Mixed Bean and Ham Hock Soup
This simple & delicious mixed bean and ham hock soup is the perfect meal for a cozy night in. This tasty bean soup Instant Pot recipe offers easy prep, minimal cleanup, and includes Instant Pot, Slow Cooker, & Dutch oven instructions!
Table of Contents
What Makes This Recipe Great
I love this bean and ham hock soup because it requires so little active prep work. You simply soak the beans in water overnight (I usually do it for about 24 hours), chop up a few veggies, add all the ingredients to the Instant Pot, and let it cook! You can even make it in your slow cooker or Dutch oven!
Hello, affordable meal! This bean soup Instant pot recipe can easily feed 6 people and costs less than $10.
Ingredient Notes
- Dry Mixed Beans: This is super easy to find at your local grocery store!
- Olive Oil: You could also use Avocado Oil.
- Carrot, Yellow Onion, Celery: I buy these and cut them myself, but keep your eye out for a mirepoix mix (which is these three veggies already pre-cut!). Trader Joe’s sells a great one!
- Garlic: Feel free to use garlic cloves or minced garlic from a jar.
- Chicken Stock: Chicken broth or chicken bone broth will also work.
- Smoked Ham Hocks: You can find these in your local grocery meat section, at the butcher counter, or wherever you buy your meat.
- Salt/Pepper: Use this to your taste.
Recipe Step by Step
Bean Soup Instant Pot Recipe with SOAKED Beans
- Add all the soaked beans and raw ingredients to your instant pot/pressure cooker and pressure cook on HIGH for 5 minutes, followed by a quick release.
Bean Soup Instant Pot Recipe with UNSOAKED Beans
- Add your unsoaked beans and 8 cups of chicken stock to the instant pot/pressure cooker and pressure cook on HIGH for 60 minutes, followed by a quick release.
- Open the lid, add all the remaining raw ingredients to the cooked beans and chicken stock, then pressure cook on HIGH for another 5 minutes, followed by a quick release.
Alternative Cooking Methods
Dutch Oven
- Soak the Beans: Soak the dried beans in cold water for at least 12 hours, removing any debris that floats to the top. (See Recipe Notes below for a quick soak method).
- Saute the Veggies: Heat a dutch oven (or large soup pot) over medium heat. Add in the olive oil, carrots, celery, and onion with just a pinch of salt until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Then, add in the garlic, cooking until fragrant for another minute. Add in the chicken stock and ham hocks. Strain the beans from the water and add them to the soup.
- Cook: If you are cooking on the stove, reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 3 hours.
- Skim the Fat: After the soup is done cooking, skim any fat from the top of the soup if desired. Remove the ham hocks, and shred any ham meat. Add the ham meat back to the soup, and discard the skin, bone, and any fat. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve: Serve warm immediately with your favorite bread or by itself.
Slow Cooker
- Add all the soaked beans and raw ingredients to your slow cooker and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.
Expert Tips
Quick Soak for Beans: If you don’t have time to soak your beans overnight, you can do a “quick soak” by cooking the beans in unsalted boiling water for 5 minutes, then covering, turning off the heat, and allowing them to sit for 1-2 hours.
FAQs
Store bean and ham hock soup leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eat within 1 week.
Leftovers can be frozen in an airtight container for at least 6 months.
Must-Try Soup Recipes
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Mixed Bean and Ham Hock Soup
Ingredients
- 20 ounce bag mixed dried beans
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 3 ribs of celery, chopped
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 2 smoked ham hocks
- salt and pepper to taste
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl, soak the dried beans in cold water for at least 12 hours, removing any debris that floats to the top. I usually soak mine for 24 hours. (See Recipe Notes below for a quick soak method)
- Heat a dutch oven (or large soup pot) over medium heat. Add in the olive oil, carrots, celery and onion with just a pinch of salt until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic, cooking until fragrant for another minute. Add in the chicken stock and ham hocks. Strain the beans from the water and add to the soup. Do not add in any more salt since the beans absorb the salt and can get too salty. I recommend seasoning with salt at the end of cooking.
- If you are cooking on the stove, reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 3 hours.
- After the soup is done cooking, skim any fat from the top of the soup if desired. Remove the ham hocks, and shred any ham meat. Add the ham meat back to the soup, discard the skin, bone and any fat. Taste and season for salt and pepper.
- Serve warm immediately. Will keep an an airtight container for 1 week.
- See the Recipe Notes below for more tips, FAQ's and ingredient substitutions.
Notes
- Add all the soaked beans and raw ingredients to your slow cooker and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.
Bean Soup Instant Pot Recipe with SOAKED Beans
- Add all the soaked beans and raw ingredients to your instant pot/pressure cooker and pressure cook on HIGH for 5 minutes, followed by a quick release.
Bean Soup Instant Pot Recipe with UNSOAKED Beans
- Add your unsoaked beans and 8 cups of chicken stock to the instant pot/pressure cooker and pressure cook on HIGH for 60 minutes, followed by a quick release.
- Open the lid, add all the remaining raw ingredients to the cooked beans and chicken stock, then pressure cook on HIGH for another 5 minutes, followed by a quick release.
71 Comments on “Mixed Bean and Ham Hock Soup”
Ooh, I could almost smell this as I was reading, Natalie! I love that it’s made with so few ingredients … and the idea of that ham! I bet it makes the soup taste beyond amazing. I laughed at you going to the supermarket nearly every day … I do that too! I can never get myself together enough to write a long list like a sensible person and just go once a week.
What a nice and hearty soup! Looks delicious!
This soup looks so delicious, and so hearty! Gorgeous pix too – you managed to make bean soup look attractive!! Well done :)
I LOVE this soup…and so will the hubs! He is obsessed with all things ham. Ham for breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Snack. It’s ridiculous.
I used to be a total dinner planner. I literally had a little white board in the kitchen with out weekly menu that I planned out the week before.
Then…I realized that this girl don’t got time for that.
Now, we eat cheerios for dinner. A lot.
Love warm and comforting soups that you can easily throw everything together in the pot :) This looks so delicious and hearty and perfect for all these cold days we’ve been getting. I can only imagine how good a big bowl of this would taste :)
It is freezing out today so this soup is calling my name! Definitely going to pin this to add to our schedule next week!
What’s not to love about a meal this easy to make that looks so comforting and it’s actually cheap?? This is perfection in dinner form my friend! xx
I swear we were separated at birth! Just you wait until my post tomorrow. It features the same ingredient. :) OH, and I always, always organize my grocery list by aisle. It’s just how my brain works. Haha!
I love ham and bean soup; it’s always so filling. Yours looks amazing. There’s a blizzard outside my window now, and I wish I could drown my sorrows in a big ol’ bowl of soup. Fun fact: I’m just minutes away from where Laura Ingalls Wilder’s family lived when they were South Dakota. I think you could pull of the prairie girl thang!
I love how similar we are. Seriously. I can’t wait to see what you’re making tomorrow. My guess is ham and split pea soup? If I’m right I will fuh-REAK out!
Glad I’m not the only OCD person who organizes the grocery list by aisle. It just makes life so easy. The worst is when they rearrange the store, or I go to a store I’ve never been to before. yipes!
That’s so cool you live by Laura Ingalls Wilder’s family lived! Do they have the original house there? That would be a neat tour.
Ham and split pea soup WOULD be good! Haha!
Here’s the info about Laura: http://www.discoverlaura.org/ I’ve always been a big fan! We share the same birthday. :)
easy soups are everything!!! this looks so warming and hearty, I just want to dunk that bread in right now!!
Thanks Christine. Easy is always best : )
Cooking soup makes me feel like I have it all together as well. It’s very comforting, especially when it involves beans. I make ham hock bean soup on a regular basis around here. Kurt and I can eat beans every day. I love this recipe, it is very close to mine. :) Yummy
Beans make such a great soup! I should really make ham hock soup more. I was stumped on a dinner idea, and shawn asked for “that beans and ham soup”. Clearly he loves this soup : )
I LOVE bean and ham soup! So warm and comforting! This looks absolutely delicious!
Thanks Kelly! Definitely warm and comforting. It has been raining the last few days, so it’s been nice having the leftovers for lunch : )
This look fantastic! And I totally understand what you mean about a meal making you feel as if your life is in order. Whenever my husband and I can muster up the strength to prep and get a meal in the Crock Pot at 6:30 a.m. before work, I feel like an absolute rock star. We made bean soup a few months ago with a ham hock left from Thanksgiving, and it was so good! Must make this!
Thanks Meg! You’re better than me putting meals in the crock pot first thing in the morning. A little trick I do to avoid “cooking” in the morning for a crock pot meal is I prep all the ingredients, get everything in the crock pot, cover it in saran wrap and throw it in the refrigerator overnight. That way, all I have to do in the morning is pull out my crock pot bowl, drop it in the crock pot and turn it on. And my fingers won’t smell like onion all day, hurray! You should try it sometime. A lifesaver : )
That is such a great idea — and you’re so right about the onion smell! Sheesh. I need to get myself more organized and do all that the night before.
Omg, I usually write my grocery lists in the order of where it is in the store too! I think it’s yet another OCD thing but I like your reason better. :)
Love how hearty and delicious this soup is! Yay, for helping husbands! :)
Hurray! Another OCD person to relate to me! Saves me so much time. Glad I’m not the only one who does it : )
It’s SO COLD today in Nashville and that soup looks perfect! Wish I had a big bowl for lunch today!
This soup is great for cold nights. I’ll mail you my leftovers from California, should get there in about a week, *wink*
Totally digging this Natalie! Haha I can see how it would make you feel like the Little House on the Prairie. Definitely has that country twang to it. It is hard to plan out meals for the week! I go to the grocery store frequently…almost daily. Kinda annoying! Need to get myself a husband to help :) Thanks for the recipe, Happy FAT Tuesday!
Thanks Kelly! Definitely a “pioneer feeling” soup. Glad you go to the grocery store almost daily too. Having a husband definitely helps, especially when he surprises you with your favorite ice cream that wasn’t on the list. Haha! Happy Fat Tuesday to you too!
This soup looks delicious! And you posted it on a rainy day…might just have to make this tomorrow :)
Thanks Nicole! It’s one of my favorites, and one of Shawn’s *super* favorites. He’s been eating the leftovers all week, and he never eats leftovers. Haha!
I know hubby would devour this. He grew up eating ham and bean soup. And apparently I don’t make often (or even). Need to make this for him. Have a great day!
This is a majorly “husband approved” soup. Carl would love this, you should definitely make it for him ASAP! Perfect for a cold, snowy night : )
Hi Natalie, I plan my meals the same way, the only time I make a real list is around the holiday. Great soup, love white beans.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t meal plan! I’ve learned the hardway that a list is very important. Otherwise I’ll go to the store to buy ingredients for homemade pizza and forget to buy cheese and yeast. True story. That happened to me a few weeks ago. Idiot alert.
Natalie, this soup sounds delicious! My husband is a huge fan of bean soup. I know he would love to see this for dinner!
Thanks Cindy! This is definitely a “husband approved” soup. Your husband would love it.
This soup looks so warm and comforting—I love any soup that cooks itself all day so this is right up my alley! I can only imagine how good it would be with some crusty homemade bread. :)
Thanks Sarah! I love an easy “throw it in a pot and let it cook all day” soup too. And bread is a must with this.