This delicious and healthy 15-Bean Instant Pot soup is filled with vegetables, tomatoes, spices and creamy coconut. It's vegetarian and vegan-friendly and can be made using a store-bought 15-bean blend or using legumes and grains you have at home.
In This Post:
- ℹ️ Recipe Overview
- 🛒 Ingredients
- 📷 How To Make It
- 👩🍳Recipes Tips
- 💡Variations
- 🥦 What To Serve With
- 🫙Storage Tips
- 📝 Full Recipe
- ⭐️ Comment On & Rate This Recipe
Instant Pot 15-Bean Soup
Guys, we are in love with this vegetarian 15-bean soup!!! It's flavor-packed with garlic, ginger, spices like paprika and mild curry, loaded with vegetables, and tomatoes and finished with creamy coconut.
You can use a store-bought blend of legumes, such as the 15-bean soup mix, or you can pull together beans, lentils and split peas you might have at home. This can be particularly useful when you have small amounts of leftovers of legumes in the pantry that you don't know what to do with.
All legumes are uncooked and unsoaked and using the Instant Pot pressure cooker allows you to cook this soup much quicker than on the stove. Plus, it's pretty hands-free once everything is in the pot.
This 15-bean soup is vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free friendly.
What's In A 15-Bean Soup?
The most popular 15-bean soup blend produced by Hurst.Co (aka Ham & Beans) consists of: northern beans, pinto beans, lime beans, yelloweye beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), baby lima beans, green split peas, yellow split peas, lentils, kidney beans, cranberry beans, small white beans, pink beans, small red beans, navy beans, white kidney beans and black beans.
There are many other varieties of soup blends with more or fewer legumes, different varieties, or featuring grains like barley or brown rice as well.
👉 If you want more vegetarian legume recipes, try our Instant Pot mushroom and bean chili, veggie-loaded Instant Pot lentil stew, or delicious and simple Instant Pot refried beans.
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need to make Instant Pot 15-bean soup:
- Beans: You can use store-bought 15-bean soup mix which has a variety of small and large beans, lentils, garbanzo beans and split peas. Or, you can make up your own mix with legumes you have at home. Make sure that you're using at least 1 variety of lentils or split peas as these smaller legumes dissolve into the broth during cooking, giving it a thick, starchy texture.
- Vegetables: Onions, carrots, celery, diced potato, zucchini, and canned diced tomatoes. The potato adds a little starchy texture to the soup as well.
- Liquid: You can use ready-made vegetable stock or water with vegetable stock cubes, which is what we used in this recipe.
- Flavors for cooking: salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, paprika, turmeric, mild curry powder, soy sauce (or Tamari).
- After cooking: Coconut milk (the thickened cream part) is added to the soup after cooking. Fresh cilantro will complete and round up the flavor with a little herby freshness.
How to Make 15-Bean Soup In The Instant Pot
You will find the full recipe with ingredients and nutritional breakdown in the recipe card below. Here are step-by-step photos to guide you along.
- Step 1. Prepare all the ingredients you need for the cooking stage recipe. No need to soak the beans ahead of time.
- Step 2. Set the Instant Pot to Saute on Normal mode. Add a splash of olive oil, chopped onions, celery and carrots, season with salt and cook for 3-4 minutes to soften and caramelize slightly.
- Step 3. Add garlic, ginger, paprika, turmeric, curry and pepper. Stir through briefly to release their aromas.
- Step 4. Add the bean mix, diced potatoes, and stock cubes (if using water rather than ready-made stock). Follow with a can of diced tomatoes and all the juices and water (or stock). Stir through well.
- Step 5. Secure and lock the lid. Set the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook/Manual setting on HIGH for 30 minutes with natural pressure release at the end. If the mixture has lots of larger beans, set to 35 minutes.
Finishing The Soup
- Step 6. While the soup is cooking, saute diced zucchini in a splash of olive oil for 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Set aside. The reason we're not adding zucchini to cook in the soup is that it would soften too much and disintegrate, and we wanted to add some green color and a little crunch the finished soup.
- Step 7. Once the pressure is released, open the lid and stir the soup. Add the sauteed zucchini, and coconut cream (the thickened part of coconut milk) and stir. Taste for salt. Finish with fresh cilantro leaves and you're ready to serve.
Recipe Tips
- If using homemade bean mix, make sure it has some lentils or split peas in the mix as they are needed to get the right texture of the soup (which is a bit like thin Indian dal).
- The soup has a little heat from spices but it's quite mild. The flavor is more 'spiced' than 'spicy'. Don't skimp on those spices, they really make this soup what it is! The only one that can potentially be removed is turmeric.
- You can add a variety of vegetables to this soup. Mushrooms and hardy veggies like sweet potatoes, bell peppers, kale and pumpkin can be added during the cooking stage. Green vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, and baby spinach should be added after cooking so they retain some color and crunch. Frozen peas and corn can also be added to the soup.
Serving Suggestions
- Buttered sourdough, dinner rolls or garlic bread are the best accompaniments to this 15-bean soup.
- Fluffy biscuits are another excellent choice for a comforting addition to the meal.
Storage Tips
Consider dividing leftovers into smaller portions. This makes it easier to store and reheat only what you need, reducing the risk of food waste.
- To store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- To freeze: Portion and freeze for up to 3-6 months.
- To reheat: Once thawed out, gently warm on the stovetop or in the microwave, adding a splash of water if needed.
Full Recipe
Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and a nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let us know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.
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15-Bean Soup (Instant Pot, Vegetarian)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion medium, diced (1 cup)
- 1 celery rib large, diced ( 1 cup)
- 1 carrot medium, diced (1 cup)
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- 3 cloves garlic finely diced
- 1 tablespoon ginger small knob, diced
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika powder
- 3 teaspoon curry mild spice powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1.5 cups 15-blend soup mix
- 1 potato medium, diced (about 1 cup)
- 14 oz diced tomatoes 1 can
- 6 cups vegetable stock or 6 cups water + 2 vegetable stock cubes
After Cooking
- 1 zucchini medium, diced (1 cup)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 14 oz coconut milk 1 can (use the thickened cream part only)
- ½ cup cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Prepare all the ingredients you need for the cooking stage recipe. No need to soak the beans ahead of time.
- Set the Instant Pot to Saute on Normal mode. Add a splash of olive oil, chopped onions, celery and carrots, season with salt and cook for 3-4 minutes to soften and caramelize slightly.
- Add garlic, ginger, paprika, turmeric, curry and pepper. Stir through briefly to release their aromas.
- Add the bean mix, diced potatoes, and stock cubes (if using water rather than ready-made stock). Follow with a can of diced tomatoes and all the juices and water (or stock). Stir through well.
- Secure and lock the lid. Set the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook/Manual setting on HIGH for 30 minutes with natural pressure release at the end. If the mixture has lots of larger beans, set it to 35 minutes.
- While the soup is cooking, saute diced zucchini in a splash of olive oil for 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Set aside. The reason we're not adding zucchini to cook in the soup is that it would soften too much and disintegrate, and we wanted to add some green color and a little crunch to the finished soup.
- Once the pressure is released, open the lid and stir the soup. Add the sauteed zucchini, and coconut cream (the thickened part of coconut milk) and stir. Taste for salt. Finish with fresh cilantro leaves and you're ready to serve.
Notes
- If using homemade bean mix, make sure it has some lentils or split peas in the mix as they are needed to get the right texture of the soup (which is a bit like thin Indian dal).
- The soup has a little heat from spices but it's quite mild. The flavor is more 'spiced' than 'spicy'. Don't skimp on those spices, they really make this soup what it is! The only one that can potentially be removed is turmeric.
- You can add a variety of vegetables to this soup. Mushrooms and hardy veggies like sweet potatoes, bell peppers, kale and pumpkin can be added during the cooking stage. Green vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, and baby spinach should be added after cooking so they retain some color and crunch. Frozen peas and corn can also be added to the soup.
- Store for up to 5 days in the fridge and up to 3-4 months in the freezer.
Carla Flaim
Good stuff! Thanks for such a tasty recipe.
Elisa
Love this 15-Bean Soup recipe, looks so easy to make and is delicious!! definitely will make it soon for this weather! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Kathleen
You have really taken a 15 bean soup to the next level with all these vegetables and flavor. This hearty and comforting soup is going on my weekly meal plan right now.
Ashley
This is a delicious soup just in time for the chilly weather (aka soup season!)
Bobby
This soup is delicious! I served it with garlic bread and loved dipping it throughout. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Chelsea
This was incredibly satisfying and comforting! So easy to make and it will be on repeat in my kitchen all fall/winter long.