Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

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Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby vegman » Fri May 21, 2021 3:18 pm

I make a lot of soup in an Instant Pot using frozen vegetables, sometimes combined with fresh vegetables; legumes soaked overnight; boxed or canned tomatoes and water.

Just putting everything into the pot, putting the lid on, and setting the timer doesn't work well because it takes a long time for the temperature to get high enough, the automatic valve engagement often doesn't work, and the food at the bottom tends to char. Also, beans such as chickpeas sometimes take a long time to get tender, possibly due to the acid from the tomatoes.

I recently found a better way:

- Cook the soaked, rinsed legumes alone, with water, in the instant pot. The valve engages with no problem.

- Concurrently, microwave all the vegetables in a glass Pyrex casserole dish with a lid.

- After the legumes are thoroughly cooked (20-30 minutes for soaked chickpeas) and the vegetables are hot, release the pressure from the IP, possibly after letting it sit for a few minutes while off, to reduce foaming.

- Take the lid off, add the vegetables and boxed tomatoes, stir, put the lid back on, cook for another 20 or 30 minutes. Again the valve easily engages, and there is no burning at the bottom.

- Perfect soup.

Usual proportions:

- 1 cup legumes such as chickpeas, green lentils or navy beans, soaked overnight in plenty of water, rinsed
- 3.5 cups water
- about 2 lb frozen vegetables, such as .5 lb each kale, cauliflower and carrots, plus a 10 oz. bag of onions.
- optionally, chopped celery and/or a peeled diced sweet potato
- 1 box POMI tomatoes
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby Daydream » Sat May 22, 2021 7:16 am

Vegman, thanks for sharing!

Every Saturday I cook some type of dried legume in the Instant Pot that was previously soaked overnight. I also cook a separate pot of brown rice or some type of whole grain in the Instant Pot.

I want to experiment making soup in the Instant Pot using frozen vegetables and I could add in the previously cooked legume after. How long do you usually cook your soup with frozen veggies in the Instant Pot (minus legumes)?
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby vegman » Sat May 22, 2021 7:53 am

Daydream wrote:Vegman, thanks for sharing!

Every Saturday I cook some type of dried legume in the Instant Pot that was previously soaked overnight. I also cook a separate pot of brown rice or some type of whole grain in the Instant Pot.

I want to experiment making soup in the Instant Pot using frozen vegetables and I could add in the previously cooked legume after. How long do you usually cook your soup with frozen veggies in the Instant Pot (minus legumes)?


Cooking frozen vegetables by themselves in the Instant Pot results in the same problems I mentioned. After taking a long time to heat up, the mechanism that locks the pressure valve and sets the temperature to a more moderate level may not engage, causing burning on the bottom. My workaround prior to use of the microwave method was to keep the lid off and check periodically to see whether boiling point was reached, then put the lid on, holding down the pressure valve with the end of a kitchen implement so the lid will go on.

Either this way, or first heating the vegetables by microwave, half an hour after the cooker comes up to pressure should be sufficient to get tough vegetables like kale softened. Less time may be OK. I don't pay much attention to trying to minimize IP cooking times, and I prefer well-cooked food.
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby Vegankit » Sat May 22, 2021 9:38 pm

I’ve never had that problem. I’ve never had the valve not seal. I do clean the valve after cooking and I’m careful not to exceed the volume limit.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=51895&p=531356&hilit=Greek+soup#p531356

I use this recipe as a general soup recipe...... I partially cook my beans without presoaking. After they partially cook I let it naturally lower the pressure so I can add my veggies. Then I seal and finish cooking the beans with veggies. Heartier frozen veggies such as green beans, onions and pepper mixes work well here. After the pressure drops I add spices and any delicate veggies that don’t need long to cook.

If I’m adding already cooked beans and/rice, I add them after pressure cooking using either the sautée button (heats up the unit) or I leave on keep warm awhile. Many frozen veggies only need to be defrosted and added at this step...to cook them longer can turn them into mush such as broccoli and spinach. They just need to sit long enough to meld with the spices etc.
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby vegman » Sun May 23, 2021 5:40 am

I have two Instant Pots, different models, keep them clean. With either, with a cold start, using the quantities I mentioned, the valve usually does not seal without manual intervention. New rings don't help.

I haven't tried adding frozen vegetables to a hot mixture, as you describe, enough times to know how valve engagement would work with the quantities I use.

The only time I cook vegetables in an IP is for soup where I want very soft vegetables. Interesting that the IP can also be used where non-mushiness is called for.

Vegankit wrote:I’ve never had that problem. I’ve never had the valve not seal. I do clean the valve after cooking and I’m careful not to exceed the volume limit.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=51895&p=531356&hilit=Greek+soup#p531356

I use this recipe as a general soup recipe...... I partially cook my beans without presoaking. After they partially cook I let it naturally lower the pressure so I can add my veggies. Then I seal and finish cooking the beans with veggies. Heartier frozen veggies such as green beans, onions and pepper mixes work well here. After the pressure drops I add spices and any delicate veggies that don’t need long to cook.

If I’m adding already cooked beans and/rice, I add them after pressure cooking using either the sautée button (heats up the unit) or I leave on keep warm awhile. Many frozen veggies only need to be defrosted and added at this step...to cook them longer can turn them into mush such as broccoli and spinach. They just need to sit long enough to meld with the spices etc.
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby Vegankit » Sun May 23, 2021 9:02 am

I'm very fussy about texture of food and I have found it works to use the instantpot in multiple ways, not just the obvious to achieve what I want. I've cooked soup in it just using the saute feature and not the pressure cooker or slow cooker features.

I have experience with three different instantpots (I bought two slightly different models, one broke and Instantpot replaced it with a newer model) and I've never had that problem so I'm struggling with why it happens for you and not me.

The only other thing I can think of is the volume of water to solids - perhaps you don't have enough liquid? I've had problems cooking rice dishes where I wanted a more dry but fully cooked pilaf or paella and not a soupy version. I"ve had to compromise and add a little more liquid than I would prefer.
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby VeggieSue » Mon May 24, 2021 3:54 am

vegman wrote:I have two Instant Pots, different models, keep them clean. With either, with a cold start, using the quantities I mentioned, the valve usually does not seal without manual intervention.



What kind of "manual intervention" do you use to seal the pot? AFAIK, the pot itself either seals or it doesn't, that there's no way to manually seal it. That's why it's called an "Instant" Pot.

Just a quick search around the Internet found a number of results, most either saying to add more liquid, make sure the valve isn't plugged up with gunk (I always remove the cap and wash out that area each time I use the pot), the seal isn't seated right on the lid, the dial wasn't turned to "seal" and was left on "vent", or you just didn't give it enough time, especially if using a large amount of frozen foods. I didn't watch the whole video, but this lady says right out if using a lot of frozen foods, give the pot 45 minutes before it seals at the 1:20 mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KleZdeMX-Mg
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby vegman » Mon May 24, 2021 5:44 am

VeggieSue wrote:
vegman wrote:I have two Instant Pots, different models, keep them clean. With either, with a cold start, using the quantities I mentioned, the valve usually does not seal without manual intervention.



What kind of "manual intervention" do you use to seal the pot? AFAIK, the pot itself either seals or it doesn't, that there's no way to manually seal it. That's why it's called an "Instant" Pot.

Just a quick search around the Internet found a number of results, most either saying to add more liquid, make sure the valve isn't plugged up with gunk (I always remove the cap and wash out that area each time I use the pot), the seal isn't seated right on the lid, the dial wasn't turned to "seal" and was left on "vent", or you just didn't give it enough time, especially if using a large amount of frozen foods. I didn't watch the whole video, but this lady says right out if using a lot of frozen foods, give the pot 45 minutes before it seals at the 1:20 mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KleZdeMX-Mg


Putting all the ingredients in cold, putting on the lid, and setting the timer usually results the valve not engaging and often an overheat signal, which does not turn off the pot but beeps until it is turned off. At this point removing the lid reveals that the contents are at boiling point, and there is a burnt smell from the bottom of the ingredients being charred, which is confirmed when the contents are emptied and the bottom visually examined.

When the contents are at boiling point and the valve is not engaging, it is often possible to get the valve to engage by taking the lid off and then putting it back on. However, the valve engaging will prevent the lid from being properly seated. The workaround is to use a kitchen implement (I use the end of a plastic spoon or fork) to depress the valve while turning the lid to seat it, then no longer depressing the valve.

To avoid the overheating and burning, I got into the habit of starting the IP without the lid, and periodically stirring the contents and seeing how close it was to boiling. When it was close, I would put the lid on, and after a few minutes come back to check the IP. If the lid engaged, fine, if not, I would take the lid off, and if at boiling point I would put it back on, and depress the valve as above as necessary to seat the lid.

None of this manual intervention is necessary when cooking legumes and/or grains, or as I recently found, when making soup by adding microwaved frozen vegetables and room temperature canned tomatoes to a just-cooked hot bean and water mixture. It seems likely that fresh vegetables would also work without preheating the vegetables. Perhaps they would also work without precooking the legumes.

Issues similar to those I mentioned can occur with old rings that no longer seal, the valve being clogged, or the IP left on vent, but none of these are the case here. More time is not the issue: leaving the IP with an overheat error and the valve not engaged just would result in more and more burning. I have not tried more water because that would result in more dilution that I want, since I like a very thick soup; perhaps more water would alleviate the issue. My usual ingredients fill the cooker to near the max fill line; perhaps reducing the quantity would help.

If anyone here wishes to replicate the issue, I've given the exact quantities and ingredients I've used.
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby Daydream » Mon May 24, 2021 11:46 am

A couple years ago my 8 quart Instant Pot was having problems coming up to pressure so I bought a new float valve with silicon cap replacement and that solved the problem. The float valve and silicon cap were sold together as one unit. The tiny silicone cap can wear out over time and I believe it was the tiny silicone cap that was causing the malfunction. Anyway, I just thought I'd mention this.

Thank you for listing the quantities and ingredients you used!
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby Daydream » Mon May 24, 2021 12:10 pm

I have made this soup recipe in my Instant Pot and I haven't had any problems with it coming up to pressure or burning:

Instant Pot Vegetable Soup from Fat Free Vegan

https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2016/08/i ... -soup.html
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby vegman » Mon May 24, 2021 12:19 pm

Daydream wrote:A couple years ago my 8 quart Instant Pot was having problems coming up to pressure so I bought a new float valve with silicon cap replacement and that solved the problem. The float valve and silicon cap were sold together as one unit. The tiny silicone cap can wear out over time and I believe it was the tiny silicone cap that was causing the malfunction. Anyway, I just thought I'd mention this.

Thank you for listing the quantities and ingredients you used!


At some point I replaced the float valve and cap in the older cooker; the other cooker is I think 1.5 years old, and this issue always existed.

Thanks for mentioning an 8 quart IP. Mine are 6 quarts, and since I would be much further from max capacity with an 8 quart, perhaps this issue would be less likely.
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Re: Instant Pot Soup With Frozen Vegetables

Postby vegman » Mon May 24, 2021 2:14 pm

Daydream wrote:I have made this soup recipe in my Instant Pot and I haven't had any problems with it coming up to pressure or burning:

Instant Pot Vegetable Soup from Fat Free Vegan

https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2016/08/i ... -soup.html


That recipe uses 24 oz. frozen vegetables; mine uses 34 oz. It uses boiling water, an interesting idea I haven't tried.
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