Vegan Instant Pot Pumpkin Lasagna Soup

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE pumpkin treats. But, I also think there are some incredible savory pumpkin recipes that get overlooked. Like this unique and fun pumpkin lasagna soup! If you are wondering, what exactly is a pumpkin lasagna soup, let me explain! First we turn lasagna into soup form (lasagna soup is a thing, Google it). Then we add the flavors of pumpkin and woodsy herbs to make it taste like Thanksgiving. And that’s how we get a pumpkin lasagna soup!

Why you’ll love this recipe

Fun and Unique. This soup combines everything you love about two great things in life: lasagna and fall flavors. Plus, it’s unique flavor profile is guaranteed to impress. Easy to Make. The main work involves chopping up and sautéing vegetables. Then you get to dump everything in the Instant Pot and let the machine do its work. So you get to enjoy the flavors of lasagna with a fraction of the work. Instant Pot Magic. The cook time for this recipe is just 4 minutes, which is far less time than any stovetop soup! (Disclaimer: it does take some time for the soup to come to pressure, like any Instant Pot recipe, but it’s hands-off so you can do other things in the meantime). Simple Ingredients. This lasagna soup is made with simple, readily available ingredients (think carrots, onions, garlic, chickpeas, lite coconut milk, vegetable broth, fresh herbs, etc.). Cozy Fall Comfort Food. This pumpkin lasagna soup is the coziest autumn-inspired comfort food! Creamy from lite coconut milk, pumpkiny from, well, the pumpkin, and herbaceous from the bouquet garni, it has everything about fall comfort food that you love!

How to Make Vegan Instant Pot Pumpkin Lasagna Soup

First, chop up your veggies (dice the onions and carrots, and mince the garlic), and break up the lasagna noodles into small pieces. Then, prepare your bouquet garni. A bouquet garni is a fancy French term for a bundle of herbs tied together. If you don’t have all of the specific herbs called for in the recipe, feel free to double up on another herb or use a similar herb (e.g., if you don’t have oregano, add a sprig of rosemary or add double the amount of thyme). Then, it’s time to start cooking the soup. Select the Sauté setting on your Instant Pot and add the olive oil. Once it’s hot, add the diced onions and carrots and cook until they start to soften. Then add the garlic sauté for 1-2 minutes. Deglaze the pot with the vegetable broth, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Then, pour in the coconut milk, chickpeas, lasagna noodle pieces, salt, pepper, nooch, and tuck in the bouquet garni. Finally, scoop the canned pumpkin on top but do not stir the pumpkin into the soup. To help prevent triggering that burn error, I like to spoon or scoop thick ingredients on top of everything else, so they’re less likely to sink to the bottom and scorch the bottom of the pot. Use the Pressure Cook setting at high pressure for 4 minutes. When the timer is done, perform a quick pressure release. A natural pressure release risks overcooking the lasagna noodles. While the soup is cooking, you can prepare the Tofu Ricotta. All you need is a food processor and it takes 5 minutes! When the soup is done, select the Sauté setting and add the tomato sauce, and stir until slightly thickened, just a few minutes. The reason I don’t add the tomato sauce during pressure cooking is it’s one of those very thick, viscous ingredients that is likely to trigger the burn error.

Watch! How to make Instant Pot Pumpkin Lasagna Soup

Tips for making this recipe

Be sure to break up the lasagna noodles into smaller pieces. You don’t need bite-sized pieces, but don’t stick them in the Instant Pot whole. The noodles won’t cook evenly and might stick to the bottom of the pot. Use traditional lasagna noodles, not the no-boil noodles. I haven’t tried this recipe with the no-boil variety so I can’t say for sure, but 4 minutes was perfect for my traditional lasagna noodles, so it’s possible that 4 minutes would overcook no-boil noodles. Deglaze the pot! When you sauté something in the IP, and then pressure cook thick ingredients like coconut milk, pumpkin, or canned tomatoes, deglazing is key. If you leave browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot, you risk triggering the Instant Pot burn sensor. Don’t stir the pumpkin into the soup before pressure cooking it. When you add very thick or viscous ingredients to the Instant Pot (think tomato sauce), it can stick to the bottom of the Instant Pot’s inner pot and trigger the machine’s burn sensor. I have made recipes where I have stirred the pumpkin into the rest of the ingredients and the Instant Pot has been fine, but since we’re also using pasta (which has a tendency to stick), it’s best to play it safe and not stir in the pumpkin. If you’re wondering how to do that, just use a spoon to scoop out the pumpkin on top of all the ingredients and don’t stir. Or just watch the video above (around the 01:30 mark) for a visual reference. If you don’t want to add chickpeas to the soup (maybe you think they don’t belong in lasagna soup, fine), then you can simply omit them. If you want to add a different protein to your soup, you can stir some baked tofu at the end. Don’t skip the bouquet garni! It’s what infuses the soup with a deep aroma of woodsy herbs. It really makes the soup! That’s about all you need to know about this vegan Instant Pot Pumpkin Lasagna Soup, so put on your fuzzy socks, light some apple spice candles, and start making this soup. And be sure to tag me on Instagram with your creations!