This is the best Instant Pot Lentil Soup full of tender lentils and veggies that hold well under pressure producing so much flavour! With only 5 mins of prep, no sautéing, or pre-soaking, this is the easiest healthy soup perfect for busy weeknights!
The Ukrainian in me loves making complete meal soups for dinner like chicken and lentil soup and Instant Pot beef barley soup. They last for days, are cheap and kids love them!
Table of Contents
This Instant Pot lentil soup is a cross between my stovetop lentil spinach soup and slow cooker lentil soup. You couldn’t ask for an easier or healthier soup recipe that makes enough to feed your family soup for a week!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Delicious: No matter what benefits my recipes have, one thing they have in common is they always taste good!
- Healthy: Naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, plant based and made with simple, wholesome fresh ingredients.
- Leftovers: Especially if you’re making a monster batch in the 8 quart pot. I mean, lentil and spinach soup for breakfast anyone?
- Budget-friendly: No fussy ingredients. Most of it you’ll probably already have in your kitchen and if not, none of it will break the bank.
- Easy: There is no sautéing beforehand and no pre-soaking the beans. With just 5 minutes of prep the pressure cooker does the work. It really doesn’t get easier than this.
Looking for more bean soup ideas? Check out Instant Pot black bean soup, Instant Pot split pea soup, and Instant Pot minestrone.
Ingredients
- Lentils: Use french green lentils or brown lentils, whichever you have. Both will hold their shape under pressure and don’t become mushy. Make sure to rinse and drain them, however no pre soaking needed.
- Vegetables: Carrots, celery, spinach or kale, low sodium diced or crushed tomatoes. You can play around with the amount and type of vegetable you use, depending on your preferences.
- Aromatics: Onion, garlic cloves, bay leaves all work together to give this soup amazing flavour.
- Broth: You can use bouillon cubes and 10 cups of water or 10 cups of low sodium vegetable broth or stock.
I highly recommend to buy organic bouillon cubes available at many grocery stores – cheaper and more convenient than carton broth. You can also do half stock/half water to cut back on cost.
- Seasonings: Cumin, oregano, salt and pepper are all this recipe calls for in terms of herbs and spices. Simple seasoning that goes a long way.
Are Lentils Good for You?
Lentils are edible seeds from a legume family. So many reasons to incorporate lentils in your diet!
- Lentils are a nutrition powerhouse. They are a plant-based source of complex carbs, fiber and whopping 25% of protein.
- According to Healthline, 1 cup of cooked lentils provides 40 grams of carbs, 16 grams of fiber and 18 grams of protein.
- Fiber in lentils helps with regular bowel movements and good bacteria growth in your gut.
- Served with brown rice it is a complete protein which is great for vegetarians, not only for protein but for iron as well.
How to Cook Instant Pot Lentil Soup
Instant Pot Lentil Soup is easy and true dump and go meal because you don’t have to saute any veggies.
- Add veggies: To the Instant Pot or any other electric pressure cooker, add carrots, celery and onion.
- Add everything else: Then add green lentils, diced tomatoes, cumin, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper and bouillon cubes + water or veggie stock.
- Pressure cook on high pressure for 18 minutes: Close the lid, set pressure valve to Sealing and press Pressure Cook on High or Manual button.
Does yours say pressure cook or manual? Not all Instant Pots are made exactly the same. Depending on the model of your pot, your button might say “manual” or it might say “pressure cook.” Not to worry, they mean the exact same thing!
- Release the pressure: You can release the pressure by doing a natural release which takes just under an hour (this means leaving it alone and doing nothing with it until the pin drops). Or, you can do a quick release by turning the valve to venting and releasing the pressure in about 3-4 minutes.
Tip: Using the quick release method is much faster (obviously) but there will be a lot of splatters and possibly smell. Sometimes, what I like to do is take it outside and release it there.
- Greens: Remove the lids and now is the time to add spinach or kale.
- Fresh garlic: Nothing brightens up a soup like fresh garlic, says Ukrainian me. There is a huge difference between cooked and fresh garlic flavour. HUGE! You have to trust me on this one because I’m the Ukrainian of all Ukrainians.
- Parmesan cheese: Stir and serve soup hot garnished with Parmesan cheese. If you are strict vegan, you’ll probably skip Parmesan, unless you find vegetarian parmesan.
Grab a spoon, slip on some cozy sweats and enjoy all those warm layers of healthy, delicious flavours!
Money-saving: If you see an organic box of baby spinach on sale – buy it and freeze it for later. Then use it to make things like green smoothies or spinach dip
Optional Add In’s and Variations
- Red lentils: Reduce cooking time down to 12 minutes. Simple red lentil soup comes out mushier and thicker like split pea soup because red lentils do not hold their texture as well as green or brown lentils. I love it too!
- Diced ham or sausage: Just add it along with other ingredients. No changes to the pressure cooker lentil soup recipe.
- Fresh or frozen chicken: Throw a few pieces in to make Instant Pot version of chicken lentil soup. No changes to the recipe.
- Spice it up: There is a lot of flavour these little lentils but they’re also humble enough to take on so much outside flavour. If you like a little heat with yours, toss in some red pepper flakes or just serve with a drizzle of hot sauce at the end.
- Fire roasted diced tomatoes: If you can find them, fire roasted tomatoes would add a great ‘smoky’ taste to this lentil and spinach soup.
- Chicken broth: If you’re not concerned about keeping this a vegetarian soup and you’d rather use chicken broth or Instant Pot chicken broth, do that instead. It will add a delicious yet slightly different flavour.
I told you this Instant Pot lentil and spinach soup recipe is amazing!
Tips for Best Results
- Low sodium cans: Add less salt if using not low sodium tomatoes and stock.
- 3 quart Instant Pot: Cut 6 quart ingredients measurement in half. Keep the same cooking time. Your pot always should be no more than 2/3 full when making soup in a pressure cooker (read more).
- Pot not more than 2/3 full: If your inner pot doesn’t have 2/3 full marking, it is very important to fill the pot only 2/3 full when pressure cooking. Ignore the cups, L and near the edge Max markers.
- Stovetop: If you’re looking for a stovetop recipe for lentil soup, here is a delicious lentil spinach soup for you!
- Steam diverter: I love my ‘Henry’ steam diverter! It not only helps keep your kitchen counters clean during steam release it can prevent steam from damaging kitchen cabinets.
How to Make a Freezer Meal
- Instant Pot: Add all ingredients in the order listed in the recipe minus the water, spinach, and garlic. Freeze uncooked in a gallon size Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. Cook from frozen with 10 cups of water/broth if using a 6 quart Instant Pot or 14 cups if using an 8 quart. The instructions for cooking from frozen are to cook for 20 minutes with a Quick Release at the end.
- Slow cooker: Add all ingredients in the order listed in the recipe minus water, spinach and garlic and freeze uncooked in a gallon size Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. Cook from frozen with 10 cups of water/broth on Low for 10 hours or on High for 5 hours.
- After cooking: Add the spinach and garlic. Stir and serve hot garnished with Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley, if desired.
Check out my full list of 20 healthy freezer meals. I’m obsessed with meal prep and batch cooking. Especially during hockey season!
FAQs
Because I truly believe that food cooked under pressure is more flavourful than the same ingredients cooked on the stove top. If I have to do the same amount of work, what is the point of a $100 appliance?
So, don’t bother to saute veggies in olive oil for this green lentil soup. Your soup will come out super delicious my way!
When the lentil soup is ready, it needs time to release the pressure before you can open it. Once it is safe to do so, the dropped down float valve (the little pin) will drop.
You can let it do it on its own which will take less than an hour by doing a Natural Release or you can do a Quick Release by turning the pressure valve to the Venting position, which takes 3-4 minutes.
I recommend doing so outside to avoid the mess and smell.
Chopped fresh parsley or a squeeze of lemon would be delicious. Add with garlic at the very end.
If you skip the parmesan on top this soup is meat free and vegan friendly! You could alternately top with a vegan parmesan or sprinkle of nutritional yeast.
If you would like to make this soup even thicker than it is, you could make a cornstarch slurry (just cornstarch and cold water) or add some cooked Instant Pot brown rice or quinoa to give it more bulk. Alternately, you could use an immersion blender and blend some of the soup.
Serving Recommendations
This soup is loaded with good stuff, including protein! Even without any extra meat! Really, it’s a complete meal on its own, but there are days when I like to use it as a starter or have a little something extra on the side.
- Serving it with a side of crusty bread for sopping up that liquid is a given. A good French or Italian loaf is where it’s at!
- As a starter to something easy like air fryer chicken wings or chicken lettuce wraps.
- On its own: Grab a handful of parmesan cheese, maybe some fresh parsley, or a drizzle of hot sauce and maybe a glass of wine and you’re all set!
How to Store
Storing: Keep leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days and enjoy a bowl or 2 every day of the week!
Freezing: Lentils freeze beautifully and there are no tender vegetables in this lentil soup either, which means nothing will turn to mush. Well, except the spinach, but we already froze, thawed and cooked it, so its vibrant color is gone anyway. Freeze cooled down soup leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Defrosting: Thaw on a counter overnight before reheating. For quick thawing, place frozen soup into a pot and simmer on low covered, stirring occasionally. It takes a bit of extra time but “crap, forgot to take it out of the freezer” happens to the best of us!
More Instant Pot Soup Recipes
- Instant Pot chicken and rice soup
- Instant Pot ham and bean soup
- Instant Pot 15 bean soup
- Instant Pot vegetable soup
- Instant Pot chicken tortilla soup
- Instant Pot butternut squash soup
- Instant Pot potato soup
Looking for more easy soup ideas? Check out my most popular collection of 45 healthy Instant Pot recipes.
Instant Pot Lentil Soup Recipe
Ingredients
6 Quart Instant Pot
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 large carrots chopped
- 2 small celery chopped
- 2 cups green or brown lentils rinsed & drained (uncooked)
- 28 oz can diced or crushed tomatoes low sodium
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 bouillon cubes + 10 cups water or 10 cups veggie stock low sodium
- 11 oz box of spinach or kale
- 1 large garlic clove grated
- Parmesan cheese for serving
8 Quart Instant Pot
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 large carrots chopped
- 2 small celery chopped
- 3 cups green lentils rinsed & drained
- 28 oz can diced or crushed tomatoes low sodium
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 bouillon cubes + 14 cups water or 14 cups veggie stock low sodium
- 11 oz box of spinach
- 1 large garlic clove grated
- Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- In Instant Pot, add onion, carrot and celery.
- Add lentils, tomatoes, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, bay leaves and bouillon cubes. Add bouillon cubes and water enough to fill up to 2/3 full line or approximately 10 cups.***
- Close the lid, set pressure vent to Sealing and press Pressure Cook on High pressure for 18 minutes. Display will say ON, Instant Pot will take about 30 minutes to come to pressure, you will see a bit of steam coming out from a valve, then float valve will rise and countdown from 18 minutes will begin.
- Lentil soup is ready but your Instant Pot needs to bring pressure down before you can open it, which will be indicated by a dropped down float valve. You can let it do it on its own which will take less than an hour – Natural Release. OR you can do Quick Release by turning pressure valve to Venting position, which takes 3-4 minutes. I recommend doing so outside to avoid the mess and smell.
- Open the lid, add spinach and stir. Grate fresh garlic over soup and stir.
- Serve hot garnished with Parmesan cheese.
Video
Notes
- Make ahead: Refrigerate chopped veggies with spices in an airtight container for up to 3 days and mix with the rest when ready to cook.
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container or inner Instant Pot pot with a fitting glass lid for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: Freeze cooled down soup in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Instant Pot: Add all ingredients in the order listed in the recipe minus water, spinach and garlic and freeze uncooked in a gallon size Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. Cook from frozen with 10 (6 quart Instant Pot) or 14 cups (8 quart Instant Pot) of water/broth for 20 minutes, after do Quick Release.
- Slow cooker: Add all ingredients in the order listed in the recipe minus water, spinach and garlic and freeze uncooked in a gallon size Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. Cook from frozen with water/broth on Low for 10 hours or on High for 5 hours.
- After cooking: Add spinach and garlic. Stir and serve hot garnished with Parmesan cheese.
I browned the onion and carrot and celery first since I like the flavor that gives. Soup overall was easy and it was good but missing something. I didn’t want to add more salt so I added a bit of lemon juice when I served it. That elevated this soup to next level. Thanks for the recipe!
You are very welcome!
My husband purchased what he thought was a 6 qt Duo Mini Instant Pot about a year ago. He made his own soup and other recipes from time to time. I kept my distance as I was afraid of the unit.
Anyhow, I came across your Youtube channel this past week and began to scroll through many, many of your delicious looking recipes. I also viewed several times ‘how to use and also how to choose’ your Instant Pot. To my surprise I discovered that my husband’s Instant Pot was not a 6 qt but a 3 quart! So I found a 6 qt Lux at Walmart (London, Ontario Canada) for $78.88 so I scooped it up. Now we have two Instant Pots.
Today I made your Instant Pot Lentil Soup and it was amazing. When I told my husband what I was making, he said OK, will try it, but added that he does not like lentils. Well he loved it too, said it was delicious.
I love your recipes, I love your delightful personality and I love listening to your accent. My mother was Polish, so just listening to you talk about your heritage warms my heart.
Keep up the good work….I’ll be staying around looking for more. It’s just me and my husband as my children are all grown up, however we like to cook healthy REAL food.
Awe, you are so welcome! So happy to hear you are enjoying my recipes! And thank you for your kind words. I love my Instant Pot and sharing about it because I think it truly helps people to eat healthy!!!
Hello
Just got the 3 quart duo nova.. how would you adjust the recipe?
Thanks
Hello. Cut 6 quart ingredients in half and keep same cooking time.
I’m making this right now! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!! Thanks for posting this!
Welcome. Please come back and let me know.:)
Me and my family LOVE lentil soup! This recipe is awesome. We try and get all of our veggies from our local farmers market. This soup is so wholesome and filling . I always feel so good after I eat it. We try to make it at least a few times a month. The fresh garlic at the end is what makes this lentil soup so good! Thankyou!
You are so welcome, Carrie! Happy to hear you do local produce and eat wholesome foods as much as you can. Yay for you!
I use my mom’s old (1960’s, made in Canada) Presto 6qt. pressure cooker. Did you know that the Instant Pot was invented by a guy from Kanata (Ottawa) Ontario? “https://ottawacitizen.com/business/local-business/the-ottawa-inventor-behind-instant-pot-is-coming-for-the-rest-of-your-kitchen”
But I am a cheapskate because the old Presto is what I already have. I followed your recipe but I still cook my onions with the garlic until they become translucent because it seems to bring the garlic out a bit more and used shredded red cabbage because it was time to use it or toss it. also used a pinch (~1 tsp.) of crushed dried red peppers and used a bit of Maggi instead of any additional salt or the second bouillion cube. Still tasted delicious and reminds me of my German mom cooking for her 10 kids. Try Maggi next time, it really is a wonder spice just cut the salt.
I knew Instant Pot is Canadian. Wang didn’t invent electric pressure cooker but came up with a smart name for his brand.
Using old pressure cooker you are comfortable with is great!
I would not be using Maggi because I like healthy ingredients of my organic bouillon cubes better.:) Glad you enjoyed your version of my soup and made your own.
I don’t even care for lentils and I thought this soup was absolutely delicious!!!! My family loved it too!
Haha that’s me! I don’t care for lentils but will eat them once cooked yummy.
Love love love your videos – and will try this soup this week! In fact I googled Instant Pot lentil soup and landed here – where I was anyway earlier today!
Just one little thing – it would be lovely if the music wasn’t playing while you were talking. Just distracting (for some brains that automatically go to the music!) and it’s your words that are the gems. It’s like if you went to a lecture, music wouldn’t be playing while the famous lecturer was speaking, right? That’s you – Ms. Famous Instant Pot Lecturer. Demo-er. 🙂
Yay, perfect! Please let me know how you like it with the star review haha. I will pass on your wishes to the videographer and editor.:) We might lower the volume, can’t get rid of it completely but will definitely pay attention to the volume next time.:) Hope you like the soup, Beth.:)
Just made, it was excellent. Grew up with lentil soup as a regular part of the rotation but haven’t had it in years. Was looking for something that looked familiar to what I remember my mother doing. This one though may have been better since we never added the cumin, spinach and garlic. Very tasty. Made 1/2 batch to try but will be doing full batch from now on.
That is so amazing to hear! Glad you enjoyed my recipe! Means a lot coming from someone who ate it as a staple.
I love this video. Ukrainians truly love EVERYTHING garlic. My Ukrainian Baba used to rub it on my toast! Can’t wait to try this soup!
YES, we do! We rub it on toasts lol. My fave from childhood was fresh dark rye bread rubbed with garlic, spread with baba’s sour cream and sprinkled with salt. How can I enjoy McDonald’s after being raised on baba’s real food?! Haha. That is real yummy food!
Wow an explosion of flavor!!! This soup recipe is really perfect !!! Thank you very much!!;-)
You are very welcome!