Instant Pot white bean soup recipe! Cozy, flavorful, vegan white bean vegetable soup made with dried navy beans.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Hey, Rhubarbarians! Sharing a veggie loaded Instant Pot white bean soup recipe today!
This soup feels very nostalgic to us, a lot like the vegetable soup we used to love as a kid. But, rather than alphabet shaped pasta, we added fiber loaded navy beans. This one is a soup that the whole family will love!
Check out our google web story about Instant Pot white bean veggie soup!
Jump to:
Simple, vegan white bean vegetable soup
A simple, vegetable soup with creamy white beans. Sounds amazing, right?
The base of this soup is a simple mirepoix (onion, carrot, and celery), with broth and canned diced tomatoes. We add herbs for flavor, creamy white beans, and some frozen peas to finish it off. The dried white beans cook very quickly in the Instant Pot, so it's quick enough for a weeknight meal. So simple, but oh so delicious!
Have you tried our Instant Pot vegetable barley soup?
Why use the Instant Pot?
If you're a lover of beans, you have got to try cooking dried beans in the Instant Pot! Pressure cooked dried beans are not only quick to cook, but they are much more flavorful than canned.
- The cook time: The Instant Pot pressure cooks, which reduces the cook time of dried beans substantially.
- The flavor: Cooking dried beans directly in the soup broth allows the beans to absorb all the flavor from the broth. The Instant Pot cooks everything together, so that the flavor is the best it can be.
- The cost: Dried beans are much more cost effective than canned. Since the Instant Pot cooks dried beans so quickly, you will save money making the switch.
LIKE WHAT YOU SEE? GET FREE WEEKLY RECIPES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX! SIGN UP HERE!
Cooking with dried white beans
There are several varieties of dried white beans! Some of the common ones you will find at your grocery store are:
- Cannellini beans: these are the largest of the white beans you will find. They may take a bit longer to cook, but retain their shape well and have a creamy texture.
- Great northern beans: medium sized white beans. They also hold their shape well and have a creamy texture.
- Navy beans: these are the smallest of the white beans you will find. They are great for soups but also wonderful for mashing or pureeing.
Our favorite for this white bean veggie soup is navy beans. We love them because they cook quickly, which means that the vegetables don't become too mushy.
The good news is that any of these varieties of white beans will work for you when making this soup. If you need to substitute the navy beans for great northern beans or cannellini beans, that's totally ok!
No matter what variety of white bean you use, you will need to soak the beans. Rinse and beans and inspect them, removing any debris. Place the beans in a large bowl and cover by 2" of water. Let them sit on the counter for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Cook times for the different types of white beans:
- Cannellini beans: 40 minutes
- Great northern beans: 35 minutes
- Navy beans: 30 minutes (shown in the recipe card)
The recipe card below lists the instructions for cooking with navy beans, which take 30 minutes to fully cook in the Instant Pot. Adjust the pressure cook time accordingly, depending on the white beans you are using.
No time to soak the beans? Try the quick soak method! Place your rinsed beans in a large pot and cover by 2" of water. Bring them to a boil over high heat and rapid boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover, and let sit for 1 hour. Strain and rinse well.
Here's what you'll need
- Dried white beans: see the section above for cooking with white beans.
- A fine strainer or colander: for rinsing the beans and inspecting for debris.
- A large bowl and water: for soaking the beans. Preferably filtered water.
- An Instant Pot: we have the Instant Pot Duo Nova 7-in-1 6 quart.
- The recipe ingredients: listed in the recipe card below.
- A wooden spoon or heat safe utensil: for cooking and sautéing.
- A ladle or large serving spoon: for serving.
- Soup bowls and spoons: for serving.
Have you tried our vegan Instant Pot white bean cacciatore recipe?
How to make it
This Instant Pot white bean soup is very simple to make! It does take some time due to the soaking time, but most of the time is hands off. (Full instructions are listed in the recipe card below)
- First, rinse and soak your beans for at least 6 hours or overnight. Rinse the beans again and set them aside.
- Saute the onions using the saute function until they are browned.
- Add the diced tomatoes, beans, vegetables, herbs, and broth.
- Pressure cook for 30 minutes.
- Manually release the pressure.
- Add the peas and remove the bay leaves.
- Season to your liking with salt and pepper and enjoy!
Ingredient substitutions
- The beans: If you can't find navy beans, you can use cannellini beans or great northern beans. (See section on cooking with white beans above)
- The vegetables: The peas can be omitted or you can use frozen corn or edamame. If you don't like celery, you can leave it out or substitute with leeks.
- The herbs: If you can't find bay leaf, feel free to leave it out. You could try tarragon rather than rosemary. You could try oregano or sage rather than thyme. Also, you can use dried herbs if you'd like. Try ½ tablespoon dried rosemary and ¾ teaspoon dried thyme.
- The tomatoes: Substitute 2 cups chopped fresh tomato for one can of diced tomatoes. Try to hold on to the tomato juices for you soup!
Have you tried our smoky vegan black eyed pea soup?
Prepping ahead, storing, and freezing
- Prepping ahead: The beans can be soaked overnight out on the counter, up to 24 hours. All of the veggies can be chopped ahead.
- Storing: Store any leftover soup in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezing: Freeze the soup in a tightly sealed freezer safe container for up to 6 months. Reheat on the stove top from frozen or defrost in the refrigerator before reheating.
FAQs
Yes. The vegetables will become too soft if you cook the beans from dried in the Instant Pot. But, you can try the quick soak method, which is listed in the "cooking with dried white beans" section of this article.
Yes. Use ½ tablespoon of rosemary and ¾ teaspoon of thyme.
Yes. Use 2 cups of freshly chopped tomatoes.
It's not recommended, as they will become soggy. But, it's all you have then go for it!
Yes. We recommend browning the onions and vegetables before adding to the crockpot for flavor. Cook on low until the beans are soft.
Recipe
Instant Pot white bean soup (vegan, vegetarian)
Equipment
- Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker and Warmer
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups dry navy beans
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juices
- 3 medium celery ribs, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 5 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 dried bay leaves
- ¾ tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 6 cups chickenless broth or vegetable broth
- 1 cup frozen peas
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Rinse the beans well and remove any debris. Place them in a large bowl and cover by 2" of water. Let soak for 6 hours or overnight. Rinse the beans and set aside. (See notes for quick soak options)
- Using the sauté function on the Instant Pot on normal, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until they start to brown.
- Add the diced tomatoes and loosen the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the carrot, celery, garlic, soaked beans, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, and broth.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and hit the cancel function to turn off sauté mode. Push the pressure cook function and set it to high pressure for 30 minutes. Toggle the release valve to sealing. When the timer goes off after the 30 minutes are up, carefully manually release the pressure by toggling the release valve to venting. Once the floating pin goes down, you can remove the lid.
- Remove the bay leaves and stir the peas into the soup. Taste and season to your liking with salt and pepper.
Notes
Nutrition
If you make this recipe, please let us know on social media or in the comments below! Leave a star rating in your comment or tag us on Instagram with #Rhubarbarians
LIKE WHAT YOU SEE? GET FREE WEEKLY RECIPES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX! SIGN UP HERE!
Margarita McAuliffe
Good, easy, healthy. Not scrumptious, but plain ol' good. I'll make it again. Thank you.
Vonnie
This is one of our favorite soups! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Jacque
Made this the other night and it was so flavorful and good! I used the quick soak method for the beans and then combined ingredients for cooking in the instant pot. I used low salt vegetable broth and really didn’t need to add any salt at the end for final seasoning. Only change I made was I accidentally cooked more navy beans than called for and added am extra cup to the recipe. Great, easy veggie soup that the kids went back for seconds on!