This should be obvious, but I love cooking and testing out new recipes and cooking methods. But, some days, I just want to make the easiest recipe possible. It’s that, or ordering in a large pizza and scarfing it down with a glass of red wine or three.
Enter dump-and-go Instant Pot recipes. If that wasn’t self-explanatory, I’m talking about recipes where you can just dump in a bunch of ingredients into the Instant Pot, turn on the pressure cook setting, walk away, and come back to a complete dinner!
As pretty as this soup might look, this Thai-Inspired Red Curry Sweet Potato Soup is one such dump-and-go recipe. A lot of dump-and-go recipes I’ve seen online seem like the epitome of convenience food and seem to lack flavor—it’s like they’re just mixing canned beans, corn and tomatoes on top of a protein, and calling it a day.
Since I am a stickler for maximizing flavor, that is definitely not what we’re going to do with this recipe!
Why you’re going to like this Thai Red Curry Soup
Dump-and-go. We already talked about this, but how can you not like a recipe that requires zero hands-on cooking??
Weeknight-friendly. See above. You can have dinner on the table and all you need to do is 10ish minutes of chopping. Oh, and one-pot meals also mean minimal dishwashing! Bonus: the Instant Pot inner pot is dishwasher safe!
Aromatic and flavorful. As with any good Thai or Thai-inspired dish, this soup is well balanced in flavors. Spicy from the curry paste, sweet from the sweet potatoes and a spoon of agave or sugar at the end, and sour from the tomatoes and lime juice! I learned how to balance flavors when I took some cooking classes in Thailand, and it’s a principle that I use in all of my recipes to this day.
If you love Southeast Asian flavors, you’ll go crazy for my Indonesian Tempeh Kecap and Thai Butternut Squash Curry. And if you have some more time, go all out and try my Homemade Thai Green Curry Paste to make a phenomenal Vegan Thai Green Curry!
Creamy and rich. Thanks to red lentils and sweet potatoes, this soup is naturally thick. Red lentils break down and get mushy when cooked, making them perfect for curries, soups, or curry-soup hybrids like this! And the high pressure of the Instant Pot virtually melts the sweet potatoes into the soup. Plus, the recipe also adds light coconut milk for extra creamy measure.
Hearty and satiating. Some soups leave you hungry after a couple hours, but this soup will stick to your ribs! We’ve got protein from the lentils, complex carbs from the sweet potatoes, and satiating fats from the coconut milk.
Ingredient Rundown
The aromatics. If you’ve made any of my savory recipes before, you know that I usually like to start with some aromatics. This could be as simple as onions or garlic, but it always varies based on the flavor profile and cuisine of the dish.
Since this a Thai-flavored soup, I’m using green onions or scallions instead of regular onions, along with garlic and ginger. A truly authentic Thai recipe would use galangal, also referred to as Thai ginger, but it’s pretty uncommon to come across outside Asian grocery stores.
This recipe is a bit different than most in that you don’t cook the aromatics in oil before adding the remaining ingredients. That’s because there’s no hands-on cooking involved. But don’t omit the aromatics – they still add a good amount of flavor.
Sweet potatoes. Scrub, peel, and chop them into roughly 3/4-inch cubes. The smaller the cut, the more they’ll melt into the soup. I recommend using garnet sweet potatoes or yams, not Japanese sweet potatoes .While I love the latter, they are naturally firmer, denser, and dryer in texture, so they don’t quite melt into the soup.
Tomatoes. I know, it’s not tomato season, but when the tomatoes are pressure cooked down into a soup, you won’t notice their unremarkable taste. But, if you don’t want to buy winter supermarket tomatoes, feel free to use canned diced tomatoes.
Red lentils. You can use red lentils or split red lentils – they are virtually the same.
Thai red curry paste. My favorite brand is Maesri (available at Thai and Southeast Asian grocery stores, or online), but Thai Kitchen also works decently and is widely available. Whichever brand you use, be sure to read the ingredients to ensure it’s vegan. Some brands might use fish sauce. Another vegan red curry paste to try is from Thai Taste.
Note: keep in mind that there is variance in the heat level across curry paste brands. I find that Thai Kitchen is not too spicy, but if you know that the curry paste you’re using is quite spicy and/or you’re sensitive to spicy food, feel free to use less than the amount called for in the recipe.
Lite coconut milk. Since this soup is really thick and creamy thanks to the sweet potatoes and lentils, there’s no need to use full-fat coconut milk. If all you have is full-fat coconut milk, feel free to use it, but you’ll want to either (a) water down the milk or (b) use more vegetable broth.
Tips for making this Thai Red Curry Soup
This section is going to be super short because, again, this is a dump-and-go recipe.
To minimize the number of dishes you need to wash, puree the soup using an immersion blender. If you don’t have one, use a stand blender and transfer the soup in batches. Remove the center cap from the blender and cover it with a dish towel to prevent steam from building up inside the blender.
After pressure cooking and pureeing, if the soup is too thick for your liking, add some vegetable broth or water, and stir to heat through until the soup has thinned out a bit. The soup thickens even more as it rests, so if you’re serving leftovers, heat it up on the stove with a bit of water or vegetable broth.
How to Garnish this Soup
Chopped cilantro is a must. Optional add-ons include thinly sliced scallions and chili peppers (if you like it spicy), a spoon of extra coconut milk (use a toothpick to make these fancy swirly designs), and/or bean sprouts.
Finally, this recipe couldn’t be simpler, but if you want a visual (always helpful IMO), check out this video on my dump-and-go Instant Pot recipes! This Thai Red Curry Sweet Potato Soup recipe is the first one and begins at the 00:33 mark.
DUMP AND GO Instant Pot Recipes | easy vegan instant pot meals
If you give this recipe a try, be sure to tag me on Instagram with your recreations and please comment with your feedback below!
Instant Pot Thai Red Curry Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch of scallions, sliced
- 5 garlic cloves, mined
- 2 tablespoons freshly minced or grated ginger
- 1½ pounds (680g) sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch (2 cm) cubes
- 3 medium Roma or plum tomatoes, chopped*
- 4 tablespoons (60g) red curry paste** (use less if sensitive to spicy food)
- 1 cup (190-210g) red lentils, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups (480 mL) vegetable broth
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon tamari (or soy sauce if not gluten-free)
- 1 (15-ounce / 400 mL) can “lite” or reduced-fat coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 2-3 teaspoons agave nectar, coconut sugar, organic brown sugar, or organic cane sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- Optional Garnishes: extra coconut milk for a pretty swirl, thinly sliced scallions, bean sprouts, thinly sliced chili peppers
Instructions
- Pour the vegetable broth into the Instant Pot. Add the scallions, garlic, ginger, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, red curry paste, red lentils, salt, and tamari or soy sauce, and lite coconut milk. Stir to combine.
- Secure the lid and set the Pressure Release to Sealing. Select the Pressure Cook setting at high pressure and set the cook time to 10 minutes.
- Once the 10-minute timer has completed and beeps, allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes and then switch the Pressure Release knob from Sealing to Venting to release any remaining steam.
- Add the lime juice, agave or sugar, and chopped cilantro. Stir to combine. Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings as needed, adding more salt for saltiness, lime juice for acidity, or agave/sugar for sweetness. Puree the soup using an immersion blender. If you don’t have one, use a stand blender and transfer the soup in batches (remove center cap of the stand blender and cover blender with a towel to allow steam to vent). If the soup is too thick for your liking, add some vegetable broth or water, and stir to heat through until the soup has thinned out a bit.
- Ladle soup into bowls and garnish as desired. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. The soup thickens as it rests, so if you’re serving leftovers, heat it up on the stove with a bit of water or vegetable broth.
Notes
Question for Nisha – At what point do you put in the tomatoes if using canned tomato sauce in a crockpot? Or would it be better to just cook on the stove if using tomato sauce?
I like to use tomato sauce (or puree) because some family members won’t like tomatoes if they are chunky in a recipe
As with all of Nisha’s other recipes I’ve tried on the site, this one was delicious and soo soo easy to make! Great healthy comfort food that’s also hearty and nice on a cold day! Made this and the Thai Butternut squash curry with chickpeas for friends and everyone loved it!
Thanks for sharing, Neha!
YUM!! I was looking for something to wake up my tastebuds after eating a rather bland diet for too long. This was the ticket!! I served it with Ezekiel bread toast points and had seconds! So satisfying, quick, and easy!
Awesome, Madonna. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!4
Love the dish but does anyone have the calories on this?
Hi José, we don’t include nutrition facts on our recipes for a few reasons. If you’d like to read more as to why, you can do so at this link: https://rainbowplantlife.com/welcome/.
Many of our readers use apps like MyFitnessPal to calculate nutrition facts for their own purposes. Hope that helped!
I wasn’t sure….but now I’m a true believer. I’ve been at vegan for 3 years. Most of the recipes I get are good or okay. This recipe beat all my expectations. It is so flavorful and perfectly easy to follow. I’ll be making this again and again.
Awesome, Nali. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
Bought an instant pot and the cookbook because I knew I wanted to try this!
Made it for the first time and was super impressed with how it came out. Flavours came together extremely well, and I was a huge fan at how spicy this came out.
My only question is what to do with the cilantro? The written instructions mention to put the chopped cilantro in with the sugar and lime juice, but the video instructions didn’t mention them at all. I omitted it during this step and used the cilantro as a garnish instead.
Hi Amanda, the cilantro is meant to be stirred into the soup and/or used as a soup topping… it’s totally up to your discretion! Feel free to add sliced jalapeños and/or scallions as well. We’re so glad you enjoyed the soup!
Great to hear! Definitely agree with topping with sliced peppers. I went for serrano and was very happy. Thank you for sharing this recipe, and thanks for responding to the comment!
So happy you loved it! You’re so welcome :)
Absolutely delicious! I can’t cook and this was so easy to follow – even my nephew who is a meat eater asked for seconds and took a frozen out the freezer to his work for lunch. Thank you.
That’s great to hear, Sudhashen! We’re thrilled you love the recipe.
This has become my favorite prune soup. I fixed it for my staff and thy all loved it.
Hi Howard, we’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
This was the first recipe I made in my instant pot and might be one of the best soups I’ve ever made! It’s perfect. I doubled the recipe and was able to feed this to a group of six and also eat it throughout the week. It’s also super quick and easy plus it fills your kitchen with the most incredible smell!
Jeanie, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
I made this soup last night and added kale! Delish!
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Kailey!
I added 1 cup of green beans and used fish sauce instead of soy. It was so freaking good. 5 stars!!!
Glad you enjoyed the soup, Molly!
This is another winning recipe from Nisha!! Always so thankful to have found her recipes/youtube channel :) We don’t have an instant pot anymore so we cooked this over the stovetop – we cooked it similarly to Nisha’s Thai Butternut Squash Curry with Chickpeas (another one of her incredible recipes!) so we cooked the onions down first, then added ginger/garlic/curry paste for 60 secs, then deglazed with the veg stock and then added everything else, cooking for around 30mins to allow the lentils and potatoes to full cook. It was amazing! We’ve also increased the lentils by 50% (and subsequently the stock as well) and substituted the sweet potatoes for butternut squash in the past and that tasted great too! Thanks Nisha for such a wonderful (and versatile) recipe! :)
Thank you for the thorough review, Victoria! Glad you enjoy the recipes!
I made it today for dinner. So easy and absolutely delicious! I have flagged the page to make again soon. I divided into 6 servings and will add a side of brown rice and some steamed broccoli to round out the meal.
That’s so great to hear, Carla! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
Hi, I love your recipes! I bought a slow cooked but it is very basic, it also has low or high cook button :( how can I cook your meal if I dont have timer on mine slow cooker or pressure knob?
Thank you so much Agata! We don’t have a slow cooker, but think you can cook on high for 4 hours, or slow for 6 hours. Then blend the soup when done. Hope that helped!
I increased the lentils and broth by 50% and added a package of chopped sun-dried tomatoes. My meat eating wife and her son went back for seconds.
Awesome, JD! Glad to hear the soup was a hit!
Okay this is SOOOO GOOD
I never comment on recipes and have never made a soup that I actually enjoyed. This soup is delicious.
OK, best soup/stew/curry I ever made! I used half the red curry paste, because more can be added if I want it hotter. I used full fat coconut milk cause that’s what I had, would probably be just as good as lite version. I reduced the pressure cooker time from 10 to 5 mins and liked the texture much better as the sweet potatoes didn’t completely dissolve. It’s even better on day 2 and 3. It’s truly a dump and go and next time I’ll double it!
Loved it! Easy to make and easy on the tummy
Thanks for sharing, Magdalene!
Amazing hearty soup! Definitely recommend!!!
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Meghavi!
This is so delicious ❤ My man (the carnivore) took a double helping and threatened to lick the bowl. We loved it. It makes WAY more than 4 servings in my opinion. It’s so filling I can’t imagine eating a quarter of that pot in one sitting! I’m going to have to freeze some.