What's Inside: Simple instant pot recipe for red kidney beans and ham bone perfect for using leftover ham.
Have you spent hours cooking dried beans on the stove for your meal prep?
I know you are busy, and time is precious for you! You want to spend your weekend resting and cooking something easy that will serve as meal prep for the week.
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So get yourself an Instant Pot and make this red beans and ham bone recipe that will help you enjoy your weekend, and it won't need too much supervision.
This comfort food, ham bone with red kidney beans, is called in Spanish porotos con hueso de jamón.
You can serve it as a side dish or a main dish.
This recipe is one of my family favorites. I love cooking ham because it always gives me a lot of leftovers since my house feeds only two people.
When every Christmas or New Year’s is over, and there is leftover ham, they go straight into the freezer with the ham bone. You can do the same this Easter if you are cooking ham.
These leftovers can be used in many ways, like ham fried rice, a breakfast scramble, and more.
Let me show you these simple steps to make your meal prep Sunday a breeze.
Prefer a simpler option without ham? try these instant pot red kidney beans without soaking.
Jump to:
- ❤️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
- 📋 Ingredients & Substitutions
- 📝 How To Cook Kidney Beans and Ham Bone
- ⏲️ Quicker Version Using Canned Beans
- 👩🏽🍳 Recipe Tips
- ❓FAQ
- 🔖 Recipe Variations
- 🍽 Serving Size and Suggestions
- Storage & Reheating
- Other Recipes You'll Love
- Instant Pot Red Kidney Beans and Ham Bone (Porotos con Hueso de Jamón)
❤️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy and flavorful: this recipe has simple steps and is made in the Instant Pot.
- Perfect meal prep option: Make your cooking in the week easy by cooking this on the weekend and enjoy it all week long.
- Leftover friendly: a simple option to repurpose your leftovers for more flavor.
📋 Ingredients & Substitutions
To make this recipe, you’ll need the following:
- Oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Bell pepper
- Culantro leaves
- Worcestershire sauce
- Dried red kidney beans
- Diced cooked ham and bone: this is the star of the recipe. The bone will infuse its flavor into the beans, resulting in a wonderful dish.
- Tomato puree
- Seasonings: salt, black pepper
- Water: you can replace any stock.
You’ll have the complete measurement of each ingredient on the recipe card below.
As for utensils, you’ll need a 6 Quarts Instant Pot or an electric pressure cooker, a chopping board, a knife, and a spoon.
Instant Pot
This multi-cooker will make your meal prep Sunday a breeze. It work wonders on weeknights too!
📝 How To Cook Kidney Beans and Ham Bone
Now that you have all your ingredients gather them together so you can start the cooking process.
- The first step is to make the sofrito. Place your inner pot into the Instant Pot, then press the “Sauté” button. Once you get the “HOT” message, add the oil. Add the onions and cook until translucent.
- Then add the red bell pepper and continue sautéing for about 3 more minutes or until soft. Then add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Next, add half of the chopped culantro leaves to add more flavor, and sauté for 1 more minute.
- Add tomato puree and Worcestershire sauce and lightly fry them with the remaining ingredients. You’ll see the sauce start to become bubbly. Once it has reduced a bit, press the cancel button.
- Next, add your washed kidney beans, make a well in the center, and place the ham bone. Add the diced ham around the ham bone and the remaining culantro leaves.
- Add about 3 cups of water to the Instant Pot and scrape the bottom of the inner pot to ensure no bits are stuck. Make sure that the beans are completely covered by water, so if, in your case, they need more, you can add more water.
- Place your sealing ring into the cover, then close the Instant Pot. Move the valve to the “Sealing” position. Press the “pressure cook” or “manual” button, depending on your pressure cooker model. Set the timer for 40 minutes. It’ll take about 10 minutes to reach pressure.
- Once you hear your Instant Pot beep, wait 10 more minutes, this means you’ll naturally release the pressure for 10 minutes. Then quick release any remaining pressure by moving the valve to the “Venting” position.
- When the pin is down, uncover your pot, remove the ham bone, shred any meat, and add it back into the Instant Pot inner pot. Discard the bone.
- At this point, mix in salt and black pepper.
- If you see too much liquid, press the “Saute” button and let it reduce for about 5 minutes. Once it cools, it will continue to thicken due to the collagen of the ham bone.
- Now it’s ready. Serve with white rice on the side, tajadas, and enjoy!
⏲️ Quicker Version Using Canned Beans
First, cook the sofrito, and follow steps 1-3.
Then, drain and rinse the canned beans, and add them to the pot. Add the ham bone and 2 cups of water and press the “Pressure cook” or “Manual” button, depending on your model.
Set the timer for 10 minutes so the flavors will integrate, or if you prefer, you can cook them on the stove for about 10 minutes.
Then continue steps from 7-11 to finish cooking and enjoy!
👩🏽🍳 Recipe Tips
- Once the time is up, you notice that the beans are still hard. You can add more water and pressure cook it for between 5-10 minutes.
- If you open the Instant Pot and notice a little liquid, skip the last sauté step because it will thicken too much and end up with thick beans. You’ll prefer sauce in it. If that is the case, add about ¼ cup of water and mix it in.
- Have leftover Easter ham, freeze in 1-2 cup portions then thaw it the night before fridge the night before using.
- You can half the recipe, simply half the ingredients and follow the exact cooking direction. The water to beans ratio to cook in the pressure cooker is 3:1.
❓FAQ
This is a personal preference. For this recipe, no soaking is required, but if you prefer soaking your beans, you’ll need to cook it for less time (about 25 mins) if soaking for 8 hours.
Yes, you can make it in the slow cooker. I’ll make the sofrito on the stove first, then transfer all the ingredients to your slow cooker and cook on high for 8 hours. Also, make sure you add enough liquid so it cooks properly. If using canned beans, cook it for about 1.5 hours, and add less water.
I’m using leftover Christmas ham in this recipe, but other options are ham steaks or ham hocks. You can fry up the ham steaks before adding them to the Instant Pot with the beans to amplify the flavors.
YES! You can freeze your ham bone for later. Freeze for up to 3 months. What’s great about this recipe is that you can toss the frozen ham bone into the instant pot with all the other ingredients and let it cook.
🔖 Recipe Variations
- Want other protein? You can replace the ham with boneless beef shanks. Use about ½ -1 pound and cook for the same time. Season and sear the beef shanks before preparing the sofrito. Then you can continue the same steps.
- Like spicy foods? Add ½ teaspoon of pepper flakes and cook with the remaining ingredients.
- Add more Latin flare: Add 1 sliced chorizo. Brown before making the sofrito, and add when adding the ham bone.
- Prefer other beans? Use the same amount of black beans since they have a similar cooking time as kidney beans. You could use lentils. Check this article about how long it takes to cook dried lentils in an instant pot.
- Transform it into a soup by adding diced potatoes and carrots.
- Make it a chili, by adding 1 Tablespoon of chili spice mix.
🍽 Serving Size and Suggestions
This recipe serves about 6 servings of ⅓ cup size, and it’s intended as a side dish. If you prefer serving it as a main dish, there will be about 3 servings of ⅔ cup for each meal.
Red beans and ham bone serve well with:
- white rice,
- fried plantains,
- a simple coleslaw,
- roasted veggies,
- patacones.
It pairs well with roasted chicken and stewed beef as a side dish.
Storage & Reheating
- Fridge: Store in an airtight food container, and it will last from 4-5 days, perfect for meal prep Sunday.
- Freeze: Preferably freeze in smaller portions ½-1 cup size. Or you can cook the beans in advance, freeze them, and then thaw and prepare the recipe faster.
- Reheat: You can use a microwave to heat it through. Or heat in a pot on the stove over medium-low heat for about 5-10 minutes. You may need to add a splash of water for it to dissolve a little.
Other Recipes You'll Love
Now you know you can freeze your ham bone and enjoy this meal prep recipe for a comfort meal all week.
If you tried this instant pot red beans and ham bone recipe or any other recipe at Nashi Food, don't forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! We love knowing about your cooking experience.
Instant Pot Red Kidney Beans and Ham Bone (Porotos con Hueso de Jamón)
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons oil
- ½ onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 8 sweet peppers, chopped, or ½ red bell pepper
- 4 culantro leaves, chopped
- ½ cup tomato puree
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 cup red kidney beans, sorted and washed
- 1 ham bone
- ½ cup cooked ham, diced, use leftover ham
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups water
Utensils
- Spoon
Instructions
- Press the "Saute" button on your Instant Pot, and add some oil when you get the "HOT" message. Saute the onions until it becomes translucent.
- Add the sweet pepper and continue sautéing until soft. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Then add half of the culantro leaves.
- Add the tomato puree and Worcestershire sauce and lightly fry it with the remaining ingredients. Once it has been reduced a little, press the cancel button. (approx. 6 min)
- Add the washed red kidney beans, do a small wheel in the middle, and place the ham bone in the middle, then add the rest of the ham around the bone, and remaining culantro leaves, and half of the Worcestershire sauce in your Instant Pot and mix around to scrape below.
- Add 3 cups of water to your Instant Pot. Make sure all the beans are covered with water. If you see there are above, add more water.
- Place the sealing ring into your Instant Pot cover and Close the pot. Seal the pressure cooker. Press the “Pressure Cook” button and set the timer to 40 minutes. It'll take about 10 minutes to reach pressure.
- Once the time is up, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes. You’ll see an “L0:10” on your pressure cooker screen. Then quick release any remaining pressure. Move the valve to the "Venting" position.
- Uncover your pot remove the ham bone, shred any meat, and add it back to the pot. Discard the bone. Add salt and black pepper and mix.
- Press the “saute” button and let it cook for about 5 minutes until it slightly thickens. You can taste it and adjust the salt to your liking if necessary.
- Once it has reduced a bit, it’s ready to serve with white rice on the side.
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