Instant Pot Vegetable Soup is one of my favorite Whole30-friendly vegetable side dishes because it’s hands-off, delicious, and healthy. Plus, I clean out the fridge when I make this comforting soup!
Table of Contents
- My favorite vegetable side dish
- An Instant Pot makes it easy!
- Can you make this soup on the stovetop?
- Essential Umami Boosters For Big Flavor
- What vegetables work best in this soup?
- How do you make this soup a complete meal?
- Ingredients
- How to make Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
- Storage and reheating instructions
- More Instant Pot Soup recipes
- Instant Pot Vegetable Soup Recipe
My favorite vegetable side dish
At least once a week, I make this Asian-inspired vegetable-packed soup to accompany whatever entree I’m cooking. Why? Because I’m lazy, thrifty, and want to feed my family healthy and umami-packed food. This Instant Pot vegetable soup recipe is so simple and comforting—plus, I routinely cook up the not-so-fresh vegetables languishing in my crisper.
An Instant Pot makes it easy!
As I said before, I’m always looking for shortcuts to deliciousness and the Instant Pot totally delivers on that front. Using an electric pressure cooker doesn’t necessarily make this soup faster than on the stovetop, but I don’t need to babysit it all. In fact, after I’ve dumped the ingredients inside, I just set it and wait for it to finish cooking!
While the soup is cooking the Instant Pot, you can concentrate on cooking the main course (e.g. Umami Roast Chicken, Cracklin’ Chicken, Wonton Meatballs, etc.) and the soup will be piping hot and waiting for you to serve when it’s convenient for you. Or you can just sit on the couch and watch Bravo—you do you, boo.
Can you make this soup on the stovetop?
Of course! Just plop the ingredients in a pot and simmer until tender. It’s just way less of a hassle to use an Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker because you don’t have to babysit the soup on the stove-top!
Essential Umami Boosters For Big Flavor
In my cookbooks and on this blog, I’m always reminding you about the importance of adding ingredients that impart umami—the fifth taste (a.k.a. savoriness or meatiness). In this Instant Pot Vegetable Soup, I always use an amazing bone broth (e.g. either homemade or store-bought), a splash of fish sauce, and a few dried shiitake mushrooms. All three of these ingredients are high in umami and they magically transform this humble vegetable soup into a comforting showstopper.
What vegetables work best in this soup?
In this recipe, I suggest my favorite vegetable combination of baby bok choy, carrots, and russet potatoes—but that’s because I normally have these veggies in my fridge or pantry. You can definitely leave out the potato if you don’t eat them or use a different leafy green. Some great veggies to use in this soup include cabbage, kale, watercress, zucchini, diced tomatoes, or green beans. If you’re using quick cooking veggies like baby spinach, peas, or baby kale, simply drop them in after the soup is done pressure-cooking and just stir them until wilted or cooked through.
There’s really no wrong combination—just cook like your frugal and smart granny would and dump in vegetables that need to be eaten. Soup vegetables are meant to be soft so don’t get bent out of shape if the vegetables are mushy.
How do you make this soup a complete meal?
Dump in some leftover cooked meatballs! My favorite ones to add in are Asian Meatballs, Wonton Meatballs, chicken meatballs, and Weeknight Meatballs (from Ready or Not! cookbook). I normally plop them in with the veggies and cook everything together.
No meatballs? You can also sauté some ground beef or ground turkey in some olive oil with some minced onion and seasoning and combine the cooked meat with the soup ingredients.
Alternatively, you can stir in some leftover cooked protein at the end like leftover Weeknight Roast Chicken or Instant Pot Kalua Pig.
Ingredients
- Instant Pot Bone Broth, chicken stock, or vegetable broth
- Carrots
- Russet potato
- Shallot or yellow onion
- Garlic
- Dried shiitake mushrooms
- Red Boat fish sauce
- Baby bok choy (or other veggies mentioned above)
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Scallions or green onions
How to make Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
Pour the broth into the metal insert of the Instant Pot. You can use chicken, beef, pork, mixed meat broth…whatever!
Carefully drop in the carrots, potatoes, and shallots.
Stir in the garlic and shiitake mushrooms. (You don’t need to rehydrate the ’shrooms first if you are plopping them into the Instant Pot because they will soften under high pressure. If you’re cooking the soup on the stovetop, you should soak the mushrooms in water until tender.)
Pour in the Red Boat fish sauce and stir in the baby bok choy.
Lock the lid on the Instant Pot and program it to pressure cook under high pressure for 2 minutes. (Pro Tip: It takes about 10 to 15 minutes for the soup to come up to high pressure and seal shut before the two minute countdown starts!)
After the soup has finished cooking, release the pressure manually.
Stir the soup and taste it for seasoning. Add salt, additional fish sauce, and black pepper to taste.
Ladle into soup bowls and top with scallions.
Instant Pot Vegetable Soup may become a favorite in your household, too!
Storage and reheating instructions
You can keep the soup in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can reheat the soup in the Instant Pot for zero minutes under high pressure and manual release (the soup will reach high pressure and stop cooking). Alternatively, you can heat the leftovers in the the microwave in an Anyday bowl.
More Instant Pot Soup recipes
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 6 cups Instant Pot Bone Broth or chicken broth
- 2 medium carrots peeled and sliced into ¼-inch coins
- 1 medium russet potato cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 large shallot thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 teaspoon Red Boat fish sauce
- 1 pound baby bok choy ends trimmed and cut in half or quartered
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
Instructions
- Pour the broth into the metal insert of the Instant Pot.
- Carefully drop in the carrots, potatoes, and shallots. Stir in the garlic, shiitake mushrooms, and Red Boat fish sauce. Mix in the baby bok choy.
- Lock the lid on the Instant Pot and program it to cook under high pressure for 2 minutes.
- After the soup has finished cooking, release the pressure manually. Taste the soup and add salt, fish sauce, and black pepper to taste.
- Ladle into soup bowls and top with scallions.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Best source of dried shitakki? I looked on Amazon…confusing
I buy them at the local Chinese market or I mooch them from my mom…
Can you substitute fresh mushrooms for the dried?
Sure! Dried shiitake mushrooms add more umami than fresh, though.
I ended up with a pound of baby bok choy when my husband went out of town before I could use them as I’d originally intended. I was delighted to find this recipe when I was despairing of wasting the bok choy. My local grocery was out of dried shiitake mushrooms but had fresh which I used. I took a guess and sliced 6 fresh ones instead. I found the soup a little bland initially so added extra fish sauce and some lemon juice to brighten it. It was delicious!! I’ll happily make it again.