?
First of all, dried beans are way cheaper than the canned variety. A full pound of dried white beans costs about $0.85 at our local Aldi. Each can of beans costs a roughly the same, and to get an even amount you'd need 3 - 4 cans.
Canned beans can also be packaged in containers that have BPA in the lining. In case you hadn't heard about it, BPA is linked with not-so-great-for-you side effects like childhood obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer.
Dried beans also have a longer shelf life than their canned counterparts, and can be stored indefinitely under appropriate conditions. While it's best to use dried beans within a year for flavor purposes, in the event of a "stuff-hit-the-fan" situation, having dried beans on hand is a good idea.
Finally, the environmental toll of transporting and stocking dried beans vs. canned beans is much lower. Cans are heavier and take up more space, making their transport burn up more fossil fuels to get to store shelves. The process of creating steel cans, and the amount of energy used to then cook and can the beans is also more energy intensive.
If you opt to go the stove top route, canned beans can definitely cut down your cooking time to a more reasonable timeframe. However, if you're using the Instant Pot, I highly recommend using dried beans because the pressure cooking process breaks them down so quickly.
Oh, and if you want to get fancy, you can order specialty, heirloom varieties of dried beans from one of my favorite bean purveyors, Rancho Gordo.
FAQs
Sure! If you can't find dried navy beans, use any other small white beans including:
-Great Northern Beans
-Borlotti (a.k.a. Cranberry) Beans
-Cannellini (a.k.a. White Kidney) Beans
-Flageolet Beans
-White Pea Beans
Basically, any smallish white bean should work, though you may need to adjust your cooking times slightly depending on the variety. You’re also welcome to swap in larger beans like gigante or butter beans, though the experience will be slightly different.
While I prefer my Instant Pot ham and bean soup to be brothy, you’re welcome to thicken it up a bit. My favorite way to do this is to mash some of the beans using a potato masher (or do a few quick pulses with an immersion blender). This helps to release the starch from the beans. Simmer for a few minutes after mashing to give the broth time to thicken.
Not if you make this bean soup pressure cooker-style! However, if you use the instructions to make it on the stovetop, it is typically considered best practice to soak the beans overnight in cold water to help them cook more quickly and evenly.
Making navy beans in an Instant Pot is far and away the speediest method to al dente bean perfection.
Absolutely! While the process will end up taking a bit longer (if you're using dried beans), you can definitely still make this soup on the stovetop. First, soak your dried beans for about 12 hours. To speed up the process, bring the beans to a boil then remove from heat and soak for an hour.
The dried beans will also require more than 35 minutes of simmering to get them cooked through. I'd guess you're looking at about 1.5 - 2.5 hours of simmer time.
Alternatively, you can opt to use 3 - 4 cans of drained, rinsed white beans. Since canned beans are already cooked, they will speed up the stovetop method to *almost* as fast as the Instant Pot dried bean method.
Before you add the kale to the soup, give your beans a taste. If they are too hard for your liking, replace the lid of your Instant Pot and pressure cook for another 3-5 minutes. Alternatively, you can also switch the Instant Pot over to sauté and cook for another 5-10 minutes to get the beans to your preferred level of softness.
More Easy Soup Recipes
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Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup Recipe (Vegan Option!)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 C Carrots small dice
- 1 C Celery small dice, leaves okay
- 1 ½ C Onions small dice, yellow onions preferred
- 6-8 oz Cooked Ham medium dice (optional)
- 5-8 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Dried Basil
- 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
- 1 teaspoon Dried Parsley
- 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
- 1 lb Dried Navy Beans picked through and rinsed
- 28oz can Diced Tomatoes
- 4 C Chicken Bone Broth or sub vegetable broth
- 3-4 handfuls Kale de-stemmed and roughly chopped
- Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to sauté. Add oil and heat until shimmering. Add mirepoix and a five finger pinch of kosher salt, then sauté until vegetables are beginning to soften and become translucent, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add garlic and herbs, stirring to coat. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add navy beans, canned tomatoes and broth. Secure Instant Pot lid, then switch to Manual/Pressure Cook on high for 35 minutes. Allow to natural release for 10 minutes.
- Remove lid and add kale. Stir into the pot, and let wilt for 2-3 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!Note: If beans are too al dente for your liking, switch back to sauté function and simmer, stirring often, until beans are soft enough.
Notes
- This recipe for pressure cooker navy beans is perfect for meal prep and soup exchanges. As with most soups and stews, it tastes better after a day of rest.
- Any leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
- You can also freeze leftovers for up to 4 months. Make sure to leave plenty of headspace in your freezer-safe containers to leave room for it to expand.
- To make vegetarian bean soup in Instant Pot, swap the ham for a vegetarian parmesan rind and use vegetable broth.
- To make vegan kale and white bean soup, omit the ham. Add 1-2 teaspoons of soy sauce (or another umami booster like Maggi Seasoning) and 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke to emulate the flavor. Use the veggie broth of your choice — I love Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base.
- To make navy bean soup on the stovetop, presoak dried beans for 12ish hours, then drain the beans. Follow the steps of sautéing the veggies and herbs, then when you add the beans and liquid, simmer for 1.5-2 hours, or until cooked through. Alternatively, opt for 58 ounces of canned beans that have been drained and rinsed to cut back on simmer time.
Lisa says
The recipe card is missing the ingredient 'Kale' and the step to use it.
Ash, The Grocery Addict says
Thank you for letting me know! Adding it to the recipe card now. 😉
Pam Calegari says
What is a serving size, need to make 6 quarts for a soup swap
Thanks!
Ash, The Grocery Addict says
Hey Pam!
Great question. I think it kinda depends on the type of soup (e.g. clam chowder is more filling than, say, a broth-ier soup like miso), and whether or not you're planning on eating it as the main dish or as something to pair with bread/salad/sandwich/etc. Generally speaking, I call a serving size 1/2 quart since that's a big ol' bowl's worth. So, for this recipe, you should be able to fill about 4 quart containers. It's easy to scale up, though!
Pam Calegari says
Thank you! I just noticed that if using ham it's not included in the steps, since the ham is already cooked I'm going to add it with the kale, but then it seems like it wouldn't impart the ham essence, I'm getting ready to cook, but I'll check in case you are sitting at your computer ready to answer my question 🙂
Ash, The Grocery Addict says
Oh shoot, Pam! I'm sorry I missed you! I think in that case, letting the soup sit overnight in the fridge will help. If you're anything like me, you think most soups and stews taste better after a day or two anyway!