5 Tips for Making Soup in the Instant Pot

Posted on Dec 26, 2018

Cold weather calls for a warm, delicious bowl of soup! It’s National Soup Month, the perfect time to gather all your favorites from the recipe box to enjoy all month long. Have you ever tried cooking your favorite soup recipe in the Instant Pot®? There are many benefits to cooking with an Instant Pot, and if you have cooked with one before, you know how convenient it is. Not only can the Instant Pot help save time in the kitchen, it can also reduce clean-up time as there is only one pot to clean! The Instant Pot also helps retain the nutritional value of your ingredients all while boosting flavor.

Get your Instant Pot ready to cook up a batch of savory soup! We sat down with Triad to Wellness’ Culinary Nutrition Director, Tracee Yablon-Brenner, to get the scoop on some of her favorite tips for cooking soup in the Instant Pot.

1. Take advantage of the Instant Pot’s one-pot convenience and sauté onions and garlic directly in the Instant Pot. The caramelization will add a lot of flavor. Be sure to deglaze the pot by adding tomatoes, broth or wine so there are no browned bits on the bottom of the pot and prevent the Instant Pot Ovht (overheat) error message, or burn on newer models. This will also help ensure your Instant Pot will continue to work properly in the future.

2. When making a soup with grains, such as sorghum, add them to the pot and cook them right along with the other ingredients in the soup. The time for the pot to come up to pressure will take a bit longer because of the additional liquid. The end product is a delicious soup containing grains filled with flavor.

3. If you are trying one of your own soup recipes in the Instant Pot for the first time, make sure to pay close attention to the max fill line on your Instant Pot. If liquid surpasses the max fill line, the Instant Pot will not be able to build the proper pressure to cook your recipe.

4. When including dairy in your soup, add it once the soup is cooked to prevent curdling and burning at the bottom of the pot. Dairy doesn’t lend itself well to high-heat environments, so add two cups of the soup to a small bowl and then add the cream, milk or nondairy milk. Whisk the ingredients together and then add the mixture back to the pot of soup.

5. If you plan to thicken your soup with a roux, it can be beneficial to make the roux separately. This will help prevent the roux from burning the bottom of the Instant Pot. For best results, simply add the roux once the soup is cooked.

Ready to try cooking a batch of soup in the Instant Pot? Try our Tuscan Sorghum and Sausage Soup created by Tracee. Do you have any tips for cooking soup in the Instant Pot? Share them with us on social media – Simply Sorghum on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Tracee Yablon Brenner, RDN, CHHC is a registered dietitian nutritionist and trained culinary professional. Tracee is the managing partner and culinary nutrition director at Triad to Wellness Consulting. Tracee works with food companies and commodity boards providing recipe and product development and nutrient analysis, as well as marketing communications. Tracee has more 20 years’ experience working in culinary nutrition, nutrition therapy and coaching. Tracee co-authored two books - Simple Foods for Busy Families and Great Expectations: Best Foods for your Baby & Toddler. Her expertise and recipes have been included in Readers Digest, U.S. News, Shape and other cutting-edge publications.