Entrees/ Instant Pot/ Pork/ Recipes/ Soups, congee and stews

Easy Instant Pot Leftover Ham Bone Congee (with video)

Name: Instant Pot Leftover Ham Bone Congee
Cook time: 24 min
Total time: 39 min
Ingredients: 1 roasted ham bone ((about a pound)); 1 ½ cups Jasmine rice; 40 g ginger, peeled, cut into 2 pieces; 9 cups water; 2 cups (230 g) cooked ham meat, cubed; 1 green onion stalk, thinly sliced; ¼ cup fish sauce; Freshly cracked black pepper, to season; Optional: Sesame oil

Learn to make leftover ham bone congee (Jook 粥) in the Instant Pot! The next time you make a roasted bone-in ham, save the bone and two cups of the cooked meat, and you get a full flavoured congee that cooks in just over 20 minutes in your Instant Pot.

There’s no marinating of meat needed, and there are only a few steps to get an incredible comforting bowl on the table in no time. I have included a video tutorial in the post, so you can see how easy it is to make. The recipe can also be adapted to the stovetop if you do not have an Instant Pot.

Leftover ham bone and ham

Bone-in ham is popular during holidays such as Thanksgiving, so it is great to make the congee shortly after a holiday, or freeze the bone and meat, and you can make the congee at a later time. It is important to rinse off all the sauce and seasoning from the ham before freezing, or to rinse it after the bone has defrosted. You don’t want the taste of the glaze such as honey mustard to get into your congee. You can leave a bit of meat stuck to the bone as it will flavour the congee even more.

Easy steps to make the congee

Because the congee uses leftovers, there are few preparation steps aside from the need to rinse off the sauce from the ham bone and meat, before adding it to the Instant Pot.

There are essentially two steps to making the congee. The first step is to make the congee with rice, water, leftover ham bone and ginger. Then when the congee is finished cooking, the diced cooked ham is added to the congee to heat up in about 1-2 minutes. The ham is already cooked and flavoured, so there’s no need to season the ham. From there, ladle the congee and top it with your favourite toppings.

Instant Pot Ham Bone Congee prep — Instant Pot

Video tutorial to make the Instant Pot Leftover Ham Bone Congee

Watch the tutorial here!

Please note that on some browsers, the video doesn’t show up in my post. If that’s the case, please click on this video link directly to view the ham bone congee video. Remember to subscribe to my food channel for more fun cooking videos and tips.

If you love congee, check out my recipes for:

Ham alternatives!

If you want to make a similar easy congee but do not have ham bone, use any roasted bones handy. If you want to stick with pork, I suggest roasted bones from bone-in pork chops and the meat cubed, or even luncheon meat (hello Spam!)

Smoked turkey is also a great choice for the congee to give you the roasted smoky flavour to the congee.

RECIPE

Instant Pot Leftover Ham Bone Congee

Learn to make congee in the Instant Pot using leftover roasted ham bone and ham meat.

Course Breakfast, Main Course

Cuisine Cantonese, Chinese

Keyword Instant Pot, Congee

Cook Time 24 minutes

Natural Release 15 minutes

Total Time 39 minutes

Servings 6 people

Author Mary Tang

Ingredients

1 roasted ham bone (about a pound)
1 ½ cups Jasmine rice
40 g ginger, peeled, cut into 2 pieces
9 cups water
2 cups (230 g) cooked ham meat, cubed
1 green onion stalk, thinly sliced
¼ cup fish sauce
Freshly cracked black pepper, to season
Optional: Sesame oil

Instructions

Clean the rice. Add the rice to a bowl, and add enough water to cover the rice. Swirl the rice around. Drain and repeat a few times until the water is clear.
Add the cleaned and drained rice into the Instant Pot. Add enough water until it reaches the 9 cup mark on the Instant Pot.
Add the ham bone and ginger pieces.
Close the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the knob is on "Sealing". Choose the lid and press the "Porridge" button and change the timing to 22 minutes.
When the time is up on the counter, turn the Instant Pot off. Do a natural release by waiting for about 15 minutes before turning the knob from 'Sealing' to 'Venting'. Open the lid.
Press the “Sauté” button. Add the cooked ham and let it heat up for 1-2 minutes. Add fish sauce. Taste and adjust to your liking.
Ladle into bowls and top with green onions and freshly cracked black pepper.