Instant Pot Vegetable Pho Noodle Soup

Instant Pot Vegetable Pho Noodle Soup starts with a delicious, from-scratch broth. This soup is healthy and packed with flavor.

I'm an absolute pho fanatic. This vegetarian pho recipe is loaded up with vegetables and herbs. It's the perfect bowl when you're under the weather!

Making Instant Pot Vegetable Pho Noodle Soup

The stock

You could make an incredibly fast, easy vegetable pho soup using high-quality vegetable stock from the grocery.

But it's so easy to make your own (much better) vegetable stock in the Instant Pot! Plus, it gives you the perfect opportunity to use up your vegetable scraps.

I always have vegetable odds-and-ends in my crisper and freezer.

For example, mushroom stems, a quarter head of cabbage, half an onion, and the like.

I also freeze broccoli stems and the the green portion of any leeks I buy for exactly this purpose.

For this recipe, I used fresh and dried mushrooms (stems and all), celery, carrots, sweet onions, ginger, and garlic.

If you have vegetable scraps to use up, by all means add them in!

Building flavor into your Instant Pot Vegetable Pho

The first key to a rich, deeply flavorful vegetable stock is to caramelize the onions.

You can do this using the Instant Pot's saute function (I use the highest setting).

Add olive oil to the insert of the Instant pot, then add in your onion and fresh mushrooms.

We want the onion and fresh mushrooms to be dark brown—practically charred—in a few spots (it doesn't need to be even; photo 2. in the collage below shows onions that aren't quite as brown as I like them for this stock).

Add the water for the stock (8 cups) to deglaze, scraping the bottom of the insert with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits, which are GOLDEN for flavor building.

Using dried mushrooms is also essential to a richly flavored stock. I like a combination of dried shiitake and wood ear mushrooms.

Finally, several dashes of Maggi seasoning sauce (or use liquid aminos, which is the base for the vegan version of my Quick Nuoc Cham Sauce) adds umami and salt.

I don't add salt to this soup: the Maggi seasoning sauce and the nuoc cham I use for garnish are plenty salty.

Plus, canned straw mushrooms are typically stored in brine (if you're on a salt-restricted diet, be sure to rinse them well).

Pressure cooking the stock

Add the remaining vegetables and seasonings to the insert of the Instant Pot.

Close the lid and seal the valve. Press "Pressure Cook." The stock should cook on high pressure: if "High Pressure" is not selected, press "Pressure Cook" again (see photo 4. below).

Use the plus button to adjust the cooking time to 30 minutes.

After a few seconds, the pot will begin to pressurize. When the cooking time is complete, let the pressure release naturally (don't open the valve).

Note that it takes around 10 minutes for the pot to come to pressure, and as much as 25 minutes to depressurize.

I use the pressure cooking time to prep the vegetables for the final soup (photo 5. below).

Once the Instant Pot has depressurized, press "Cancel."

Fish the solids out of the stock with a skimmer. Remove the solids to a colander set into a bowl and give them a rinse (with about 2 cups of water).

Then, squeeze the mushrooms to get as much liquid out as possible. Discard the solids and add the rinsing liquid back to the Instant Pot.

Run the stock through a fine-mesh strainer.

Rinse and wipe out the insert of the Instant Pot, then re-place into the cooker.

Return the stock to the insert. Press "Saute" and choose the highest setting.

Simmer the stock with sliced onions and cilantro stems for 10 minutes (meanwhile, prepare the pho noodles according to package directions).

Next, add the sliced mushrooms and broccoli florets. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining vegetables and simmer long enough to soften up the baby bok choy and warm everything through, about 3 more minutes.

Finally, divide the noodles among four bowls, add the stock and vegetables, and let everyone top with their favorite garnishes and sauces.

Vegetable options for Instant Pot Vegetable Pho

This soup is LOADED with vegetables. You can't have too many, IMO. Well...I suppose you can. 

Just make sure that you have a good stock-to-veggie ratio, and your soup will be delicious. You can also go lighter on the veggies, if that's your preference.

For this recipe, I used broccoli florets, sliced zucchini, lots of fresh and canned mushrooms, and baby bok choy.

But the soup is really quite versatile. You can use sliced cabbage, if that's what you have on hand.

You could add spinach just before serving. Fresh green beans would be a lovely addition.

If you're not a fan of the mushrooms, you can leave them out and add more green vegetables (but don't skip the dried mushrooms in the stock!).

The pho bowl that inspired this dish (at a pho joint near Green Bay, Wisconsin) had a lot of baby corn.

I don't care for that flavor, though, so I left baby corn out of my vegetarian pho recipe.

If you like it, absolutely add it back in. (Personally, I'd rather use fresh sweet corn kernels.)

You can also adapt the vegetable pho soup to whatever veggies are in season.

Garnishes

My must-have garnishes are sliced jalapeños, sliced scallions, cilantro, Thai basil, and lime wedges. Mung bean sprouts are also wonderful.

Sriracha is also a must, as is my Quick Nuoc Cham Sauce (use the veganized version).

That's it! I hope you love this healthy, delicious soup.

If you're a pho fanatic like me, be sure to check out my other pho recipes: Pressure-Cooker Pho Ga, Slow-Cooker Rotisserie Chicken Pho Ga, and Slow-Cooker Duck Pho. I have several more versions planned, so stay tuned!

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Recipe

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