This Instant Pot soup recipe made with sausage, white beans, and vegetables is a family favorite. It used to take hours on the stovetop, but in the Instant Pot pressure cooker, it’s done in less than one hour.
One of the staple Instant Pot soups in our house is adapted from a recipe I found years ago on Budget Bytes. I make it with:
- smoked sausage (I opt for turkey sausage)
- white beans (I use navy beans, but other varieties would work well, too)
- carrots
- celery
- spinach
- garlic
- onion
- fresh herbs
With the smokiness of the sausage and the addition of fresh thyme and rosemary, it’s got great flavor and tastes really hearty despite being packed full of vegetables.
It’s my favorite way to serve lots of veggies at once, and my kids’ favorite way to eat them!
Hint: Like all soup recipes I post, this Instant Pot soup is also made infinitely better when paired with some warm, crusty bread. :)
When I got my Instant Pot last month, this sausage and white bean soup was the first recipe that I wanted to test out.
Although I’ve enjoyed making this soup recipe in the past, it’s been one of the more labor intensive recipes in my rotation, and I loved the idea of making it quicker and simpler in the IP.
In the past, I had to soak the navy beans overnight and cook them for hours before they were soft. Even if I substituted canned beans, it still took at least 1-2 hours until they were soft enough to mash in order to create a creamier texture in the soup.
When I made it in the Instant Pot, I was able to skip several cooking steps AND the overall cooking time was way shorter.
After giving the turkey sausage, onion, and garlic a brief saute in the Instant Pot, you just add the other ingredients, set it and walk away!
In about 30-40 minutes you’ll have a hot, lovely pot of soup just waiting to be eaten.
Cooking Time Info:
As I explained in my Instant Pot 101 post, the cooking time can be a little misleading. If you’re setting it to cook for 20 minutes, it could take up to 20 minutes for the Instant Pot to pressurize, which means a total cooking time of 40 minutes.
Keep that in mind if you’re planning a meal for a certain time.
Best Smoked Sausage for Soup:
You can substitute regular smoked sausage for the turkey smoked sausage if you prefer, but I like using the turkey sausage because it makes the soup less greasy, and there’s no fat draining involved.
Instant Pot Soup with Smoked Sausage, White Bean & Vegetables
This Instant Pot soup recipe is easy, delicious and hassle-free. Made with smoked sausage, white beans, and vegetables with an herb-infused broth.
Ingredients
- 1 lb bag dry navy beans or other white beans of choice, soaked for several hours* (see notes)
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 14 oz smoked turkey sausage sliced into medallions
- 1/2 onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 carrots peeled and chopped
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1 tsp fresh thyme chopped
- 2 tsp fresh rosemary chopped
- 7 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1 tsp salt (plus more to taste)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Using the saute function, add olive oil and cook sausage until browned.
- Add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and saute for one minute. Turn saute off.
- Rinse the beans and add them to the pot, along with all remaining ingredients.
Set to pressure cook (manual) on high for 20 minutes.
When finished, quick release the steam valve.
- Open and season with additional salt and/or pepper to taste.
- To thicken the soup, use a wooden spoon to smash some of the beans against the side of the pot.
- Serve with warm, crusty bread.
Recipe Notes
For best results, I recommend soaking the beans in water for 2-3 hours before cooking, or all day if you'd like to soak them in the morning before work and then cook the soup at night. I've made this successfully without soaking the beans at all, and set the IP for 25 minutes instead of 20, but some have mentioned that their beans aren't fully cooked this way, so I'm guessing the brand/variety of bean may be a factor. When in doubt, just soak the beans for a few hours prior to cooking.
For meal planning purposes, keep in mind that it takes about 20 minutes for the IP to come to pressure before it starts the 20 minutes of cook time.
Candice says
Delicious recipe! I will make it again. Thank you!
Joyce says
Thank you for posting your recipe for bean soup. I so much like bean soup, and I want to have meat in it, but neither can, nor will, eat any form of pig meat (ham seems to be the traditional go-to for such soups), so the use of turkey sausage is very appealing. Since there is only me to cook for, I can make a pot of it and have plenty to put aside for meals for the week.