This homemade instant pot vegetable beef soup recipe features fall-apart tender pieces of beef and tasty vegetables in a rich flavorful broth. It promises to keep you warm this season.
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I finally bought an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot) last Amazon Prime Day. Yes, I know, I’m behind on the trend. Call me old fashioned, but I find comfort cooking with my pots and pans on the stove!
Admittedly, there is a little intimidation (and perhaps fear) attached to a device that could steam your face off or blow-up under pressure. Reading the ENTIRE manual and paying attention to what you are doing is a must when operating one of these things.
I don’t profess to be an instant pot or electric pressure cooker wizard like other bloggers, but I was pleasantly surprised with my first result. After a few tweaks, I was happy with this delicious vegetable beef soup.
Learning How to Use My Instant Pot
The first dish I made with my instant pot was a pot roast.
I didn’t know that electric pressure cookers, like slow cookers, make liquid. I put my chuck roast and vegetables in the Instant Pot and used the pre-programmed soup button. I had to do it twice since the meat wasn’t tender. By that time, the vegetables were mush and I had enough accumulated liquid to qualify the meal as a soup. But, it was pretty darn good!
After a bit of tinkering and using my knowledge of slow cookers, I achieved a pretty amazing vegetable beef soup recipe. Not too bad for an Instant Pot newbie.
What I found is that like slow cookers, electric pressure cookers make liquid, which weakens flavor. Recipes need to be engineered to be suitable for cooking in pressure cookers. Reducing the amount of liquid in a recipe is a must to achieve full flavor. Here’s why…
Slow cooking a stew or soup on the stove or in the oven concentrates flavor as liquid boils-off as steam. There is much less evaporation in a slow cooker or pressure cooker. Building and adding concentrated flavor is a must for that WOW factor.
How to get the best flavor in your pressure cooker (Instant Pot)
Brown your meat in the cooking pot when you can. Doing so adds visual appeal to the meat but also leaves caramelized bits (fond) in the pot. These bits provide the base flavor on which to build.
Use less liquid but make it count. Subbingna great low sodium chicken, beef, or vegetable stock for recipes that call for water is a great way to introduce more flavor. I bump the flavor even more with the addition of beef or chicken base. Yes, there is sodium and sugar in the concentrated base, but the extra flavor is absolutely worth it!
Acidic ingredients help break down the protein in meats and brighten flavor: wine, vinegar, or lemon juice are the three common acids used in American cooking.
If using a lot of dried herbs, be careful that they don’t blog the steam vent. Tie dried herbs in a sachet or add them at the end of cooking. I also top my food with chopped fresh herbs before serving for a pop of intense fresh herb flavor.
Potato Substitute for Soups and Stews
I’m often asked what I can use as a potato substitute for soup? There are many great substitutes for potatoes in soup; turnips, rutabaga, radish, jicama and celery root come to mind. Of these, my favorite is celery root because it has a celery/parsnip flavor.
Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup - Instant Pot (Low Carb)
Ingredients
Brown:
- 1 1/2 pounds beef chuck, trimmed and cut into cubes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Add To The Pot:
- 6 oz turnip, peeled - large dice (smallish turnip)
- 5 oz celery, sliced (about 1 1/3 cups)
- 4 oz carrots, rolled (1/2 a large carrot)
- 4 oz string beans, cut
- 3 oz onions, diced (about 3/4 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 32 oz low sodium beef broth
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp beef base (I use Better Than Bouillon)
- 2 tsp gelatin powder (optional - adds body)
- 1 tbsp porcini mushroom powder (optional - adds so much umami flavor)
- 2 whole bay leaves
- 2 whole cloves
Add After Cooking:
- 4 tbsp butter (added after cooking)
- 1 tsp dried thyme, rubbed
- 1/2 tsp dried marjoram, rubbed
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preparation:
- Trim the beef chuck of fat and silverskin (tough sinewy membrane) and cut into 1/2 - 3/4 inch cubes. Peel and cut vegetables. Gather remaining ingredients.
Method:
- Turn on the saute function of your electric pressure cooker and brown the beef in batches. Add all the beef back to the pot and turn off the saute function. (Alternately, brown the beef in a pan on the stove in batches. Add the meat to the pressure cooker pot. Use a little beef broth to scrape up the browned bits in the pan and add this to the pot.)
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot (except those added after cooking) and stir together. Secure the lid to the pressure cooker and press the "Soup" button. Let the pressure cooker do its thing.
- When cooking is finished, carefully release the pressure manually. When all of the pressure is released, remove the lid. Stir in the thyme and marjoram. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the butter and serve.
- Makes 10 cups. Serves 6 with 1 1/2 cups per serving, at 7.5 net carbs each serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Classic Low Carb Pot Roast with Vegetables and Gravy
Kim, I wanted to tell you that I served this to my family last night, I’m the only one doing Keto. No one knew the difference. Lol. The soup had a nice, rich flavor and was easy to do in the IP. No complaints.
Is there a way to change this for a crockpot??
Sure, Krysten. Just brown the meat and put everything in the crock pot. Cook on low for 2-4 hours or until the meat is tender. -Kim
I made this stew last night leaving out the carrots. It was so darn tasty! Love it
As soon as I saw this soup on FB, I knew I had to make it! I love my Instant Pot but had not made a soup, perhaps thinking all the veggies would be mush and the meat would not be cooked enough. This soup came out perfectly! The veggies are cut thicker which probably accounted for them remaining solid. The flavor is so delicious, my husband kept commenting on how amazing he thought it was. I will be making this often during the colder months. Thank you, Kim, for stepping out of your comfort zone into the world of IP! We are all better for it.
Mary, I’m so glad you and your husband liked this recipe. I appreciate the time you took to bring this kind comment from Facebook to the blog. You are amazing. Have a great day. -Kim
This has to be fantastic….love everything you have put in it. I highly recommend you also add some cabbage….it lends a sweetness that is really nice and so surprising for a super low carb veg. Who woulda thunk it. But I love cabbage in a beef veg soup. Completely agree with you on the celery root….great sub for potato, especially in a stew where you want something chunky.
Thanks for another great recipe Kim, just in time for the crisper evenings we are now having. The Beef Stew looks pretty awesome too! That ought to be a great candidate for a pressure cooker. Will take your tips on amping up the flavor concentration for that one as well.
Thanks, Deborah! Great tip about the cabbage! I have a chicken minestrone soup that calls for cabbage and I agree that it adds a nice sweetness. Yum. For the Stew, I would reduce (simmer) the cooking liquid by half before adding it to the IP with the rest of the ingredients. It’s a thinner “gravy”, so some people puree half of the vegetables. I don’t think that all stews of the world are super thick like what we think of as stew, but that they at least have a rich broth like this one does. Thanks for taking the time to leave such a nice comment. Have a wonderful day. -Kim