Vegan Instant Pot White Bean Soup
One of my favorite things to do is revisit old recipes I’ve created and transform them for my plant-based eating family and friends. This vegan Instant Pot white bean soup has got to be one of my favorites so far. And while it’s not a must, if you have time to make your own vegetable broth, that will work wonders for ALL of your soup recipes. Plus, there’s just something so satisfying about creating your food from scratch. Not that we always have time to do that, I’m just sayin…
The Process
Add 1-2 tablespoons of sea salt to glass dish.
Fill dish with at least 6 cups of lukewarm water. Stir to dissolve the salt.
Add beans to water and let sit for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. Remove imperfect beans and any possible pebbles. Rinse well.
Just to be clear… When I say de-rib the kale…
…I simply mean removing the stem. They tend to be quite bitter.
Using sauté setting – Add oil to pot…
…along with onions, carrots, and celery.
Cook for about 5 minutes (until onions are translucent and carrots begin to soften).
Add vinegar, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf.
Cook for about 2 minutes, until vinegar has evaporated.
Add broth…
…tomatoes…
…beans…
…and black pepper to pot. Mix well.
Finally, add kale to pot…
…and press down as much as possible, so that most of the kale is submerged. Resist the urge to stir here since it is much more important that the beans are in broth. Lock lid and cook for 15 minutes at high pressure. Once cook time is complete, quick-release pressure. Add salt to pot and mix very well. While stirring, remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Let soup sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. This will allow the beans to absorb the salt.
And this is the AMAZING result…
And as Always… Please Pin & Share the Love!
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Vegan Instant Pot White Bean Soup
Made from dried great northern beans, this recipe is surprisingly easy to throw together, packed with flavor... and affordable!
Ingredients
- 1 lb. great northern beans soaked overnight
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 cup yellow onion diced
- 1/2 cup carrots peeled, diced
- 1/2 cup celery diced
- 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. garlic minced
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 sprigs of thyme
- 6 cups vegetable broth homemade preferably
- 15 oz. fire-roasted canned tomatoes petite diced
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 8 oz. kale de-ribbed, torn into bite-size pieces
- 2 tsp. sea salt
Instructions
Using sauté setting... Add oil, onions, carrots, and celery to pot. Cook for about 5 minutes (until onions are translucent and carrots begin to soften).
Add vinegar, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf - cook for 2 minutes, until vinegar has evaporated.
Add broth, tomatoes, beans, and black pepper to pot. Mix well.
Finally, add kale to pot and press down as much as possible, so that most of the kale is submerged. Resist the urge to stir here since it is much more important that the beans are in broth.
Lock lid and cook for 15 minutes at high pressure. Once cook time is complete, quick-release pressure and remove lid.
Add salt to pot and mix very well. While stirring, remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs.
Let soup sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. This will allow the beans to absorb the salt.
Recipe Notes
If you prefer to use canned beans (drained and rinsed), cook the soup for 4 minutes at high pressure. Then quick-release the pressure.
13 Comments
Stacey L Williams
December 17, 2017 at 9:15 pmThis was delicious! Thanks for delicious, healthy, inexpensive recipe!
Kelly
January 5, 2018 at 11:21 pmExcited to make this !! Looks great. I do have a couple of questions 🙂
Do you think I should reduce the pressure cook time if I used canned beans instead of dried? And 15 min at low or high pressure??
Chef Gary
January 9, 2018 at 3:22 pmYou’ll definitely need to reduce the cook time if using canned beans, since they are already fully cooked. My only concern is that, if you reduce it too much, the vegetables may be a little crunchy – particularly the celery. So what I would try is this… Sauté the celery first for a few minutes before adding the rest of the veggies. Then later – set the time for 5 minutes on high pressure. Not sure it’ll work, but that’s what I’d try. Let me know how it goes!
Katie
January 27, 2018 at 5:56 pmLove how easy this was to throw together!
Tonia
June 19, 2018 at 7:04 amAmazing! I had to use white balsamic vinaigrette and stewed Italian tomatoes but this was a hit among the entire family and extended family. My 8 year old said “Momma I need to try this now, it just smells SO, SO GOOD!” and she was right. This page is saved in my favorites as a go to simple soup that is a crowd pleaser. Tomorrow we try your summer squash lemon risotto. Thank you for sharing your recipes!!!
Chef Gary
June 21, 2018 at 12:45 pmAwesome, thanks Tonia! Yeah, my 3-year-old can be brutally honest with the comments, so I appreciate winning the kids’ approval.
Kate
November 28, 2018 at 3:25 pmI made this with canned beans and followed your suggestions in the comments. The flavors are excellent but the beans are a little overcooked (as you implied) so I probably won’t do that again. But the flavors with the vinegar and ay leaf are wonderful! Thank you for sharing!
Nicole
December 11, 2018 at 9:21 amHow long can I leave this on low?
Gary
December 11, 2018 at 9:08 pmI’m not sure I understand your question.
Nicole Darling
December 12, 2018 at 9:18 pmHow long after the soup is cooked can I leave it in the instapot on the low setting?
I’m concerned it will get mushy.
I also really don’t want to have to watch it and turn it to quick release…Can I leave it on natural release and let it switch over to the “low”/“keep warm” setting?
Gary
December 17, 2018 at 9:42 pmI’m not sure how long you can leave it, but I’d guess at lease a few hours. And you can absolutely do a natural release for this soup. Please let us know how it comes out!
Carol
May 10, 2019 at 11:26 amI never give reviews! But this recipe was so simple and so delicious that I had to say something! I did have kale have spinach added a little more garlic powder but other than that followed the recipe exactly. I was totally shocked! Good job!
Gary
May 10, 2019 at 1:10 pmSo glad you enjoyed it!