Get my newest recipe via email:

Instant Pot Irish Potato Kale Soup

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.

Instant Pot Irish Potato Kale Soup in wooden bowls on wooden board

Click here to PIN Instant Pot Irish Potato and Kale Soup!

Jump to Recipe

A 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.
Instant Pot Irish Potato Kale Soup | Letty's Kitchen

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.

Just so you know, some of the links below are affiliates. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you!!

Pressure cookers:

  • If you don’t own a pressure cooker, you’ll find directions for stovetop Irish potato kale soup in the recipe notes.

To get my latest recipe posts and newsletters, subscribe here. (I hate Spam too and will never share your email with anyone.)

  • Follow me on Instagram!
  • Peruse my Pinterest boards for more vegetarian recipe ideas.
  • Find daily vegetarian and healthy living ideas on my Facebook page.

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you!!

If you like this recipe, I’d be grateful if you’d give a ✮✮✮✮✮ rating on the recipe card below.

Nutrition Facts
Instant Pot Irish Potato Kale Soup
Amount Per Serving
Calories 183 Calories from Fat 36
% Daily Value*
Fat 4g6%
Sodium 737mg32%
Potassium 783mg22%
Carbohydrates 33g11%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 2g2%
Protein 6g12%
Vitamin A 3580IU72%
Vitamin C 60.2mg73%
Calcium 151mg15%
Iron 5.1mg28%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

24 comments

  • Patti

    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 Reply · 10 March, 2017

    • Yay! Let me know what he thinks! This kale soup is lighter–not as many chunky things in it! Reply · 12 March, 2017

  • Green is my favorite color to cook with. GREG Reply · 13 March, 2017

  • Corinne

    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! Reply · 26 March, 2017

    • Thank you Corinne! Glad you enjoyed the soup! Reply · 27 March, 2017

  • Sean Donnelly

    Making this in the instant pot as I write this. Kitchen smells wonderful! Reply · 3 October, 2017

    • Hi Sean, I’m so happy you are making this recipe–one of my faves! Reply · 4 October, 2017

  • Kat

    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. Reply · 8 October, 2017

    • Kat,
      That’s the way–use what you have! I bet your version was delicious! Reply · 8 October, 2017

  • Lisa

    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 🙂 Reply · 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.) Reply · 9 October, 2017

  • Susie

    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!! Reply · 7 December, 2017

  • Lisa

    Loved it just added a little liquid aminos for flavor.
    Thanks Again. Reply · 4 January, 2018

    • Thank you Lisa–so glad you love the recipe. Good idea on the liquid amino flavor addition! Reply · 4 January, 2018

  • Wendy

    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! Reply · 10 March, 2018

    • Thank you Wendy! So cool that your kids loved this soup too! Reply · 11 March, 2018

  • tcook

    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! Reply · 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! Reply · 28 March, 2019

  • Steph

    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! Reply · 7 June, 2020

    • Thank you Steph! I love that you feel comfortable making a recipe more efficient. Reply · 7 June, 2020

  • Joan

    We loved it served it with a crusty baguette and some roasted garlic butter, yummm! Reply · 14 June, 2022

Leave a Reply

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.