Instant Pot Vegetable Soup (Whole30, Keto)

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 Asian-inspired soup!

Instant Pot vegetable soup = easy veggie 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 fast and 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.

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, make sure the valve is in the sealed position, 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! So the total cook time is more than 2 minutes!)

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. If you freeze the soup, thaw it overnight in the fridge before reheating it. 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

• Instant Pot Cream of Mushroom Soup
• Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
• Instant Pot Pork and Napa Cabbage Soup
• Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
• Instant Pot Carrot Cardamom Soup
• Instant Pot Curried Cream of Broccoli Soup
• Instant Pot Chinese Beef Noodle Soup
• Instant Pot Chicken Pho