The BEST Instant Pot Vegetable Soup

This Instant Pot Vegetable Soup is filled to the brim with hearty vegetables, black beans, and barley. It provides incredible nutrition plus amazing taste. I wanted to lick the bowl clean!

 

4 Reasons This Soup Is the BEST

Why is this Instant Pot Vegetable Soup the best, you ask? I’ll give you four reasons to get ya started…

For starters, you’ll slurp up the very best healthy, vegetable-based foods that are filled with vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, and more PLUS enjoy incredible taste in one bowl. We’re talking 6 different vegetables, beans, and whole grains. I have a hard time stopping eating this soup…but, hey, that’s not a bad problem when it’s this good for you!

Thanks to the beans and barley, this soup is filling and will satisfy even the meat-lover in your life. (I’m looking at you, hubs).

Your hands-on prep time (chopping and sautéing veggies) will only take 15 minutes. Then, press a button and the pressure cooker will do the rest. Expect the hands-off time to take about 20 minutes–including the time it takes to come to pressure, cook, and release the pressure.

This recipe, unlike others, includes a secret ingredient that jacks the flavor waaay up. I learned this from a chef friend! Read more about this incredible secret ingredient below.

Check out this all-star line-up that will have you licking your bowl clean…

• Onions, Celery, and Carrots – You’ll start with the traditional triumvirate of French aromatics referred to as mirepoix (pronounced: meer-pwah). Chop these into evenly-sized, bite-sized pieces.

• Garlic – Adds pungency, which is a very good thing in the right balance with other flavors. Also, you can read more about the health benefits of garlic here–it’s impressive.

• Salt, Pepper, and Red Pepper Flakes – Salt helps bring out the natural flavors of the vegetables, and the peppers add a little heat in the background. I like to use Himalayan Pink Sea Salt because it hasn’t been stripped of valuable minerals.

• Broth – Use vegetable broth to keep this vegetarian or feel free to use a good chicken stock instead. You can make your own easily!

• Fire-Roasted Tomatoes – These canned tomatoes are my go-to for soups because they have a notably more complex flavor than just regular ole diced tomatoes. A bonus to using canned tomatoes is they add in Vitamin C, and fiber, and are an excellent source of the antioxidant lycopene, which is shown to help lower the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, and macular degeneration (poor eyesight as you get older). Boom!

• Bay Leaf – The aroma and flavor of the dried bay leaf is subtle, with “a pleasantly minty taste and notes of warm baking spice” according to this Huff Post article. The pressure cooker helps to bring out the oils from this little leaf and infuse it into the soup.

• Parmesan Rind!! – This is the SECRET INGREDIENT, friends. Adding the rind (the tough outer part of a giant round of Parmesan) will infuse the entire soup with a salty, umami flavor. Absolutely delicious and what will take this soup to the next level!

• Pearled Barley – This is one of the cheapest whole grains you can find. I find it in the bulk bin in the health food section. The barley holds its texture well in the soup, which surprised me the first time I tested this. It does much better than pasta or orzo, which can get mushy pretty quickly. I am officially a pearl barley fan. A gluten-free substitution is chickpeas.

• Black Beans – One of nature’s greatest gifts to man, this tasty and nutrient-dense bean packs in protein, fiber, antioxidants, and minerals. Look for BPA-free canned beans to make your life easy. Or, you can always prepare your own from scratch by following the dried bean packaging directions. Check out all the benefits of eating black beans here.

• Kale – Stemmed, chopped kale adds beautiful color and potent antioxidants at the end of this recipe. The flavor becomes very mellow once it wilts into the soup.

How to Make Instant Pot Vegetable Soup

You’ll build flavor all along the way as you sauté, season, and pressure cook your ingredients all in one pot.

Begin by building a firm foundation of flavor. Sauté the classic aromatic combination of chopped onions, celery, and carrots. You’ll season these veggies with garlic, salt, pepper, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

Stir in vegetable broth (I prefer organic), fire-roasted tomatoes, black beans, barley, a dried bay leaf or two, and the secret ingredient–a Parmesan rind–into the Instant Pot.

Lock and seal the lid and cook at high pressure for 7 minutes. Do a quick release of the pressure after it’s done.

Fish out the bay leaf and Parmesan rind with tongs. (Tip: You can let the Parm rind cool and freeze it to use again!) Lastly, stir in the chopped kale. It will wilt into the hot liquid fairly quickly. Taste and season the soup with more salt and pepper, as needed. Serve each bowl with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and some homemade wheat bread or our wheat rolls.

Recipe FAQs

Let the soup cool and place in a storage container with a lid. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or, package tightly in a freezer bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months.

You can cook this on the stove for 15-20 minutes, or until the pearl barley is tender, and stir in the kale at the end.

Dairy-Free Version: Omit the Parmesan rind and grated Parmesan at the end. Add at least 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Gluten-Free Version: Barley contains gluten, so replace this grain with 1 can of chickpeas that have been drained and rinsed.

This recipe was written primarily for vegetables but you could easily stir in fully cooked meat at the end. Shredded chicken or cooked turkey meatballs would be a great addition!

Yep! We have loads of information about freezing soup. Read below!

Time to fill your pot and get cooking the BEST Instant Pot vegetable soup, in my humble opinion.