I recently shared three Budget-Friendly Easy Vegan Instant Pot recipes over on Youtube, and one of them is for a Vegan Instant Pot Lentil Cabbage Soup.
I love making lentil soups and stews. They are one of the easiest recipes to make in the Instant Pot and usually affordable. As with most of my dried ingredients, I usually purchase lentils in bulk to save money. And I use a ton of cabbage in this recipe because cabbage is one of the cheapest vegetables per pound you can find! Plus, it’s rich in nutrients and fiber, which helps you stay full.
I use standard green lentils in this recipe to save money, but if you have a bit more room in your budget, you can also you use French green lentils. They tend to hold their shape more under pressure cooking so you’ll have more distinct pieces of lentils, as in this recipe.
Another money-saving trick is to use a vegetable bouillon cube instead of buying vegetable broth. Of course, if you make homemade vegetable broth using veggie scraps and water, that’s your best option from a taste and affordability perspective! But for those of you who don’t have homemade broth on hand, using a vegetable bouillon cube with water instead of using vegetable broth can save you a couple dollars.
I love making this soup on Sunday and eat leftovers throughout the week. It’s especially delicious paired with some whole grain bread or a baguette!
Want more lentil soup recipes? Try this Mediterranean Lentil Soup or Instant Pot Lentil Soup! Looking for a red lentil soup? This warming, spiced Red Lentil Soup is a must-make!
Watch! How to make Instant Pot Lentil and Cabbage Soup
More great cabbage recipes
- Creamy Cabbage Curry: think my Red Lentil Curry with silky sweet cabbage!
- Napa Cabbage Salad: crisp napa cabbage, carrots, and cucumbers meet a sizzled garlic-sesame dressing
- Noodle Salad with Rainbow Veggies: red cabbage & carrots mingle with a tangy-sweet Vietnamese sauce, crispy tempeh, and peanut sauce.
- Gochujang Noodles: napa cabbage gets folded into noodles with a savory-sweet-spicy Korean sauce
And if you want more than 90 incredible vegan Instant Pot recipes, be sure to order my cookbook, The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook!
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
Vegan Instant Pot Lentil and Cabbage Soup
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 medium carrots, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt + more to taste (see Note 1)
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 cup (200g) green lentils
- 1 medium green cabbage, quartered, cored and thinly sliced or chopped
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube (can use 2 for more flavor) (see Note 2)
- 4 cups (960 mL) water (see Note 2)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- For serving: whole grain bread or baguette
Instructions
- Crush the canned whole tomatoes by hand into a bowl.
- Select the Sauté setting on the Instant Pot and let the pot heat up for a few minutes before adding the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook until the onion is lightly browned and completely soft, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add the carrots, garlic, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Cook until the carrots are just starting to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the lentils, cabbage, water, vegetable bouillon cube, remaining salt, and bay leaves. Stir to combine, pressing the cabbage down with a long spoon to ensure everything is below the Instant Pot’s maximum capacity line. Select the Cancel setting.
- Pour the crushed tomatoes on top and 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. Allow a natural pressure release.
- Once the pressure has released naturally, open the pot and stir in the vinegar. Taste for seasonings, adding more salt and pepper as needed. Serve with bread.
Video
Notes
- If using table salt, use 1 teaspoon salt total instead of 2 teaspoons. If using sea salt or Morton's kosher salt use, 1 heaping teaspoon salt instead of 2 teaspoons, then add more to taste.
- Or, use 2 to 3 teaspoons of Better than Bouillon, no chicken base. Or, skip both and use 4 cups (960 mL) vegetable broth instead of the bouillon and water.”
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I love it. Simple and delicious. Good with the bread but also with rice.
Thank you. Finally something I can make. I don’t have the patience require to follow recipes.
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Susie!
As with all your recipes…..they’re out of this world!! I’ve never made anything with a whole cabbage head before, but after following your recipe step-by-step, the result was “other worldly”!! Hearty, flavorful, satisfying and sinfully delicious. Five mega stars!!!
Awesome, Neil. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
This soup is delicious! I made it for the first time tonight and did not stray from the recipe. My whole family loved it, including my 6 and 9 year old kids! They say that it’s definitely a “make again.” Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Awesome, Steph. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
It would be helpful to post directions for those of us without Instant Pots or Pressure Cookers. I like a clean counterspace and do most of my cooking on the
stovetop.
Love all your recipes! Thank you!
I haven’t tried this yet, but I plan to. Looks easy and delicious, and as you said, it’s all ingredients I keep on hand other than the cabbage. I’m curious where the 16 grams of sugar comes from. Does the nutrition info include the bread? Thanks for another great recipe!
Glad you are looking forward to trying it! The nutrition info does not include bread. The sugar mostly comes from the tomatoes and cabbage but also the carrots. One large head of cabbage has close to 30g of sugar, interestingly! Enjoy the recipe 🙂
Hi Nisha !
Can i do this with brown lentils instead ?
Hi there Roxanne, yes you can! Although brown lentils will cook more quickly. You can try pressure cooking them for 8-9 minutes instead of 10, otherwise they will simply come out a tad more mushy in the end (which might not necessarily be a horrible thing). Enjoy!
Soooo yummy!! It reminded me of my grandmothers pot of cabbage and tomatoes.
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Renee!
I would appreciate nutritional value for those of us looking to limit our carbs and cholesterol.
Hi Larry, all of our recipes are 100% cholesterol-free (we don’t use animal products). But 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!
Delicious soup! My only pet peeve with many recipes, this one included, is the lack of more specific quantities of ingredients. For example, instead of I cabbage, I would prefer an approximate quantity in cups of cabbage in brackets.
Hi Jackie, sorry about that. We’ve begin to denote whether a small/medium/etc. cabbage is needed for the recipe in our newer recipes. We’re glad you loved the recipe otherwise!
Would it be a simple step to weigh the item that is not “measured” so at least we would have the weight you are using for your recipe? I do not worry about weight or size most of the time but cabbage can vary dramatically from small to HUGE so the weight you used in your recipe to get the balance of seasonings and liquids that you felt were ideal would be helpful. The other option is to simply toss the sliced cabbage in a large measuring cup before adding it to the pot. Thx for your consideration.
So what size cabbage should be used, or how many cups or weight?
Hi Lyn, a medium cabbage weighs about 32 oz.
Hi there Valerie, a medium cabbage weighs about 32 oz.
Delicious, nutritious, low cost … this recipe has it all!
Lisa, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!