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.
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.
Herbert Grosshans says
I followed the instructions to the letter, but I added 6 strips of bacon, finely chopped. Instead of navy beans I used a bean mixtures. I soaked them for a couple of hours. I did not use the spinach. The soup was delicious. I certainly will make it again.
bri says
Hi Herbert - Glad to hear you enjoyed this soup! Thank you for taking the time to share your modifications - I'm sure it'll be helpful for other readers:)
evan says
we made this soup three days ago, still enjoying it... and it gets better every day. tonight i added a cumin crusted sablefish fillet.
i also wanted to note that i doubled the original recipe but the full 12 cups of vegetable broth don't fit into the instant pot with all the other ingredients, so i filled to the max line, and then added more after it was finished. having less liquid (just over 2L as opposed to the nearly 3 the recipe suggests) didn't impact the recipe in any discernible way, everything was cooked well and absolutely delicious. this is my favourite soup recipe
bri says
Hi Evan - So happy to hear you enjoyed this soup! Thank you so much for sharing your experience doubling the recipe. We haven't actually doubled it in our Instant Pot before, so these notes are super super helpful. Appreciate you taking the time to share:) Hope you have a great week ahead.
Michele says
I used a mix of 10 beans bought from the bulk bin at Sprouts. I didn’t have the celery, and used fresh red peppers, small boiling potatoes, and lemon juice. The soup tasted excellent and I will be making this again! Thanks you!
bri says
Wonderful, glad to hear your modifications worked out Michele! Happy to hear you enjoyed this soup:)
Tricia says
Hi!!!!! Could this recipe be made in a crockpot???
Thanks in advance!!!
bri says
Hi Tricia! It could definitely work in a crockpot, but the recipe would require a number of modifications (method, timing, potentially liquid amount). We always want our recipes to work out perfectly, so unfortunately I'm unable to give detailed enough instructions for the slow cooker modification without testing it myself first! If you have access to an Instant Pot, I highly recommend trying it that way first. Your slow cooker call-out is a great one: I've noted down to consider adding some slow cooker recipes in the future. Thank you for your question! Have a great week ahead.
Debbie says
Made this twice over the holidays! Really tasty. I do recommend following the recipe and resist stirring the onions too much. I stir a lot by habit (haha). I was better the 2nd time around and got some nice browning. I was out of spinach one time so used kale instead. Both delicious.
bri says
Hi Debbie! Glad to hear you're enjoying this soup recipe! Great call on the kale, we bet that would be tasty as well. Thanks for sharing!
Jennifer says
Have been making bean soups in the Instant Pot for a few years but this recipe is my favorite! Is bright, healthy and satisfying! The lemon add a special zing, perfect for our New Year’s holiday lunch.
bri says
Hi Jennifer! Hope you're having a great start to the new year:) We're so happy to hear you enjoyed this soup! Thank you for taking the time to write a review!
Davide H says
So tasty! I was out of Italian Seasoning but I doctored up my own blend with dried oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary. Worked great!
bri says
Hi Davide! Glad you enjoyed this soup! Good idea with the homemade Italian seasoning - it's definitely a good one to have on hand. Thank you for sharing!
Erica K says
My hubby got me an Instant Pot for Christmas so I was excited to try this recipe. Loved the flavor and how healthy this is.
bri says
Hi Erica! What a lovely Christmas gift! We hope you enjoy cooking with your new Instant Pot. Thrilled to hear you've already given this recipe a try:) Hope you're able to find some others on the site that you love too!
Jean says
Such a healthy recipe that actually tastes great! Loved having extras for lunch today. Could you post more Instant Pot recipes? I'm going to try your chili recipe next but would love to try others too!
bri says
Hi Jean! So happy to hear that! Thank you for your feedback - we've made a note to add more Instant Pot recipes so will work that into our recipe development. Keep checking back soon:)
Sharon says
Made this soup for dinner last night and I'm going to go out on the limb and say its the best thing I've ever made in the Instant Pot. I am new to cooking and it turned out great, will definitely be making again.
Malory R says
Another brilliant Evergreen Kitchen recipe! I'm trying to use more dried beans (cans are getting so expensive these days). This recipe was perfect. Thank you both for another delicious recipe!
bri says
Hi Malory! Happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for taking the time to write a review!
Katie says
Hearty and healthy soup made so easy with the Instant Pot. Really enjoyed the texture and flavour of the dried navy beans versus the canned beans. The spinach and lemon juice adds a nice final touch. I look forward to more of your Instant Pot recipes. Thanks for posting this recipe.
bri says
Hi Katie! Yay, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Yes, the lemon juice at the end really adds a little something special, doesn't it:) Thank you for your Instant Pot feedback - we do have some Instant Pot recipe ideas coming up, so stay tuned!
Torey says
Just made this for lunch and it was so yummy! Didn't make any substitutions and the beans were cooked perfectly
bri says
Thanks so much for sharing Torey! Happy to hear the beans cooked time worked well for you too!