Instant Pot Vegetable Soup

Instant Pot Vegetable Soup is a dream come true. It’s an easy to make recipe that’s full of fresh vegetables and flavor. It’s healthy and perfect for warming up on cold nights.

This homemade vegetable soup recipe is seriously so good! Do you see all of those beautiful colors and veggies? Well, you can have those bowlfuls in 30 minutes. All it takes is a little bit of chopping and measuring then everything goes into the instant pot and cooks for 5 minutes.

Most of the time spent is actually in the 15 minutes or so when the pressure is naturally releasing. During this time you can get your drinks and thickly sliced bread together. Dunking is an option but the flavors are so dang good it’s hard to resist.

This is one of my favorite recipes to prepare a big batch of and freeze, delivering the goodness of fresh summer veggies to my family all winter long!

Instant Pot Vegetable Soup Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil – For sauteing the veggies, adds flavor and body that forms a hearty base for the soup. 
• Onion – I went with yellow onion here as it has more flavor than the white onion. You can choose other types of onion if you prefer. 
• Celery – Celery is a soup ingredient staple! It provides great texture, has a naturally savory, herbaceous flavor, and perfumes any soup with an amazing aroma. 
• Garlic – Because I love it! While sharp in flavor when raw, it turns sweet and caramelly when cooked. 
• Vegetable broth – This is the staple ingredient holding all of the others together, so be sure to choose a high quality, great tasting vegetable broth/stock or use homemade stock if you have it. 
• Tomato juice – Provides an umami-rich flavor that forms the foundation of this soup, plus it adds a nice viscosity to the texture of the soup. Make sure to choose tomato juice without added sugar in it. 
• Canned diced tomatoes – Diced tomatoes contribute a rich, tangy flavor to soups and add a pleasant textural element. I used classic diced tomatoes but diced fire-roasted tomatoes would be an extra flavorful boost! Use the entire can–diced tomatoes and any juices. 
• Carrots – Carrots have a natural sweetness, providing a nice counterpoint to the savory, bitter, and acidic tastes of other vegetables. I also love the way they hold their texture where other veggies would get too soft and mushy. I used classic orange carrots in my soup but you could use rainbow carrots for even more color. 
• Yukon gold potatoes – Potatoes add heft and make this soup super filling! Yukon potatoes are the ideal pick as they retain their shape as opposed to breaking down like other potato varieties. You could use russet potatoes if you like, but they will break up into smaller pieces and make the overall soup a bit creamier.
• Mushrooms – For this soup, I recommend mushrooms that are mild in flavor instead of strongly flavored mushrooms as the latter could overpower the other veggie flavors in the soup. White button mushrooms are perfect here! 
• Salt + Black pepper – I like to use sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, as these give the maximum flavor. 
• Dried basil – Adds a fresh yet pungent flavor that compliments the tomato-forward flavor of this soup very well. 
• Vegan Worcestershire sauce – There are several vegan Worcestershire sauce brands out there that are just as rich and savory as the traditional recipes! If you can’t find an option, try out one of our other Worcestershire sauce substitutes. 
• Kale – Kale adds a hearty and chewy texture to this soup, making it even more satisfying–and nutritious! There are a few different types of kale you could use here, check out our Chef Tips section for some details on each. 

How to Make Instant Pot Vegetable Soup

1. Saute the aromatics. Add the olive oil to your Instant Pot and select the saute function. Add onion and celery. Cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
2. Stir in liquids. Add the vegetable broth, tomato juice, and diced tomatoes to the Instant Pot. 
3. Combine and cook. Add the sliced carrots, diced potatoes, sliced mushrooms, salt, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Lock the lid onto the Instant Pot and select Manual or Pressure Cook (depending on your pot). Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Once the cooking time is over, let the pressure release naturally for at least 12 minutes. Then release any remaining pressure.
4. Finish. Stir the dried basil, vegan Worcestershire sauce, and chopped kale into the soup. 
5. Season and serve. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed, then ladle into soup bowls and serve piping hot! 

Watch Us Make Instant Pot Vegetable Soup

Chef Tips 

Notes on Kale. Most grocery stores carry a few different types of kale! Any of them will work well in this Instant Pot veggie soup, it just depends on your preference.

• Curly Kale: The one that we see the most often in stores. It’s ruffly and bright green in color. The flavor is pungent and peppery which is perfect for soup.
• Redbor Kale: Also has ruffled leaves but the color is intriguing. It ranges in color from a deep red to purple. 
• Russian Kale: Is less common and has flat, fringed leaves. It has a more sweet and peppery flavor and is the most colorful of them all–ranging from green to red to purple.
• Dinosaur Kale: Has narrow green leaves that are wrinkly like dinosaur skin! This is also sometimes called Lacinato Kale. 

Whichever type of kale you choose, be sure to wash it thoroughly and remove the tough stems before chopping it into bite-sized pieces.

Evenly cut veggies = evenly cooked veggies! The best way to ensure that your soup veggies cook at the same pace is to make them uniformly sized. Do your best to dice your potatoes in roughly the same size pieces and to slice your carrots, celery, and mushrooms as evenly as possible. 

Recipe Variations

This is a really nice variety of basic vegetables with the addition of kale. Let me give you some more ideas in case you’d like to change to what you might have on hand.

• Add bell peppers in any and all colors.
• You can switch out the carrots for butternut squash cubes.
• Change out the kale for spinach.
• If you happen to have fresh green beans, toss them in.
• Some cauliflower would work very nicely and make the florets bite sized.

How to Store 

Refrigerating. Allow the soup to cool, then transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate for 3 days. 

Freezing. Place the cooled soup in freezer friendly airtight containers or resealable freezer bags and freeze for up to 2-3 months. Make sure to leave some space at the top of the container or bag to allow for expansion during freezing. To thaw, transfer the soup to the refrigerator overnight or use the defrost setting on your microwave. 

Reheating. Reheat the refrigerated or thawed soup on the stovetop over medium heat or in the microwave until heated through. Stir occasionally to ensure even heating.