Dairy Free Instant Pot Cheeseburger Soup

This comforting and hearty cheeseburger soup is made in the Instant Pot and is completely dairy free and gluten free. This is great as a stand-alone meal or alongside cornbread or roasted root vegetables.

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Fall is officially here and our weather has been going in and out of chilly to hot, but we’ve officially switched to soup mode here. If you are a fan of our Instant Pot creamy chicken chowder recipe, this will become another favorite.

Our version of cheeseburger soup is thick and creamy, but completely dairy free and gluten free, as well as peanut free and soy free. But even though it’s allergy-friendly, it is still loaded with flavor and it’s perfect for chilly weeknights.

I don’t have process shots and a video up for this yet, I’ll try to get those added soon!

Why you’ll love this recipe

Our cheeseburger soup is a hearty comfort food soup recipe for fall and winter, and the Instant Pot pressure cooker makes it a little easier to make.

This soup is delicious as a stand-alone dish or served with cornbread, biscuits, or a veggie side dish like roasted carrots.

How to make dairy free cheeseburger soup

Here are the steps to make our Instant Pot cheeseburger soup, this is just an overview of the steps, the full recipe is at the end of this post.

1. Turn on the Instant Pot to saute, add a little oil to the pot and brown the beef with the garlic and seasonings in the pressure cooker until cooked through.
2. Turn off the saute function.
3. Add the chopped bell pepper, chopped potatoes, and beef broth to the pot, lock the lid, and pressure cook on high for 6 minutes.
4. While the soup is cooking, prepare the bacon by preheating the oven to 400 degrees F and lining a baking sheet pan with parchment paper.
5. Arrange the bacon on the pan and bake in the oven for 13-16 minutes, until crisp to your liking. Check on the bacon at 13 minutes and add 2-minute cooking increments until the bacon is crisp.
6. Remove excess oil from the bacon strips by blotting with a paper towel, chop the bacon, and set it aside.
7. Once the soup is done cooking in the pressure cooker, allow the pressure to release naturally for 25 minutes, then do a quick release of the rest of the pressure.
8. Remove the lid and turn the Instant Pot on to saute to simmer the soup.
9. Add the nutritional yeast flakes and the dairy free cheddar cheese.
10. Whisk the cornstarch into the coconut milk and add that to the simmering soup and stir regularly until thickened.
11. Add the bacon and allow the soup to cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving. Add additional salt and pepper if needed to your liking.
12. Top with dairy free sour cream, green onions or chives, and optional chopped dill pickles (I liked the dill pickles on top but my husband wasn’t a fan).
13. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.

If you want more of a cheeseburger flavor, you can use tomatoes in this soup instead of red bell peppers. I chose red bell peppers instead of tomatoes since we don’t like cooked tomatoes that much in our house.

You can add canned chopped tomatoes to the soup after pressure cooking, or even some chopped roasted red bell peppers after pressure cooking as well if you don’t want to use fresh bell peppers.

I also didn’t add chopped onions to this soup, just onion powder, since I can’t eat a lot of onions. But if you want to add more onion flavor, you can add 1/2 cup chopped onions while browning the beef before pressure cooking.

For potatoes, my favorite potatoes for cooking are Yukon gold potatoes since they are naturally creamy, and not starchy (like russets) or waxy (like red potatoes). They have a great flavor and texture in this soup and in our chicken chowder recipe.

Can I make this soup on the stovetop?

I love making this in the Instant Pot since it cooks the potatoes so well without having to watch over a pot on the stove, but you should still be able to make this recipe on the stovetop as well.

The ingredients would be the same, just a few changes in the cooking method.

1. Brown the beef with the bell pepper, seasonings, and garlic in a 4-5 quart soup pot.
2. Add the potatoes and beef broth and simmer partially covered until the potatoes are tender but not mushy.
3. Prepare the bacon while the soup is simmering the same way as written for the Instant Pot method.
4. Once the potatoes are fork tender, continue to simmer while adding the yeast flakes, dairy free cheddar cheese, and the cornstarch whisked into the coconut milk.
5. Simmer the soup, stirring regularly, until the soup has thickened. Add the chopped bacon and serve with your favorite toppings (allowing the soup to cool a bit before serving).

Check out our recipe roundup of allergy friendly Instant Pot soup recipes!

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