Instant Pot Celery Soup is made with less than 10 wholesome and natural ingredients. It's ready to serve in 30 minutes and is vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free! Blend into a thick and pureed soup, leave chunky, or somewhere in the middle. This Instant Pot soup may seem simple and ordinary but it's packed with incredible flavor!
Instant Pot celery soup is another fabulous soup that the pressure cooker makes simple, just like vegetable soup and wonton soup.
It makes a comforting vegetarian and vegan appetizer, lunch, or main course. Pair celery soup with rosemary garlic focaccia bread, garlic bread, cheese bread, or sun-dried tomato basil bread.
It also makes a healthy side dish or first course to accompany Instant Pot Middle Eastern stuffed peppers and stuffed cabbage.
This recipe is vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free. It's very low in calories— at just 90 per serving. Plus it's ready to eat in just about 30 minutes! What's not to love?
Ingredients
Instant Pot celery soup is made with:
- celery
- potatoes
- vegetable broth (or chicken broth for a non-vegetarian/vegan option)
- garlic & onions
- parsley & thyme
- salt & pepper
Less than 10 ingredients are put into this super easy, super healthy Instant Pot soup. But it's packed with undeniable flavor.
Instructions
Set the Instant Pot to saute on normal, or high if your pressure cooker only has a low or high setting. Add the olive oil, onions, garlic and celery. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring often, until onions are softened and celery is tender crisp. Turn off saute.
Add a little bit of the broth and deglaze the pot to remove any stuck pieces of food from the bottom. It's very important to loosen any stuck food to avoid triggering the burn notice.
Once the pot is completely deglazed, add the remaining broth, potatoes, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper. Do not mix. It's also very important to layer ingredients when pressure cooking, and not mixing them once you do. Mixing the ingredients in many recipes also can trigger the burn notice.
Close and seal the lid. Set to pressure cook (or manual) on high for 12 minutes. Let naturally release for 5 minutes, then do a quick release of the remaining pressure.
A 5 minute natural release will prevent piping hot broth from coming out of the steam valve, which can happen with many soups if you quickly release the pressure immediately.
Use an immersion blender to puree to your desired consistency. For a chunkier but brothier soup, use a potato masher. You can mash and mush up the pieces of celery and potatoes as much or as little as you want here.
For a pureed creamy celery soup, use the immersion blender and blend until smooth, or mostly smooth to leave some texture.
Serve garnished with extra celery leaves, fresh thyme, or fresh parsley if desired.
Variations
- Spicier - add extra black pepper, red pepper flakes or jalapeños
- Heartier - make it a complete soup dinner by adding chopped carrots, bean, or noodles
- Kid friendly - use less black pepper and blend until smooth (this is especially great for babies without teeth or who are just starting to eat solid foods)
- Creamy - heavy cream can be added before pressure cooking for a thicker, richer, and creamier soup. The soup will no longer be vegetarian or vegan.
If you're interested in a thick and creamy soup instead of a blended soup, try my Instant Pot broccoli cheese soup or slow cooker loaded potato soup.
Equipment
You'll need an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. As written, this recipe works in a 6 quart, 8 quart, or 10 quart pressure cooker. For a 3 quart Instant Pot, reduce the ingredient quantities proportionally.
An immersion blender is necessary if you want a creamy, pureed-style soup. Immersion blenders allow you to blend the soup while it's still in the Instant Pot. I have this Cuisinart immersion blender and it works well and is quick.
If you don't have an immersion blender, you can pour the soup into any blender. The Ace Nova cooking blender is what I have and love for blending.
Storing
Store Instant Pot celery soup in the fridge for up to 7 days. It can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Recipe
Instant Pot Celery Soup
Equipment
- pressure cooker
- Immersion blender or potato masher
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sweet onion chopped
- 2 lbs celery chopped
- 6 cloves garlic crushed
- 8 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 2 lbs gold, white, or russet potatoes chopped
- 1 teaspoon parsley dried
- 1 teaspoon thyme dried
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to saute on normal (or high). Add the olive oil, onion, garlic and celery and cook for 3 minutes, stirring often. Turn off saute.
- Add 1 cup of the broth and deglaze the pot. Add remaining broth, potatoes, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper. Do not mix.
- Close and seal the lid. Set to pressure cook on high for 12 minutes. Let naturally release for 5 minutes, then do a quick release of remaining pressure.
- Use an immersion blender to puree to your desired consistency. For a chunkier and brothier soup, use a potato masher. Serve garnished with extra celery leaves, fresh thyme, or fresh parsley if desired.
- STOVETOP: Sauté the onion, garlic and celery in the olive oil for 2 minutes. Add the vegetable broth, potatoes and seasonings. Bring to a boil over high heat and then simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and blend until it reaches your desired consistency.
Notes
Nutrition
Celery soup is a healthy plant-based vegan soup chock full of wholesome ingredients. Not only is it low in calories, but fat too. It's full of vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber.
One 10 ounce serving of Instant Pot celery soup has about 90 calories.
Celery soup is freezer-friendly for up to 6 months. Store in freezer safe containers and defrost overnight in the fridge when ready to eat.
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Janet Ashley says
I used this as a basis, tossing in celery and onions I had on hand. I used 2 cups of instant mashed potatoes to thicken the soup. I used your listed spices, adding some Bay Leaves and just enough red chili spice to perk up the taste buds (a pinch). I pour cream in when I microwave a cup of this. This is drinkable and comforting.
Kristina Tipps says
That sounds delicious. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Jacynthe says
I made the soup tonight. It was delicious. I did add 1 cup of milk - I was out of cream - and it turned out nice and creamy but not too creamy. I did add a few chopped up basil leaves for flavour.
I will make this again. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Ashley says
Looks good. Making this now.
Toni says
Such a perfect soup for weeknights! So easy to make and really comforting!
Natalie says
Oh wow, what a soup. I never knew I can make creamy soup just with celery. Genius idea. Celery is so healthy and I love it. I will definitely make this. Thanks!
Rob says
I am always on the hunt for new soup recipes. Love celery and using the Instant Pot makes this quick an easy.
Dolly says
What a creative idea! I’ve honestly never heard of celery soup but I bet it’s amazing! This is one I have to try out.
Gloria says
I am not a celery fan. However, I have never had celery soup. I think this might be worth a try, especially during comfort food season. I just might be the thing to turn me into a celery lover.
Anonymous says
Are the parsley and thyme fresh or dried. Planning on making this tomorrow. Sounds so good. I’m excited.
Kristina says
It is dried, but you can use fresh. If you do, use three times the amount.