Quick and Easy Instant Pot Hamburger Soup, A Healthy Dinner

When it’s cold and rainy here in the Pacific Northwest, we love to make soup. And this instant pot. hamburger soup is one of our favorites. It is such a great dinner recipe for soup season and it’s loaded with vegetables too. 

There are a lot of recipes for delicious soups. As well as pressure cooker recipes that make preparing soups so much quicker and easier. I think you’ll find this hamburger soup with hearty vegetables is perfect for the next time you are craving soup for dinner. 

Easy Instant Pot Hamburger Soup Recipe

If you are new to pressure cooking, this is a perfect first instant pot recipe to try. It’s quick and easy to make. You only need to use the saute function and pressure function to make it. It’s a great vegetable soup recipe the whole family will love. 

One reason I love this soup is it’s frugal to make. At under $1 a serving, it’s a family favorite that is sure to be on your meal plan frequently. 

If you don’t have an instant pot, try the stove to version of this hamburger soup, it just as good, but needs to simmer on the stovetop so it takes longer to make. 

An outstanding feature of this instant pot vegetable beef soup is the flavor really builds in the instant pot quickly. So you can get that all day cooking flavor in just minutes. 

Are you craving a bowl yet? Let’s get started with what ingredients you need to make this hearty soup. 

Ingredients for this Instant Pot Soup Recipe

These are the ingredients you’ll need to gather to make a pot of this hamburger stew. Many you probably have on hand, and I’m sharing a few substitutions you can make, too. 

1. 1/2 to 1 pound Ground Beef or Ground Turkey

 If you use lean beef, you don’t have to drain off the extra fat. Or you can use ground turkey in this recipe instead of ground beef.  

We use 1/2 to 3/4 pound of ground beef or turkey in our soup, but if you have meat lovers, use a full pound. 

2. Three cups of Water or Beef Broth

I usually use water, but if you have beef broth or better than bullion paste, that will work great too. But if you don’t, just use water. It works great too. 

 3. The Fresh Vegetables

• 3 Carrots, sliced 
• 3 potatoes, diced 
• 3 celery stalks, sliced 
• 1 medium onion, chopped  
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced (you can use garlic powder instead of minced garlic)

You can also add bell pepper or use red potatoes instead of russet potatoes if desired. 

4. A can of Diced Tomatoes

 Use a 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes or you can use the diced tomatoes with the chilies in them if you’d like to spice it up a bit. To add more tomato flavor to the soup, you can add a can of tomato paste or a can of tomato sauce. 

5. The Frozen Vegetables

• 1 cup of frozen green beans
• 1/2 cup of frozen broccoli 
• 1/2 cup of frozen peas

You can use a bag of mixed vegetables instead of the frozen vegetables listed above. My husband hates those bags of mixed vegetables, so I make my mix of frozen vegetables everyone will eat. 

6. Seasonings

• 1 tablespoon of salt 
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil 
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme 
• 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce 

If you don’t have all the seasonings above, you can use an Italian seasoning mix instead. You can also add a bay leaves to the soup if you like them for added flavor. 

Now we know what we need. Let’s get started and learn how to make Instant Pot hamburger soup. Keep going for the video and photo tutorials.

How to Make Instant Pot Hamburger Soup or Ground Beef Stew

I’ve made you a quick video to show you all the steps to making this Instant Pot hamburger soup, but in case you don’t like to watch videos, skip on down to the photo and written tutorial. 

How to Make Instant Pot Hamburger Soup (Step-by-Step Photo Tutorial)

Step 1 Cook the Ground Beef 

Now there are two ways to cook the ground beef: you can cook it with the saute function or you can cook the ground beef from frozen while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients. 

Saute the Ground Beef

To brown fresh or thawed ground beef you’ll use the saute function. Push the saute button and let it heat until it says hot. Add the ground beef, onions. Stir and brown until the ground beef is no longer pink and cooked through. If you are using extra lean, you may not have to drain off the fat. But if you are using 80% lean, you’ll want to drain off the extra fat. 

Kitchen Tip: In case you’re wondering, is it okay to drain ground beef into the sink? 

You shouldn’t drain ground beef into the sink. The fat is liquid when hot but will harden when it gets cold and can clog your sink. Instead, drain the fat into a glass container or a can, like the can from the tomatoes. Let it harden, then throw it away. Or keep it in a cup in the refrigerator for other uses. 

Cooking Frozen Ground Beef

If you are like me and forget to thaw your ground beef, you can cook the ground beef from frozen while preparing your vegetables. In the video above, I show how to cook the frozen ground beef but here are the steps for you.

Place the rack in the instant pot liner. Add 1 cup of cold water to the liner. Place the frozen ground beef on the rack. Add lid and set the Instant Pot to sealing position. 

Using high pressure, use a cook time of 20 minutes for 1 pound of frozen ground beef or 25 minutes for 2 pounds of ground beef. Do a natural release for 5 minutes, then turn steam release knob to venting to do a quick release the rest of the pressure.    

Remove the ground beef with the handles of the rack. Place on a cutting board and break apart or use a knife to chunk it up into pieces. 

With this version, you’ll want to saute the onions, celery, carrots, and garlic a few minutes with the saute function while you are breaking up the cooked ground beef. 

Return the cooked ground beef to the instant pot with the other vegetables. 

Step 2 Add the Vegetables and Seasonings

After you’re done browning the ground beef, you want to add in the potatoes, the water or beef broth, the can of tomatoes. Next, add your salt pepper, basil, thyme and Worcestershire sauce and give it a stir.

Recipe Tip: if you want more tomato flavor to your soup, you can stir in a can of tomato paste at this point and give it a good stir to mix in. 

Step 3 Add Frozen Vegetables 

Some Instant Pot recipes for soup suggest adding the frozen vegetables after you pressure cook. But I’ve found the frozen vegetables cook nicely when added before pressure cooking. 

We don’t find the vegetables get mushy at all but if you like firmer vegetable texture, you can stir your frozen vegetable in after pressure cooking. 

Try it both ways and see which you and your family like better. 

Step 4 Sealing

Now that we’ve added all the remaining ingredients, put the lid on the Instant Pot and close it. Turn the sealing knob to sealing. 

Step 4 Pressure Cook

Set your Instant Pot to high pressure and you’re going to use the manual button and adjust the cooking time to 7 minutes and then click start. 

Once the 7 minutes is up, do a quick release and your soup will be ready.

Step 5 Adjust Seasoning

 Taste the soup and adjust the flavors. Add more salt or black pepper if needed.

Enjoy your quick and easy hamburger stew.

Instant Pot Soup Recipe Tips…

 How much liquid do you put in the Instant Pot for soup? 

Well, you want to put the minimum liquid in which for my instant pot is one cup of water, but this recipe calls for three cups of water so you’re set you don’t have to add any extra liquid than that in your instant pot.

Can you put raw ground beef in the instant pot?

For this recipe, it’s best to cook the ground beef before pressure cooking. If you have thawed ground beef, then the saute function is the way to go. 

For frozen ground beef, you can use the steps shared above or watch the video to see how to cook frozen ground beef in the instant pot.  

The main reason for browning the ground beef or ground meat before cooking is the ground beef can have more fat. You want to drain the fat from the ground beef before continuing with the recipe. 

That is how easy it is to make instant pot hamburger soup from scratch. It’s a quick and easy recipe. This recipe, even with the rise in grocery prices, is still under $1 A serving, which is a really great recipe for keeping your grocery bill lower. 

What to Serve with Hamburger Stew

You can serve this soup with homemade cornbread. This cornbread recipe can be made dairy free too. Another option is homemade quick yeast rolls. If you love yeast bread, you’ll love how easy the quick rolls are to make. But if you are more limited in time, try this homemade biscuit recipe. It’s a great side dish too. 

And you can always make a side salad to pump up the vegetables a little more for your meal.  

Want More Instant Pot Recipes? Try these….

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

Instant Pot Popcorn

Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Breasts

Grab the printable recipe card…