The Soup Chronicles: A comprehensive guide to the perfect vegetable soup

I moved into my Isla Vista apartment in June 2023 for the summer session after my freshman year. My roommates were only joining me in the fall, so I had to brave my first two months out of the dorms, without the help of a meal plan, all by myself. But almost immediately after I moved in, my older sister (a UC Santa Barbara alum) asked her ex-boyfriend who still lived in the area to bring me everything she left at his apartment. I wasn't particularly excited to be acquiring Garl, the giant, three-foot-long bright red worm she sewed in her third-year of college for some reason. (He sits in my closet to this day. I hate him.) But, adopting Garl was worth it because with him came my sister's old six-quart Instant Pot. And thus, began my soup journey.

My first foray into the wonderful world of soup was extremely unsuccessful. I threw a ton of black beans into my Instant Pot, along with some sweet potatoes and quinoa. I slightly underestimated how long it takes to cook dried beans, so some were still a bit firm, and I overestimated how long it takes to cook sweet potatoes, so they completely disintegrated. The result was an extremely dense pile of unevenly cooked black beans, and I made enough to feed an army. I froze half of it and refrigerated the rest, and slowly but surely ate my way through.

Even though this chili was terrible by pretty much all measures, it was with me for so long that I grew quite emotionally attached, and found myself missing it when it was gone. So, I decided to try again. My next soup was much more successful, which led me to create "The Soup Chronicles," a now 500-word Notion page where I obsessively documented all my next soups by name, rating, ingredients, cook time and other notes.

I did love to batch cook and meal prep, but a big pot of warm soup begs to be shared. In that spirit, I decided to invite a select group of tasters to my house to try my soup and give me their honest feedback. Unfortunately, my friends are extremely kind and only said good things. But their ability to describe the joy of soup was far greater than mine.

My friend Harleen said, "This feels like August when August used to be cold." Exactly. When my carefully curated Soup Day playlist started to play "Strawberry Blond," Daily Nexus Artsweek editor Lauren said "Mitski would like this soup." I hope this is all the convincing you need.

Over the course of this journey, I've played around with a lot of different ingredient combinations, cook times and techniques. Ultimately, I prioritize three things:

And with that in mind, I was able to develop a pretty consistent formula that I've used for all of my recent soups.

I throw dried black beans into the Instant Pot for 35 minutes on high pressure, and let them sit without releasing the pressure for 20 additional minutes. While they cook, I peel and chop all my fresh vegetables. Then, when the beans are ready, I drain and rinse them, toss in all the vegetables and add vegetable broth. I spice the soup and taste the broth to make sure I'm happy with it. Then, I cook the soup on high pressure for 8 minutes and let it sit in the pot for 10 more. After cooking, I typically only adjust the salt.

I would love to give you a recipe, but that would go against the spirit of the soup chronicles. It's not about recipes or measurements, it's about following your heart and letting what's available at the Isla Vista Food Co-op guide you. So instead, here's some comments on what worked for me and what didn't.

Beans: I always use dry beans because buying from the bulk food section and storing things in pasta jars gives me a slight feeling of superiority. Keep in mind that they'll expand a lot, the amount you pour into the pot will not be the amount you see when you open it up. I use about half a pasta sauce jar of beans in each soup, which is quite a lot. This is an extremely personal choice. When I asked my friends what they would change about my soup, one said "I wouldn't add beans," and another immediately responded "I was gonna say I'd add more beans." I used garbanzo beans once and they were also good, but I prefer the taste and texture of black beans.

Potatoes: Of all the ingredients, potatoes have the smallest margin of error. If you cut them too big, they'll be flavorless and undercooked in the middle. If you cut them too small, they'll pretty much disintegrate. I prefer the waxy texture of Yukon Gold potatoes to the more chalky Russet potatoes. Sweet potatoes should also be treated with caution, because if you add too many, your soup gets a little too sweet. My golden ratio has been 4 Yukon Gold potatoes and half a giant Sweet potato.

Carrots/Corn: Both of these ingredients don't really absorb flavor, and can make your soup pretty sweet. I don't add carrots anymore because I don't love their texture when cooked down, but corn holds a crunchy texture pretty well, which is nice because everything else is super mushy. I usually add around half a can of corn.

Celery: I've added a small stock of celery to pretty much all my soups. I only add the good parts and snack on more bitter ends as I cook. It's a pretty ridiculous amount of celery, but it absorbs flavor really well so I think it's worth it.

Tomatoes: I don't like cutting tomatoes, so I've never added fresh ones. But a (full) can of diced roasted tomatoes is absolutely game-changing, they add so much important flavor.

Pasta/Quinoa/Couscous: I'd recommend cooking pasta/couscous and soup separately, putting them together when you serve. I also wouldn't store the soup with them because they'll absorb all the water and get really thick and mushy. I've been known to throw a sprinkle of quinoa into the soup for some extra protein and it's never bothered me (I do NOT like quinoa). Just use it sparingly and account for how much water it'll absorb. You don't want your soup to get thick and porridgey.

Liquid: I've always dissolved Better Than Bouillon Seasoned Vegetable Paste into warm water instead of regular vegetable broth, and that's worked fine for me. The water doesn't really evaporate if you're pressure cooking, so just account for any ingredients that will absorb water. I would be generous here, in my opinion the broth is the best part. I usually add enough to make the pot around ⅔ full. The soup typically thickens up over time, don't be afraid to just add a little more water when reheating.

Spices: In addition to the Better Than Bouillon, I often add cayenne, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and salt. This is the fun part! There are no rules or restrictions. Once, my roommates made me cut up onions and saute them with spices, but my palate isn't refined enough to taste the difference and I hate cutting onions, so I never did it again.

In many ways, making soup in an Instant Pot is a leap of faith. You pretty much have to make a massive amount at once, and you can't watch or taste it as it goes. I've definitely had my failed soups, but I've never been one to waste food so I always find a way to make it bearable.

My original failed chili was honestly pretty incredible when I mixed it into Kraft mac and cheese. Another time, I didn't add enough water and it was super thick, so I ate it with chips instead. Once, my friends Samyak, Henna and I made soup together and we used a ginormous Sweet potato, a bag of frozen corn and a carrot. Shockingly, it came out a bit too sweet. But we added some more spice and some lemon juice in the end, which really helped balance it out.

I wouldn't say my soup is for everyone. It's obnoxiously healthy (sometimes described as earthy), and not a very texturally enriching experience. But it's delicious in its own special way, and the weeks I have soup on hand are definitely the most consistently nourished times of my life. So if you have an Instant Pot, three hours to kill and a parasocial relationship with the Isla Vista Co-op cashiers, then I hope you give my soup a try!