This creamy Instant Pot tomato basil soup uses canned tomatoes, carrots, celery, and a splash of cream for a cozy lunch or dinner. Serve it with grilled cheese or croutons.
If you read this blog regularly, you probably know that we make a lot of soup, especially tomato soup! Is there anything better than a hot mug of tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich on a cold winter day?
One of the best soup recipes is this Instant Pot Tomato Basil Soup. My family loves this recipe, and I love it because it’s easy and inexpensive to make.
Why Make Soup in an Instant Pot?
I got my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker
You can also use another electric pressure cooker with a sauté function and a high-pressure setting. Follow your model’s instructions for minimum liquid, soup fill limits, and pressure release.
This Instant Pot Tomato Basil Soup is packed with flavor and healthy veggies. Just a touch of heavy cream gives the soup richness without too many calories.
How to Make Savory Instant Pot Tomato Basil Soup
To start this recipe, dice up your veggies. You’ll need
- One medium onion
- Two large celery stalks
- Two large carrots
You can sauté these in a bit of olive oil using the Instant Pot’s sauté setting.
When the vegetables are softened, season with salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and dried basil. Then turn off the Instant Pot.
Stir in two 14.5-ounce cans of diced tomatoes, 2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth, and two bay leaves. If there are any browned bits on the bottom of the pot, use a wooden spoon to deglaze and scrape them up.
Next, secure the lid and select Pressure Cook or Manual at high pressure for 15 minutes. Follow your model’s sealing instructions and do not exceed its soup fill limit; Instant Pot guidance limits soup to the half-full mark.
When the cooking cycle ends, allow the pressure to release naturally until fully released, following your model’s instructions for soup. Do not force the lid open. Open it away from your face, then remove and discard both bay leaves before blending.
With the cooker turned off, puree the soup until smooth. Keep the immersion blender head submerged to limit hot splashes. An immersion blender is the best tool for pureeing hot soup. Fortunately, a decent immersion blender
Finish Instant Pot Soup with Cream
After pressure cooking and blending, stir in the 1/2 cup of heavy cream. If you don’t eat dairy, you can easily skip the cream, or use your favorite plant-based milk, like coconut or almond milk.
Can I Use Fresh Tomatoes?
I don’t recommend using fresh tomatoes for this recipe, as they have much higher water content. Your soup won’t have quite the same robust tomato flavor as canned tomatoes.
How to Serve Tomato Basil Soup
Tomato soup is the ultimate comfort food. It’s hot, creamy and satisfying, but also good for you. And it’s the perfect match for your grilled cheese sandwich. Of course, it also pairs well with salads, grilled chicken or beef.
If you want an even heartier tomato basil soup, you can add cooked small pasta (like orzo or ditalini) or cooked rice.
My favorite dishes to pair with creamy Instant Pot Tomato Soup include:
Timing, Storage, and Reheating
The 15-minute pressure-cooking cycle is only part of the process. Allow time for sautéing, coming to pressure, natural pressure release, and blending. The card’s 45-minute total is an estimate; actual time varies by cooker and pressure-release time.
Refrigerate leftover soup promptly in shallow covered containers and use within 3–4 days. Reheat to 165°F, stirring frequently. Vegetable broth makes the soup vegetarian; omitting or replacing the cream is a separate change if you also need it dairy-free.
Instant Pot Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 2 large stalks celery diced
- 2 large carrots diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cans 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- ½ cup heavy cream or whipping cream
Instructions
- Using the sauté setting of the electric pressure cooker, sauté the onion, celery and carrots in olive oil for about 5 minutes.
- Add the salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and basil, and sauté for 1-2 minutes more.
- Turn off the sauté setting. Add bay leaves, tomatoes, and chicken or vegetable broth. Stir and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom.
- Secure the lid and select Pressure Cook or Manual at high pressure for 15 minutes. Follow your model's sealing instructions and soup fill limit; do not exceed the Instant Pot half-full mark for soup.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally until fully released, following your model's soup instructions. Do not force the lid open. Open the lid away from your face.
- Remove and discard both bay leaves before blending.
- With the cooker turned off, puree the soup using an immersion blender. Keep the blender head submerged to limit hot splashes.
- After pressure cooking and blending, add the cream and stir until well blended.
- Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
Notes
Disclosures: The author was not compensated by any person or company for the content of this post. The post may contain affiliate links. If you buy a product using these links, we receive a commission. This helps with the cost of publishing recipes on this website.
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Can this soup be made with fresh diced tomatoes?
Oh my goodness, that sounds delicious, especially right now when fresh tomatoes are in season! If your tomatoes have thick skins, you might want to peel them first.
This soup turned out excellent. Easy to make and best of all tastes awsome. Don’t hesitate to make it
I grew up on Campbell’s tomato soup. It was always my favorite! But now I have made this soup multiple times! I have transitioned somewhat using water to sauté and coconut milk for the cream, making it Whole Food Plant based with no oil. Sooo good!
Hi Christy – I’m so glad you love the soup, and your modifications sound delicious! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Do you ever freeze this? Or doesn’t it last long enough? ?
It will freeze great without the cream in it, and you can add the cream just before serving. If you freeze soup that already cream in it, the cream might form little clumps. It will still taste great, but it doesn’t look as good. You might be able to smooth out the clumps with a whisk or blender. Good luck, Beth!
Made this today and was so delicious. I added the rind of a block of Parmesan. Thank you.
Thanks, Jeri! Adding Parmesan is always a great (or grate) idea!
I made this today. I used fresh basil and it turned out great. Thank you!
So glad you liked it, Lisa!
I have quart jars of tomatoes that we canned from the garden. Do you think 1 quart would suffice for this recipe? New to the IP and looking forward to trying this?
Hi John – Yes, I think a quart of home canned garden tomatoes would be excellent for this recipe! A quart is a little more than two 14.5 oz cans, so maybe hold back 1/2 cup or so of the juice so your soup isn’t too watery.
Made it tonight, very easy and so good. Thank you for the recipe. Will make again.
Thank you so much, Lil! It really is one of our favorites!
I made this tonight, it was so delicious! A nice warm and healthy family meal. I might lessen the red pepper flakes next time (for the kids) and use white pepper. Yummy! I will be sharing this with my IP-friends and making it again soon.
Thanks so much, Dawn! You can definitely change up or omit the pepper, or have people add it at the table if they want.
I love that I can eat this soup and stay low carb! My instant pot is getting a workout this week with the cold weather. This is great for hubby who works out in the cold and takes it in a thermos so he has a hot meal at lunch also! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Agreed, Shelby! I love that this soup is healthy and low carb.
Yum. Made this last night and it was delish paired with grilled cheese sandwiches…so easy and budget friendly compared to prices charged from nearby restaurants. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Dale! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Made this tonight with grilled cheese, added a little sugar to cut some acid from the canned tomatoes. It is delicious and I will make this again.
So happy to hear it, Karen! I agree it’s sometimes nice to add a little sugar to a tomato-based recipe.
Do you drain the tomatoes?
Hi Brenda – thanks for asking. No, you don’t need to drain the tomatoes.
My first time trying tomato soup, I made this one and it was so yummy. I changed it a little I put in half chicken half vegetable broth.
Great! I’m so glad it worked out for you!
This soup is so incredibly delicious! I had been searching for a tasty IP tomato soup and this is it! I added two cloves of garlic and a fresh tomato because it was starting to go bad so why not?! Thank you for this recipe !
My favorite soup and so easy to make.
Trish, I’m so glad to hear it!
was wonderful thanks for sharing