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This delicious Instant Pot Bean Soup is easy to make. Because, you won't need to stand over a stove and you won't even need to soak dried beans! This nourishing soup is packed with colorful veggies and high protein beans. It's flavored with Italian seasonings and brightened with fresh lemon. The combination is so good!
This recipe is healthy and satisfying, so it's perfect for weekday dinner or lunch. We like to serve this vegan soup with toasted bread. But, it would also be delicious served with a side of pita chips with a dip, such as Creamy White Bean Dip or Whipped Ricotta.
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Dried beans for better results: Dried beans are cheaper, and usually have better flavor and texture than canned beans. The main downside is that dried beans can take a long time to cook. But that's not the case with an Instant Pot—it makes it fast and easy to cook dried beans! Dried beans have a significant texture advantage in Instant Pot soups. Since canned beans are already fully cooked, they can get mushy and even fall apart if they're cooked again in an Instant Pot.
- No need to soak the beans: The Instant Pot is so effective at cooking dried beans—there's no real need to soak the beans in water overnight. So yes, you can make this soup recipe today!
- Quickly building flavor: Typically, stove-top soups start with cooking down onions and aromatics to build flavor. In an Instant Pot, this step can be a bit trickier, because the heating element is a lot smaller. But, you can make the most of your prep time by putting the olive oil and onions in the Instant Pot and setting it to "saute", while you keep prepping. Infrequent stirring the onions will actually encourage them to brown faster, so you're freed up to finish chopping the remaining ingredients.
- Adding acid at the right time: A small splash of acid (like citrus or vinegar) really helps balance out a final dish. But, beans can get tough if cooked with acids. So, this recipe adds the acid (fresh lemon juice) at the end, once the beans are fully cooked, so you get the best of both worlds!
- Meal prep / freezer friendly: This soup keeps well in the fridge or freezer—and can be reheated on the stove or in the microwave.
Recipe video
Watch a step-by-step video and learn how to make this recipe!
Ingredients (and substitutes)
This vegan and gluten-free recipe is made with fresh veggies, dried beans, and a few simple seasonings. Here's what you need to make this Instant Pot Bean Soup:
- Dried Navy Beans: This recipe's cook times are developed for dried and unsoaked navy beans. You could use dried and unsoaked cannellini beans instead, but add 10 minutes to the cook time (see recipe card for full instructions).
- Yellow Potatoes: We love using yellow potatoes in this soup—and we skip peeling the skin. But, you can peel them if you'd like! You could substitute another kind of potato (such as red or russet). Since different types of potatoes vary significantly in size, refer to the cup or weight equivalent provided in the recipe.
- Roasted Red Peppers: Jarred roasted red peppers are slightly sweet and smoky, and bring a pretty color and flavor to this dish. The peppers get chopped, so you can buy either whole or pre-cut jarred red peppers—either work!
- Italian Seasoning: This popular store-bought spice blend is made with oregano, basil, thyme, and a couple other dried spices. It's a quick seasoning shortcut that doesn't require you to pull out a bunch of jars from your spice drawer!
- Spinach: We like to stir in fresh baby spinach into the soup at the end of cooking. You could swap the spinach for chopped kale instead.
Find the recipe card below for the complete recipe, including all ingredients and instructions.
Looking for other beans recipes? Make our Brothy Oven Baked White Beans, Vegan Smashed Chickpea Sandwiches, or Veggie Bean Soup with Roasted Lemon.
How to make (step-by-step photos)
The Instant Pot makes it really easy to make this soup. It's pretty much a "set-it-and-forget-it" situation, with a bit of legwork in the beginning to get a head start on flavor. Here's how to make this Instant Pot Bean Soup recipe:
Our other popular Instant Pot recipes include: Easy Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili and Vegan Congee.
Recipe FAQs
For this recipe (and often times), it isn't necessary! Soaking beans does help cut down on cook times. But, since the Instant Pot cooks dried beans quite quickly, the soaking step isn't worth the effort (in our opinion!).
No, we do not recommend it. This recipe was developed for dried navy beans. Canned beans are already cooked, so they would not do well being cooked for the same amount of time specified for dried beans. And, the dried beans absorb more cooking liquid, so substituting for canned would throw off that ratio.
You don't need to peel yellow potatoes, unless you want to. Yellow (Yukon Gold) potatoes have a thin skin, so we usually skip peeling it. (There's actually a lot of flavor in the skin!). But, this recipe totally works if you choose to peel the yellow potato (or even swap for a russet potato, red potato, etc.)
Let the soup cool, then transfer to an airtight container. The soup can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. Frozen soup can be defrosted in the fridge or in a cold water bath. Reheat soup on the stove top or in a microwave.
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📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Bean Soup
Ingredients
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, diced (2 cups)
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1 medium yellow potato, diced (1½ cups)
- 1 cup dried navy beans (not soaked, see note 1)
- ⅔ cup chopped roasted red peppers (2 peppers, from a jar)
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Saute onions: Add olive oil and onions to an Instant Pot. Turn on the saute setting for 10 minutes, and cook, stirring only occasionally, to allow the onions to brown around the edges (see note 2).
- Add aromatics: Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and salt. Saute for 1 more minute, or until garlic is fragrant.
- Pressure cook: Add carrots, celery, potato, beans, roasted red peppers, and vegetable stock. Stir well to mix. Pressure cook on high for 25 minutes. Allow the Instant Pot to natural release for 15 minutes, then release all pressure (see note 3).
- Finish seasoning: Stir in spinach and lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasonings (more salt and/or lemon juice, if needed). Ladle into bowls.
Notes
- Beans: Use dried, unsoaked navy beans for this recipe. You could instead substitute an equal amount of dried cannellini beans. If using dried cannellini beans, increase the cook time in step 3 to 35 minutes (high pressure), and continue with the same 15 minute natural pressure release afterwards.
- Instant Pot Tip: The heating element in an Instant Pot is smaller than on a stove, so it typically takes longer to saute the same ingredient. Avoid over-stirring, to encourage the onions to brown at the edges.
- A note on bean cooking times: We tested this recipe's cook time using many different batches/brands of dried (unsoaked) navy beans. If for some reason your beans are still slightly firm after pressure releasing, simply turn on the saute function and cook uncovered until the beans are tender. Then, add the spinach and lemon juice.
- Serving suggestions: This soup is delicious served with toasted bread. You can drizzle the bread with olive oil and sprinkle it with a pinch of extra Italian seasoning and flaky salt for seasoning.
- Storage tips: This soup can be stored in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, or transfer cooled soup to a freezer-safe container and freeze for longer storage.
Linda Wells says
This looks lovely but I don’t have a pressure cooker
How else would you recommend?
Thanks
Linda
bri says
Hi Linda! Thank you for the kind words! I unfortunately haven't tested alternate methods for this recipe, since it was developed for cooking in an Instant Pot. A few ideas if you didn't have a pressure cooker:
1) You could follow the rough ingredients/method, but add canned beans near the end. Canned beans are already cooked, so you don't want to boil them too much or they'll eventually fall apart. Just rinse, then gently simmer in the soup for 10-15 minutes so they absorb some of the flavor. I would also recommend reducing the amount of liquid since it won't be absorbed by the beans in the same way as the original recipe. You can always add more liquid near the end.
2) Alternatively, you could soak dry beans and cook them in a separate pot about 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through. Then add them along with the veggies and simmer until fully cooked. Again, you'd want to reduce the amount of liquid in the soup—then add more as needed.
3) If you'd rather follow a specific/exact recipe without a pressure cooker, perhaps try my Brothy Oven Baked Beans. You can add more liquid/veggies to make it even more soupy. But, this one was developed for an oven method, using white beans as well.
Hope this helps! Let me know if I can help answer any other questions. Have a great weekend ahead
Linda Tenukas says
I love bean soup and this recipe is definitely a keeper! I didn't have yellow potatoes so I substituted a sweet potato. It gave the soup a very subtle sweet flavor and it was delicious. I used cannellini beans but I think in the future I will use navy beans. Cannellini beans took longer to cook and therefore some of the vegetables became a little too soft.
bri says
Hi Linda - So happy you're enjoying this recipe! Thanks so much for sharing your substitutes, I think other readers will find this info really helpful. Have a great week ahead!
Jamie says
Awesome recipe! I used small red beans because that's what I had and it came out perfect! Also added mushrooms, fire-roasted tomatoes and nutritional yeast.
Thanks so much for this nourishing recipe.
bri says
Hi Jamie! Yay, glad to hear you enjoyed this soup recipe! Thank you for sharing your additions. It's always super helpful to hear...for both myself and other readers! We appreciate you taking the time to write in. Have a great rest of your week!
Lou K says
Word to the wise anyone using the dried cannelli bean option, the timing is WAY off! Its 45 mins under pressure and 15 natural release. I copied the recipe verbatim and had to put it back under pressure to get the beans to become tender. Otherwise a great recipe. Thanks!
bri says
Hi Lou! Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for sharing about your note about cooking time for your beans. Dried beans can definitely have a range of cooking times, depending on how old the beans are. Surprisingly, dried beans do have an "expiry date"! Manufacturer's in North America typically list 2 years on the package. But in our experience (as well as NYT), they are best cooked within 1 year. Old beans can take much longer to cook until tender, some REALLY old beans might not get tender at all. We're actually doing a deep-dive on some bean "science" right now, and will be publishing a post on the results from our testing soon!
The difference in your cook timing is likely due to bean age:) But, glad to hear they became tender after more time in the IP. The recipe notes includes a callout for this, but it sounds like it could be helpful to add a timing range for older beans. I'll try to track down some older dried to try to replicate your cook time range. Have added it to my to-do list! Thanks for sharing. Have a lovely rest of your weekend.
Laurel Cordier says
I did not have roasted red peppers or navy beans on hand so I used a cup of dried lima beans, substituted a large can of whole tomatoes (chopped before adding to the instant pot) and juice for an equal amount of broth, and tossed elbow macaroni into the simmering pot after the pressure cooking was done. Yum-- altered minestrone!
bri says
Hi Laurel - So glad you enjoyed this recipe! And thank you so much for sharing your substitutes. That sounds delicious, glad it all worked out!
Jennifer L Keller says
Love this! I just have a Mini IP so halved the recipe and it worked just fine with enough for a couple of meals for two with bread/biscuits.
bri says
Hi Jennifer! I just looked up a Mini Instant Pot...they're so cute! Thank you for sharing your experience making this half this recipe. Glad to know it works well! Thanks so much for sharing
Joanne H says
Made this a bunch of times last fall / winter and it never disappointed. Excited to be making it again this year. Thank you for the recipe!
bri says
Hi Joanne! So happy to hear this Bean Soup is part of your soup season rotation:) Thanks for sharing!