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Easy Instant pot lentil soup with potatoes – my all time favorite lentil soup recipe, made in the instant pot. Inspired by my easy lentil potato soup recipe.
Quick to make in the pressure cooker, this lentil soup is loaded with flavor, nutritious and kid friendly. This soup is pretty affordable and perfect to make year round.
The combination of brown lentils and potatoes is a winner. The soup is vegetarian and vegan, but shredded chicken or cooked sausage could be added to turn it into a filling meal.
When a reader first asked me for an Instant Pot version of my Lentil Potato Soup, I thought “why make a lentil soup in the instant pot, when the time it takes to cook it on the stove top is almost the same? (it is true for a lot of soups though)”, but the texture of the lentils cooked in the instant pot is amazing, so soft, but they still hold their shape.
What ingredients do you need to make this easy lentil potato soup in the Instant pot?
- brown or green lentils
- vegetable oil
- onion
- garlic
- carrots
- potatoes
- tomato sauce
- salt
- black pepper
- thyme
- oregano
- cumin
- vegetable (or chicken) stock
- fresh herbs for garnishing
What lentils to use in this soup recipe?
Green or brown lentils will work best in the recipe. They take about the same time to cook. I used brown lentils today. What about red lentils? I don’t advice you to use them in this Instant Pot recipe, because they will cook way too fast, become tender and mushy, while the potatoes may remain undercooked.
How long to cook lentils in the Instant pot?
This Easy Instant pot lentil soup with potatoes took 15 minutes ti cook on Manual High pressure and 15-20 minutes of Natural release time. I also sauteed the onions, garlic, carrots and potatoes for 7-9 minutes, before adding the lentils and liquid.
This soup in not a very chunky, thick soup. It has some liquid to it. You can always use a little less water to make it more like a thick and chunky stew.
Can this soup be made with red lentils
If you want to make it with red lentils, it is possible, but keep in mind that they will cook 3 times faster than brown lentils. You either need to precook the potatoes to the point where they are still firm, but starting to soften and cook them with the rest of the ingredients for 5 minutes on Manual high pressure with 10 minutes of natural release.
Easy Instant pot lentil soup with potatoes add ons:
- Chopped fresh kale
- Sour cream
- Shredded chicken
- Cooked sausage
- Grated cheese
Storing, reheating and freezing
How to store Instant pot lentil potato soup
Store in an air tight container on the fridge for up to 2 days.
Freezing
This lentil soup can be frozen in an air tight container or portioned in zip lock bags for up to 2 months. Defrost in the fridge and reheat and consume immediately.
Reheating
For reheating frozen soup, see the paragraph above.
If you are reheating lentil potato soup from the fridge, heat on the stove top over medium heat, until the desired warmness is achieved.
More lentil soup recipes:
Easy Instant pot lentil soup with potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups brown or green lentils
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small onion
- 4 garlic cloves garlic
- 2 carrots, diced (around 1 cup)
- 10 oz potatoes
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1/4 tso oregano
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 4 cups vegetable, or chicken stock
- fresh herbs for garnishing, optional
Instructions
- Set the pressure cooker to Sautee.
- Add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil, heat it for 1 minute, then add the onions, carrots and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
- Add the potatoes and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, cumin, lentils and stock. Stir to combine, make sure the pot is about 2/3 full, not more than this.
- Close the lid, set the valve to sealing and cook for 15 minutes on Manual High pressure, then release the pressure naturally.
- Open the pot and check if the soup is cooked, if the potatoes appear undercooked, cook on slow cook for additional 10-30 minutes.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
One of my favorite soup ! Ymmyyyyy
Many thanks for a spot on, easy and cozy recipe! *****
Used the recipe as a base. Did everything in the recipe as listed and instructed, but because I wanted a thicker soup, I used gold potatoes that would cook down a bit, added sweet potatoes (about 1/2″ dice), 1 undrained can of great northern beans, 1 undrained can of cannellini beans (the aquafaba is starchy and thickens), cayenne pepper powder… all added when recipe calls for adding potatoes, and then after pressure cooking, added frozen spinach. Came out roughly as a stew and was super delicious!!!! I did not add salt because I used the undrained beans, but it needed some after cooking.
I made a couple of additions also, mainly to use up things i had in the fridge: a fresh diced jalapeño pepper, several handfuls of chopped bagged kale, and two green onion sausage links, removed from their casings and sauteed. Oh, my gosh, was it good–maybe the best soup I’ve ever made. We’re just two people, but we ate it for lunches and dinners until it was gone. Not one drop went to waste. I’ll definitely make this again.