A hearty instant pot lentil soup with bacon and veggies. A pressure cooker lentil soup chock full of nutrition and tons of flavor. A must-have in your recipe book!
I’m all about the soups since it got colder and I love them all, this lentil soup though is special! It is incredibly flavorful! It gives you kisses from the inside of your belly!
A hug disguised in soup when you’re cold to the bones. Ha! Enough of the poetry, let’s get right into it, shall we?
Which Lentils To Use For Instant Pot Lentil Soup
Well, that all depends on what kind of Lentil Soup you want to make. A creamy one or a chunky one. For a creamy lentil soup, you’re going to want to use only red lentils.
For a chunky one like this soup, a mix is the best way to go. My favorite lentils are green lentils BY FAR! I mix them with red for this recipe and on top add some cannellini beans. The red lentils and the cannellini beans make the soup creamy and the green lentils keep their shape a bit better for that chunky texture.
Should I Soak Lentils if Cooked in the Instant Pot?
Short answer: Yes!
Long answer: it’s an everlasting debate and everybody has a different opinion * sigh *. The people in the “no-soak” camp say it’s not “necessary”. The beans cook through without soaking and taste exactly the same and you save one step in the process of preparing them.
It’s not about the cooking time OR the taste though in my opinion. It’s all about digestion. Unsoaked legumes (ANY legumes) are way harder to digest and the consequences are “windy”, lol.
I prefer to soak all my legumes because then I can enjoy eating laaarge amounts of lentil soup without feeling all bloated. Lentils are 100 times easier to digest when soaked for 12-18 hours.
Just make sure you rinse them well under running water once finished soaking.
Same applies to my super simple Lentils and Rice Recipe.
Can Instant Pot Lentil Soup be frozen?
YES!!! It’s perrrfect for freezing! You can make a double batch and freeze in either individual portions, or if you want it for one of those busy weekdays as family dinner I’ve got a trick for you.
Add the soup to a large freezer bag and into the instant pot’s stainless steel pot and pop in the freezer.
Once frozen (a couple hours), remove the freezer bag from the pot and put the pot back in your instant pot and the freezer bag back into the freezer.
You just froze your soup in the perfect share to add back in the instant pot on the day you want to make it.
Isn’t that brilliant?
You just run a little warm water over the bag so you can dump the round block of soup into your instant pot, set it to 5 minutes high pressure and it’s done!
Instant Pot Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 100 g sliced bacon
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 1 cup dried green lentils
- 1 cup dried red lentils
- 1 cup dried cannellini beans
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 Tbsp fresh thyme
- 1/2 tsp-Tbsp chili powder use according to your spice tolerance
- 4 cups chicken broth
- sea salt
- pepper
- parsley
Instructions
- Soak legumes in abundant water for about 12 hours or overnight.
- Press "sauté" to preheat the instant pot.
- Once hot, add sliced bacon and stir-fry until it starts crisping up.
- Add chopped onion and crushed garlic to the bacon and sauté until soft.
- Drain and rinse legumes and then add to instant pot.
- Add diced vegetables, thyme and chili powder and then pour chicken broth over everything. Make sure all legumes are just covered in the broth. Beans that remain uncovered, won't cook through.
- Put on the lid, turn the valve to sealing position and set for 25 minutes on high pressure.
- Let pressure release naturally and then try the soup to see if it needs salt and pepper. This will depend on how seasoned the broth was.
- Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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KatyLee says
I enjoyed this dish very much. It is difficult to find recipes that soak the beans first. This one was hearty and yummy! I was wondering how long to cook soaked green lentils alone in the instant pot. Do you have those times worked out?
Thanks again for sharing a good recipe!
Lorena Grater says
I’m so happy you enjoyed it :) Yes, green lentils alone take 5 minutes on high pressure + full natural pressure release.
Delia says
I made this last weekend and it was a hit. Delicious. Followed the recipe but Instead of bacon, I used christmas leftover hambone and I diced some left over ham. I sautéed everything first in a pan then cook it in my slow cooker. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Torrie Lopez says
Do i need to soak my beans if I am using canned??
Lorena says
No. Canned beans are already cooked so soaking wouldn’t make sense. The soaking is to break them down BEFORE cooking. I don’t know if my Lentil soup recipe works with canned lentils considering they are already cooked.
Wendy says
Delish, but next time I will 1/2 the recipe for my mini IP all the legumes did not fit, now I need to find a use for the extra soaked beans <3
Lorena says
Oh no. I’m sorry to hear that. I have two 6-quarts. All my recipes are tested in 6-quarts. It’s probably best to half all my instant pot recipes, just in case. I’m sorry for not specifying. You can always make the soup again and freeze :) It’s great for freezing.