Instant Pot Irish potato kale soup is a blend of potatoes so soft they’re falling apart, with ribbons of dark green kale, mildly sweet leeks, and garlic, all in a rich vegetable broth. Make in your pressure cooker or in your regular soup pot—it’s wonderful either way.
Click here to PIN Instant Pot Irish Potato and Kale Soup!
Jump to RecipeA little leprechaun gave me the idea to turn the traditional Irish peasant dish colcannon into this easy vegan soup. I traded cabbage and onions in for their more stylish cousins, kale and leeks.
Gently sautéed in olive oil, leeks elevate this slurpable soup above its rustic beginnings.
What is colcannon? Colcannon is kind of like green mashed potatoes, loaded with cooked cabbage and onions. Usually there’s a respectable amount of butter and cream in there too.
Instant Pot Irish Potato Kale Soup ingredients:
- Make your soup with russets or Yukon golds. Potatoes with the skin not peeled give this soup an earthier quality.
- Note that *Potatoes are on the “Dirty Dozen” list of vegetables and fruits with high-pesticide residues–if you can, choose organic potatoes. If you don’t have organic potatoes, just peel them first.
- Choose any variety of kale–I used the darker flat-leaf kale, known as Lacinato, Tuscan, or dinosaur kale.
- If you want your soup less brothy, with more heft, include an extra potato, and reduce the vegetable broth to 5 ½ cups.
It’s so easy and fast, I make all my soups in the pressure cooker.
More soups you can make in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker:
- Made with potatoes and kale as well, this Portuguese Potato Kale Soup includes white beans, tomatoes and smoked paprika. And vegan “sausage” if you wish.
- For a Southwestern swing, make my greens and potato soup with hominy and pinto beans.
- Try this creamy carrot soup with curry turmeric flavors!
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Pressure cookers:
- If you don’t own a pressure cooker, you’ll find directions for stovetop Irish potato kale soup in the recipe notes.
- My pressure cooker is the stovetop Kuhn-Rikon pressure cooker.
- If you have an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker, use it.
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Instant Pot Irish Potato Kale Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced, about 1 ½ cups (see note)
- 6 cups salted vegetable broth
- 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced in ¾-inch cubes
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 ounces kale, stems and center ribs removed and discarded, leaves coarsely chopped
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Chopped green onion, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in the pressure cooker pot. Add the leeks and sauté, stirring frequently until they soften, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the vegetable broth, potatoes, and garlic and lock the lid in place.
- Pressure cook for 6 minutes, then quick release the pressure immediately, following the directions for your pressure cooker.
- The potatoes will be very soft, practically falling apart. Mash them gently with a potato masher to break them up more. Stir in the chopped kale, and lock the lid in place again. Pressure cook on high for 2 minutes. Quick release the pressure.
- Stir in the apple cider vinegar and season to taste with salt. (My veggie broth is fairly salty, so the soup didn’t need any extra salt.) Grind in about 20 turns of black pepper.
- Serve hot, garnished with the green onion.
Notes
- Before slicing the leeks, trim the root and green leaf ends. Slit the leeks in half lengthwise and carefully rinse to remove the dirt that likes to hide between the layers.
- No pressure cooker or Instant Pot? Sauté the leeks as directed, add the vegetable broth, potatoes, and garlic. Simmer about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and falling apart. Gently mash the potatoes and stir in the chopped kale. Cook about 10 more minutes, until the kale is tender to your bite. Season with the vinegar and pepper, and salt, to taste.
Thanks Letty!
Will definitely make this!
My son’s favorite soup is your Portuguese Kale and Potato soup…maybe he’ll have a new favorite after he tries this!
xo
Patti · 10 March, 2017
Yay! Let me know what he thinks! This kale soup is lighter–not as many chunky things in it! · 12 March, 2017
Green is my favorite color to cook with. GREG · 13 March, 2017
This was mmmm good! Didn’t have leeks so used yellow onion and threw in a leftover 1/2 yam and it was really tasty. Thanks, Letty! · 26 March, 2017
Thank you Corinne! Glad you enjoyed the soup! · 27 March, 2017
Making this in the instant pot as I write this. Kitchen smells wonderful! · 3 October, 2017
Hi Sean, I’m so happy you are making this recipe–one of my faves! · 4 October, 2017
Well of course I didn’t have ANY of the correct ingredients so I didn’t actually make your recipe, but I do wish to thank you for the inspiration! Mine was unpeeled, multicolored little potatoes, garlic, green onions, “power greens “, navy beans in veg broth. Super easy, super yum. · 8 October, 2017
Kat,
That’s the way–use what you have! I bet your version was delicious! · 8 October, 2017
Hi Letty – This looks wonderful! Do you think I could sub part of the potatoes with cauliflower florets and keep everything else the same? I got a little crazy with cauliflower at the market this week 🙂 · 9 October, 2017
Yes, I think you could do exactly that. Possibly begin with a bit less liquid, adding more if you think it’s thick enough. (The potato has thickening qualities.) · 9 October, 2017
I absolutely LOVE this recipe. I never knew this soup was so easy. Plus, I love any recipe that lets the ingredients shine. Please keep instant pot recipes coming, especially plant based ones! I’m just entering the world of plant based lifestyle and love when i can use my instant pot.
Some quick modifications I did:
1) I only pressure cooked the potatoes, leeks, and broth for 2 minutes. I wanted my potatoes still in cubes for more texture/mouthful. I know its not authentic but personal preference.
2) In the future, I would only pressure cook the kale for 1 minute. It was a bit mushy for my taste.
3) I’ve never worked with leeks before. Like an idiot, I added the dark green parts of the leek. I totally didn’t read Letty’s instructions which were very clear to only use whites and light green. For anyone, who is absent-minded like me in reading instructions on occasion, it didn’t harm the taste. Definitely will do it as written next time. AND there will definitely be next time!! · 7 December, 2017
thank you Susie–I’m so happy you like the soup. Yes–I’ll keep them coming! Here is a link to my other pressure cooker/Instant Pot recipes: · 7 December, 2017
Loved it just added a little liquid aminos for flavor.
Thanks Again. · 4 January, 2018
Thank you Lisa–so glad you love the recipe. Good idea on the liquid amino flavor addition! · 4 January, 2018
Made this for the first time in the Instant Pot last weekend. My family loved it! Even my picky kids scarfed it down. I just got done making a double batch so we can have it for a few days. Thank you! · 10 March, 2018
Thank you Wendy! So cool that your kids loved this soup too! · 11 March, 2018
This is an easy, simple soup but is full of flavor. I didn’t have leeks on hand, so I used onion and was great.
I’ve made two batches and both were great! · 27 March, 2019
Same here–last time I made this soup I subbed a chopped onion for the leeks! We always have onions in the larder, leeks not so often! · 28 March, 2019
I’m a college student, so I don’t have much time for cooking. This was delicious! I changed up the process a bit by just using 4 cups of unsalted vegetable broth with 2 cups of water, and I added the kale in early with the broth, and it still turned out great! · 7 June, 2020
Thank you Steph! I love that you feel comfortable making a recipe more efficient. · 7 June, 2020
We loved it served it with a crusty baguette and some roasted garlic butter, yummm! · 14 June, 2022
Thank you! · 17 June, 2022
Thank you! I’m now craving roasted garlic butter! · 17 June, 2022