Healthy Vegetarian Instant Pot Potato Soup (no heavy cream)

This instant pot potato soup is incredibly rich and creamy and consists of only 6 ingredients. It's a healthy, vegetarian (even vegan) soup made without heavy cream and without cream cheese. The best part is that it's ready in 20 minutes!

It always amazes me how easily you can create indulgent, thick soups even when there's no cream and no butter involved. Soups are such an amazing way to fuel up on veggies while not being overly filling.

For more vegetarian soup recipes that don't include heavy cream check out Quick Tomato Soup, Healthy Mushroom Soup (without cream), Vegan Creamy Ramen or Curried Vegan Pumpkin Lentil Soup.

Ingredients & Substitution Notes

• Onion: I prefer using white onion but red onion or shallots would work as well.
• Garlic: Could be replaced with garlic powder.
• Leek: Adds some amazing additional fresh taste. Could be replaced with green onion but the taste won't be the same.
• Potatoes: We used Yukon golds in this recipe but any other type such as russet potatoes or red potatoes would work just as well.
• Vegetable Broth: Store-bought as well as homemade vegetable broth both do the job. Make sure to adjust the amount of salt when using store-bought veggie stock. If you don't need this recipe to be vegetarian you could replace it with chicken broth.
• Crispy Mushroom "Bacon" (optional topping): This vegan potato soup uses crispy baked mushrooms instead of traditional bacon as a topping. Could easily be omitted but I would give it a try! 🙂 

Step by Step Instructions

Because we use an instant pot for preparing this healthy potato soup is only takes about 20 minutes. You could just as well use a crock pot or a regular pressure cooker instead. 

Step 0 (optional): Prepare mushroom "bacon"

If you would like to add some crispy mushrooms as a topping (highly recommended!) then start by preparing your mushrooms first.

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). In a medium bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the soy-maple sauce. Then add cleaned and sliced mushrooms and let them soak for about 10 minutes. Drain any access liquid and spread them evenly onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Step 1: Saute onion, garlic & leek

Put your instant pot on saute mode and add diced onion, garlic and leek. Cook until onion is translucent and tender. The pressure cooker will quickly become quite hot- make sure not to brown the onion by constantly stirring and having the potato cubes and vegetable stock ready.

Step 2: Pressure cook for 10 minutes

Add the diced potatoes, veggie broth, salt and pepper and close the lid (make sure the pressure release handle is set to "sealing" position).

Set the instant pot on high and pressure cook for 10 minutes. Potatoes will be fork tender by then and soup thickened. It will take a couple of minutes for the instant pot to start so don't worry, just let it do it's thing :-).

Step 3: Quick release and blend

Do a quick release to release the steam. Move the release handle into "venting position". I usually use a knife or similar (see photo below) so that I don't need to touch the handle with my fingers and risk burning from the hot steam.

With an immersion blender, blend about ½ of the mass so you'll end up with a velvety smooth soup that still includes some potato chunks. Alternatively, you could transfer ½ of the soup to a (high speed) blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Then stir the pureed soup back into the pot.

Topping Ideas

As with almost any simple soup recipe, it's the toppings that can make a huge difference and create an even more delicious soup.

• Bacon: While more traditional recipes call for regular bacon as a topping, we created our own vegetarian version made of mushrooms. You could of course use any bacon of choice though such as store-bought vegan bacon or any other.
• Roasted Lentils: Try our Crispy Roasted Lentils as a topping.
• Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream: Add a dollop of yogurt for some extra zingy taste and creamy texture.
• Shredded Cheese: Adds some cheesy flavours and goes extremely well with potato soup. Our favourite are sharp cheddar and parmesan but any other (strong flavoured) cheese of choice would work here. Opt for vegan cheese to keep this recipe vegan.
• Leek: We used some of the raw leek as a topping. Could be replaced with green onions.
• Fresh Herbs: Such as fresh thyme or chives make an amazing topping!
• Croutons: Homemade or store-bought would both taste great. They add some crunch and amazing texture to this soup.

Side Dish Suggestions

While this soup can be enjoyed on its own as a starter or light meal you could also serve this instant pot potato soup along some side dish to feed even the hungriest crowd. Below you'll find some suggestions:

• Bread: Any bread would work great but I highly recommend trying toasted sourdough bread, (homemade) cornbread or (homemade) garlic naan as a side dish.
• Sandwiches: Serve this soup alongside some homemade sandwiches to make it a satisfying meal. Our favourite picks would be grilled cheese sandwiches, grilled tomato and mozzarella sanwiches or this Green Goddess Sandwich.
• Salad: Could either be enjoyed as a side dish or as a starter. Any type of salad works great such as this Roasted Asparagus Green Salad.

Storage & Freezing

Store cooled soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Gently reheat in a big soup pot or dutch oven on low-medium heat or reheat in the microwave (in a microwave-safe bowl).

Freeze in an airtight container or ziplock bag for up to 3 months. Let thaw in the fridge or on the countertop before reheating.

FAQs

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