Instant Pot Lentil Soup with Sausage comes together quickly and easily with the help of your pressure cooker. This hearty soup is perfect for chilly days.
The instant pot is the quickest way to create delicious soups at home. Take for example, my Instant Pot Minestrone Soup, Instant Pot French Onion Soup, and Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup. It seems that I never even make soup on the stovetop anymore. 🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️
But, if you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can also make this lentil soup with sausage on the stove.
It may come as no surprise that I have a bit of an obsession with lentils… Take these recent recipes for instance:
So, this soup was bound to jump to the top of my favorites list. Not to mention that Italian sausage and hearty kale running through it.
This Instant Pot Lentil Soup is basically a meal in a bowl. Plus, it’s packed with protein, fiber and vitamins.
Table of Contents
Ingredients needed
- Italian Sausage – You can use mild or hot depending on your heat preference.
- Onion & Garlic
- Celery
- Bone Broth – Or, chicken stock, beef broth, or vegetable stock.
- Dried Lentils
- Canned Crushed Tomatoes
- Baby Kale – Or, baby spinach.
- Red Wine Vinegar – This gives a good tang at the end.
- Salt & Pepper
- Fresh Parsley
How to make it
- Sauté the sausage. Cook until meat crumbles and begins to brown.
- Add onion, celery and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add stock, lentils, red pepper flakes, tomatoes and stir, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Cook on manual HIGH pressure for 12 minutes.
- Add kale and vinegar. Stir to combine and season with salt and pepper.
- Enjoy!
Recipe notes
Heat level
I used mild Italian sausage in this recipe, just to make it suitable those who don’t care for too much heat. But then, I doctored it up with some red pepper flakes.
You can customize this recipe to your heat preference by adding more or less red pepper flakes, or you can use hot Italian sausage and have that spice right from the start.
Broth
I used some of my homemade slow cooker bone broth as the stock (I had it on hand in the freezer), but you can swap it out for some boxed chicken broth too. You can also make bone broth in the instant pot.
If you’d like to make this a vegetarian lentil soup, simply swap in some vegetable stock for the chicken stock and leave out the sausage.
Baby kale
Look for baby kale in your produce section by the bagged lettuce mixes. If you can’t find baby kale, you can also use spinach or arugula.
There’s a whopping 5 cups of baby kale in this sausage lentil soup, which sounds like a massive amount, but really, as it cooks in the warm soup, it shrinks down to almost nothing. Don’t be alarmed when you first try to fit it all into your Instant Pot at the end. Just add a bit at a time and keep stirring.
Adding flavor at the end
I added in a splash of red wine vinegar and some fresh parsley to really give this soup some bright flavor, and, don’t forget to season with salt and pepper. You’ll need a good sprinkling of both, but it will depend on the salt content of your chicken stock.
Make it cheesy!
As I’m typing this post, I’m really wondering why I didn’t grate a bunch of parmesan cheese over the top of these warm bowls of soup – Definitely doing that next time. But even without it, this Instant Pot Lentil Soup was a standout!
Variations
- Instant Pot Vegan Lentil Soup: Leave out the sausage and swap the chicken broth for vegetable stock. You could add in 1 pound of diced potatoes too.
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup with Ham: Swap out the sausage for 1 1/2 cups cooked & cubed ham. Add it when the stock and lentils go in.
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup with Bacon: Swap out the sausage for 6 strips of thick bacon cut into 1/2″ pieces. Brown it using the sauté function as you would with the sausage.
- Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup: Swap the green lentils for red lentils. The cook time will remain the same, but your soup will be a bit more creamy as the red lentils will break down more.
- No Instant Pot? You can also make this lentil soup with sausage on the stove.
How to store & reheat
- To Store: Store in a tightly covered container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- To Reheat: Gently reheat on the stove over medium-low heat until hot. You can also microwave the leftovers.
- To Freeze: Store in a tightly sealed container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
FAQs
No. There’s no need to soak lentils before cooking with them. Simply rinse them and pick through for stones.
Yes! Lentils are rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They’re also fat free. In this soup, they combine with hearty kale which is also packed with nutrients.
Yes. You can store any leftovers in a tightly sealed container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
What to serve with it
- Crostini (for sopping up all that yummy soup)
- MORE → 30+ EASY side dishes for soup!
Wine pairings
- Medium-bodied, rustic wines like Chianti, Cotes du Rhone, and Sangiovese have earthy, spicy flavors that echo those in the Italian sausage and lentils.
More Instant Pot recipes
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Full Recipe
Instant Pot Lentil Soup with Sausage
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound bulk mild Italian sausage
- 1 medium yellow onion (diced)
- 2 stalks celery (thinly sliced, with leafy tops)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 4 cups bone broth (or chicken stock)
- 2 cups dried lentils
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 5 cups baby kale leaves (loosely packed )
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Hit “saute” button on Instant Pot. Add sausage and cook until meat crumbles and begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add onion, celery and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add stock, lentils, red pepper flakes, tomatoes and stir.
- Place lid on Instant Pot and make sure the release valve is in the “sealing” position. Press “manual” button and set timer for 12 minutes.
- The Instant Pot will warm up for about 10 minutes and then start cooking. After 12 minutes, quick-release by flipping the release valve to “venting.”
- Add kale and vinegar. Stir to combine and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in November 2017. It was updated in January 2021 to add new photographs, information, and an instructional video. The recipe remains the same. Enjoy!
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