This Instant Pot Vegetable Soup is easy, hearty, and so versatile. It’s packed full of healthy vegetables, and along with some whole grain bread, it’s a perfect comforting meal.
We all know that we should eat more fresh vegetables, and what better way than packing them into this homemade vegetable soup? The beauty of vegetable soup is that you can add just about any vegetable you like. It’s a great way to use up whatever veggies you have in your fridge, and load your soup with nutrients!
Why make your own vegetable soup? It’s so much more economical than buying it in a can. And you can control the ingredients. But the best part of making homemade soup is that it tastes better than any soup you can buy!
And pressure cooking soup is so quick and easy! I absolutely love my Instant Pot pressure cooker! It saves time and electricty, and doesn’t heat the kitchen in the summertime.
Ingredients in this Vegetable Soup:
- Vegetables – Onions, celery, garlic, carrots, zucchini, corn, kale, and peas
- Crushed Tomatoes
- Vegetable broth – or water with vegetable bouillon. Use a low sodium variety if you are watching your sodium level.
- Dried Parsley
- Dried Basil
- Barley
Other good vegetable choices would be fresh or frozen green beans, bell peppers, cauliflower, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, or cabbage. You could even use frozen veggies. There are so many options! Soup recipes are so forgiving, you can often change it up any way you like.
How to Make Instant Pot Veggie Soup
This soup is so easy to make! The hardest part is chopping vegetables. Then the Instant Pot does the rest of the work for you!
Using the sauté function, start by sautéing some onion and celery. Add a small amount of water to keep the vegetables from sticking. Once the onions are translucent, add the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds. Don’t cook the garlic for too long or it will burn and ruin the soup. Press cancel.
Helpful tip: Be sure no bits of vegetables are stuck on the bottom of the pot. Add a tiny bit of water or broth to loosen them and scrape them all up before adding the rest of the ingredients. This will prevent a burn notice when cooking the soup.
Add the remaining ingredients except the peas. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the knob is turned towards seal. Cook the soup on the manual or high pressure setting for 5 minutes. It will take several minutes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure and begin counting down the time. When the five minutes have elapsed, allow the pressure to come down naturally by letting it sit for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the float valve on the lid drops.
When the pressure has released, remove the lid from the Instant Pot and add the peas. Replace the lid and let the soup continue to simmer on the keep warm setting for about 5 minutes.
Variations:
- If you are gluten free, leave out the barley or substitute it with rice.
- If you like noodles in your soup, leave out the barley and add a half cup of tiny pasta when you add the peas. Simmer on the keep warm setting until the pasta is cooked.
- Use fire roasted tomatoes and a touch of tomato paste instead of the crushed tomatoes for another level of flavor.
- To make this soup a more satisfying meal, add a can of red or white beans.
- For a spicier soup, add a few red pepper flakes.
- Want a creamy vegetable soup? Add a cup of non-dairy milk and stir. You can even partially puree the soup with an immersion blender.
Serve this comforting soup with some crusty bread and a salad like my Vegan Caesar Salad.
People often ask:
Place the soup in an airtight container or jar and refrigerate for up to 5 days. The soup can be reheated in a pot on the stove over medium heat, or in the microwave.
Vegetable soup freezes very well! Place the cooled soup in an air tight freezer container or jar, leaving about an inch of headspace for the soup to expand. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow the soup to thaw in the refrigerator before reheating. For quicker thawing, you can place the container of soup in a bowl of cool water. When the soup loosens from the sides of the container, transfer it to a pot to continue thawing and heating on the stove top, or to a microwave safe bowl to thaw and heat in the microwave.
To make this soup gluten free, simply leave out the barley.
Yes. Saute the onions, celery, and garlic. Then add the remaining soup ingredients to the pot, bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are soft, stirring the soup occasionally.
I think this soup would work well in a slow cooker. Cook it for 4 to 6 hours, until the vegetables are tender and the barley is cooked.
More plant based pressure cooker recipes:
- Instant Pot Vegetable Stew
- Easy Vegan Black Bean Soup
- Potato Kale Soup
- Vegetable Dal in the Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup
- Mexican Brown Rice
- Vegan Sloppy Joes
- Black Eyed Peas and Greens
And if you’re an Instant Pot fan, don’t miss my roundup of over 25 oil free vegan Instant Pot recipes from around the web!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a rating and feedback below. It only takes a few seconds, but helps other visitors to my site. Thank you for taking the time to leave your comment!
And come join my Oil Free Vegan Recipes and Support Facebook group, where you can share your favorite oil free vegan recipes, and give and receive support on your plant based journey.
Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 onion diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 3 ribs celery diced
- 4 carrots diced
- 1 small zucchini diced
- ⅔ cup frozen corn
- ⅓ cup barley
- 2 large kale leaves chopped
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon dry parsley
- 2 teaspoons dry basil
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup frozen peas
Instructions
- In pressure cooker, sauté onion, and celery until the onions are soft and translucent. Add a small amount of water to keep the vegetables from sticking.
- Add the garlic and sauté for another minute, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Add the remaining ingredients except the peas, and cook at high pressure for 10 minutes. Allow pressure to come down naturally.
- Open the Instant Pot and stir in the peas. Let the soup simmer on the Keep Warm setting for about 5 minutes, until the peas are cooked.
Notes
Nutrition
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What kind of barley did you use?
I used pearl barley
When would you add the kidney beans (cooked, canned) if you use them? With the peas?
I add the canned beans before setting to pressure cook.
just perfect
Thank you! I’m glad you like it!