This Instant Pot Fish Soup is quick and easy. It’s flavourful, filling, yet light. Great for summer or winter weather. Easy to make and delicious to eat. Let your electric pressure cooker do all the work!
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When I got my Instant Pot at the end of last year, it took me weeks, if not months, to actually like the appliance. There were too many things that bothered me about it. I even wrote an article about 7 Things You Need To Know About Instant Pot.
After I figured out how to make Instant Pot No Knead Dinner Rolls, I became a convert and a big fan of Instant Pot. One of the things I absolutely adore about it is the beautiful and clear broth that you get when making soup.
This Instant Pot Fish Soup has been my go to dish for the past couple of months. It’s delicious, it’s healthy, it’s easy. And it’s also beautiful with it’s clear golden broth and blush pink salmon.
Also, funny enough, my toddler absolutely adores this Fish and Potato Soup.
The flavour of this Fish Soup is very light, yet it’s very filling. It’s a perfect dish to make in an Electric Pressure Cooker in the hot summer months when you don’t want to spend time cooking on the stove. And it’s also amazing in the cooler fall and winter months when you crave a delicious and satisfying hot soup.
This Instant Pot Fish Soup is also very similar to my childhood favourite, Affordable Canned Salmon Soup.
What are the ingredients for the Instant Pot Fish Soup
The ingredients aren’t anything fancy and you only need a few of them:
- onion
- carrot
- salmon
- potatoes
- dill
- broth
- seasonings
Do you use frozen salmon or fresh salmon for this Fish Soup?
Here’s the beauty of this soup: you can use either fresh or frozen salmon. Moreover, you don’t even need to defrost the salmon if you don’t have time!
In fact, I would suggest not to use fresh salmon for this Instant Pot Fish Soup and stick with a good quality, sustainable frozen salmon instead. It will make the soup much more budget-friendly and affordable.
I’ve made this Fish Soup with fully defrosted salmon, fully frozen salmon, and with semi-thawed salmon. The taste is the same!
TIP: Get a package of frozen and sustainable salmon filets when it’s on sale and keep in your freezer for a quick, delicious, and affordable dinner!
How to make Instant Pot Fish Soup
Just as most of my Instant Pot Recipes go, this one is pretty easy:
- Sauté a bit of onion and carrots until nice and soft in electric pressure cooker
- Add the seasonings, potatoes, fish, broth, and cook in Instant Pot
- Stir in some fresh dill once done and serve!
Easy-peasy!
How long to cook Instant Pot Fish Soup?
It took me a few tries to come up with the proper measurements and timings but I finally have it figured out. Well. Almost.
I cook this Fish Soup for 3 minutes on high pressure in my Electric Pressure Cooker. But I have a sneaking suspicion that it would work even if cooked for 2 minutes.
Yet, I am afraid to try. Salmon will be cooked in 2 minutes but I am not sure about the potatoes. I think they will. Yes? Maybe?
Request: if anyone tries to make this Salmon and Potato Soup in their Instant Pot in 2 minutes, please let me know!
How long does it take to make Instant Pot Fish Soup?
Does this Fish and Potato Soup actually take 3 minutes to cook? NO WAY!
A lot of Instant Pot recipes online are trying to lure readers with such headlines as “5-minute mac and cheese” or “3-minute dinner” but it’s false advertising. Most of those recipes either don’t mention the time it takes for the electric pressure cooker to come to pressure or talk about it in passing.
In my recipes I always say how long it takes for my Instant Pot to come to pressure and to release the pressure. I also add the actual cooking time of the dish.
It takes about 10 minutes to properly sauté the onions and carrots. My Instant Pot takes about 23-25 minutes to come to pressure for this Fish and Potato Soup. And it also takes about 4 minutes to release the pressure.
Add the 3 minutes cooking time and another 10 minutes of prep and you get about 50-55 minutes start to finish. However, there’s only prep time and sautéing that are hands-on.
TIP: If you are worried that your Instant Pot silicone ring will smell like fish, just purchase an extra set of rings and use them specifically for seafood dishes.
Why are the carrots grated?
Many western dishes start with mirepoix, which often includes diced carrots, onions, and celery. Grating carrots is a very Russian thing to do.
When carrots are grated instead of diced, they get softened very quickly and then they almost melt into the soup while providing it with tons of flavour and beautiful colour.
There are tons of cooking videos online now where onions and carrots are chopped into big pieces and then barely cooked at all before the rest of the ingredients are added. No wonder why there are so many parents complaining that kids don’t like when onions or carrots are added to the recipes.
With the surge of everyone creating cooking videos and a decline of people watching real cooking shows with real and trained chefs, many people don’t know how to properly dice the vegetables and cook them for the soups or sauces.
The trend in quick recipes is also to blame!
Properly cooking carrots and onions as the beginning of a sauce or a soup is important. The vegetables need to soften and release their sugars, which then will start slightly caramelizing and imparting a lot of flavour.
Grated carrots and finely diced onions, once cooked this way, melt into the broth in a way that the texture of the Fish Soup isn’t impacted.
But what if I want to turn this Instant Pot Fish Soup into “dump and start” recipe?
Ok, even though I strongly (very strongly) encourage you to properly cook the carrots and onions first, it is not necessary. You could just add all the ingredients together and cook without sautéing, thus turning this Fish and Potato Soup into a perfect “dump and start” recipe.
Ingredients and substitutions for the Fish and Potato Soup
- Salmon
- I have tried making this Instant Pot Fish Soup with half Salmon and half Cod. Although the soup tasted great, the cod didn’t hold shape and got integrated into the broth. I love the beautiful golden broth in this soup so I prefer to use Salmon only. You can use salmon and cod together if you’d like.
- Potatoes
- I love using mini potatoes for this Fish and Potatoes Soup. In most stores they are sold in bags of 1.5 pounds, so I don’t have to weigh and measure. I just know that I need one bag of mini potatoes.
- I have made this soup with yellow mini potatoes and red mini potatoes. I prefer the flavour and texture of yellow mini potatoes, but red mini potatoes also work.
- You could use regular potatoes as well, just dice them into small pieces. Do not use Russet potatoes, as those would not work for the soup.
- Broth
- I always use Better Than Bouillon for broth. I have made this soup with both Vegetarian Better Than Bouillon and Chicken Better Than Bouillon. I honestly did not notice any difference in flavour.
- I am trying to find a Fish Better Than Bouillon in a local store as I think that would be totally amazing with this soup.
- Seasonings
- I really like Old Bay Seasoning for this soup and dry dill. You can use other seasonings if you’d like and experiment with different flavours like maybe Cajun spice or Provencal herbs.
- I don’t use a lot of salt in my cooking and for my taste the amount of salt in Old Bay, broth, and extra that I added is more than enough. If you prefer saltier food, just add more salt.
- Dill
- In my mind, dill and fish are a match made in heaven. So, I almost always have dill when cooking fish.
- You could use parsley instead or omit all the fresh herbs altogether, although I think they add a lot of flavour and complexity to the dish.
Like this Instant Pot Fish Soup and want more Fish Soup Recipes?
- Quick, Easy and Affordable Canned Salmon Soup from yours truly
- Cioppino (Seafood and Tomato Stew) from Samantha of The Little Ferraro Kitchen
- By the way, Samantha also has an amazing cookbook coming out in just a couple of weeks, you can pre-order The Weeknight Mediterranean Kitchen now.
- Creamy Crab Bisque from Dana of Killing Thyme
- Easy Clam Chowder with Smoked Oysters from Sarah of Champagne Tastes
- Moqueca (Brazilian Fish Stew) from Samantha of The Little Ferraro Kitchen
- Smokey Seared Scallop Chowder from Dana of Killing Thyme
Did you know I have a cookbook, The Ultimate One-Pan Oven Cookbook, coming out in August 2018? PRE-ORDER now! It has 75 delicious and unique recipes to make in your oven including a delicious Hoisin-Glazed Salmon. It’s so good!
Try my other Instant Pot Soups:
DO YOU WANT MORE INSTANT POT RECIPES?
Join my Real Ingredients Instant Pot Recipes Facebook Group!!! It’s a fun and safe place to share your own Instant Pot recipes made with Real Ingredients.
Instant Pot Fish Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 large onion
- 1 large carrot
- 1 teaspoon dry dill
- 1 teaspoon old bay seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 bay leaves
- 1.5 pound frozen skinless salmon filets
- 1.5 pound mini potatoes
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
Instructions
Prep all the ingredients first
- Very finely dice the onion.
- Grate the carrot.
- If the salmon filets are defrosted or semi-thawed, cut the fish into 1 inch cubes. If the salmon filets are frozen, keep them whole.
- Halve or quarter mini potatoes.
Make the Instant Pot Fish Soup
- Press sauté button on your Instant Pot and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the prepared onion and carrot.
- Sauté for about 10 minutes stirring every once in a while to make sure the vegetables do not burn. The onions and carrots should become very soft and reduce in size by at least half.TIP: If the onion and carrots begin to burn, add a splash of broth.
- Once the onions and carrots are cooked, add a little bit of broth to deglaze and scrape really well to make sure that the bottom of the Instant Pot insert is clean. This will prevent the dreaded burn notice.
- Add the seasonings.
- Add the potatoes, salmon, and the rest of the broth.
- Turn the sauté button off.
- Put the lid on and turn the vent into the sealing position.
- Press Manual or Pressure Cooker button (depending on your model) and using the arrow buttons set the cook time to 3 minutes. Depending on the temperature of the ingredients, it could take up to 25 minutes to come to pressure!!!
- Once the Instant Pot beeps that the 3 minutes of cooking are done, do a quick release. Quick release will take about 4 minutes.
- Open the lid, add the chopped fresh dill and mix.
- Serve with extra sprinkling of fresh dill and a squeeze of lemon juice if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Lera says
Julia, thank you sooo much for this recipe! Its easy, healthy and everybody loves it! What else could I ask for?!
Julia says
I’m so glad you loved it. It’s one of our favourite soups here also!
Deanna says
Just amazing! Restaurant quality! Tough critics (my Russian family). Approved! So happy I found this site and this foodie gal! Can’t wait to try more!
Julia says
Easy, nutritious and yummy!
Julia says
Thank you! I love it also!
Grace Winter says
My family loved this recipe!! SO easy to make, plus I loved being able to make it with frozen salmon. I used chicken broth since I didn’t have vegetable on hand and all three teen kids gobbled it up. I used four frozen filets but may use 6 next time, if it fits. I’ll definitely be making this again – thank you!
Julia says
Thank you so much! I’m really glad you and your kids loved it! I once even made it using beef broth because it was all I had on hand and it turned out just fine. I use chicken or vegetable broth and sometimes even just water.
rita says
Can you use butternut squash chunks or sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes?
Julia says
I haven’t tried so I don’t know. Most likely yes but can’t confirm
Tatiana says
Just wanted to say thank you!’! Honestly, I was skeptical cuz I always fail on a fish soup, but this one is delicious !!! So quick and easy! It was my first recipe from your website but surely not the last one !!
Julia says
Thank you so much! I love this soup also. I make it 2-3 times a week. In fact just made it last Friday again.
Crystal Banks says
This soup was amazing! It was my first attempt at anything in my instant pot and it was a success! Even my teenage son who’s kinda picky liked it. I cut the recipe in half to fit my Mini Lux and it was perfect. I also used half fresh salmon and half frozen just to see the difference. Both tasted great, but the fresh salmon was the winner. I’ll definitely be making this again…it was so easy.
Julia says
I’m so glad to hear that you and your son liked the recipe! It’s one of my favourites!
Elizabeth says
I love this soup! I’m making it now for the second time. It’s 12 degrees right now in Pa so this will be perfect..thank you for this gem!
B says
This looks great! So even if I use frozen whole salmon filets, I still just set it for 3 minutes?
Julia says
I actually do only 2 minutes now for fully frozen fillets so 3 minutes will definitely be enough. I just made it again yesterday with 2 minutes and frozen filets (about 1/4 pound each)
C says
We love this soup. And my toddler gobbles it up!
Julia says
I am so glad to hear it! My toddler also adores it!
Liz says
This was absolutely delicious and so easy! I really liked the subtle texture of the grated carrot. Thank you for this recipe!
Julia says
I am so glad you liked it!
Liz says
Hi! This may sound silly, but can you provide some recommendation for making this on the stove? I’d assuming beginning the recipe the same way and letting the potatoes cook for awhile and adding the salmon last? But curious how long you recommend. Thanks!
Julia says
Not silly at all 🙂 I haven’t tried it on the stove but this is how I would make it. Cooking onions and carrots like that is a very Russian way (I am Russian) and we usually cook them separately and only add to the soup at the end. So, I would start cooking potatoes in the broth, once they are half cooked (maybe 10 minutes?), I’d add the fish and cook until the fish and potatoes are done. That should be no more than 10 minutes I think, maybe even less. While the fish and potatoes are cooking, I’d cook the onions and carrots on a separate pan. Once the fish and potatoes are done, I’d add the onions and carrots to the soup, garnish with dill and serve.
Now, this way of cooking onions/carrots separately is very Russian 🙂 You may cook onions/carrots first and then add the broth and potatoes to the pot with the onions/carrots as you suggested. It’s more american way of cooking 🙂
liz says
Thank you so much! I can’t to try it!
Sherrie McMichael says
This sounds amazing! What do you think about adding a little spinach or kale to this soup? Do you think it would drastically change the flavor?
Julia says
Can you believe it but I’ve never cooked with kale anything! I’ve heard it’s sometimes tough so I can’t comment on adding it. However, I think you can totally add spinach once the soup is cooked! Just add a couple of cups of fresh spinach and mix, it’ll wilt and cook from the residual heat. I’ve never tried it myself but I think it’s an awesome idea!
Cindy says
Made this in my IP last night DELICIOUS!! I’m not a carrot fan so I used a cup of frozen broccoli florets instead 🙄 So yummy!
Julia says
I am so glad you liked it! And I am glad you changed the recipe to your taste. Cooking is all about experimentation and adapting recipes to suit your needs, so that’s great!!!
Liliana says
Like you, I didn’t use my Instant Pot for a while after I bought it, but once I did, I haven’t stopped. I only use fresh ingredients except for the broth as I don’t always have homemade vegetable stock on hand,
I haven’t made fish soup yet and your recipe sounds so good! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Julia says
Yes, Instant Pot is a funny appliance. You really need to get to know it before liking it. This soup is amazing, it’s really delicious, and comforting, and easy!