Instant Pot Leftover Brisket Soup

Instant Pot Leftover Brisket Soup. Watch over my shoulder as I make use of my leftover instant pot brisket and transform it into the best ever hearty brisket soup.

You will love how easy it is to take some leftover cooked brisket, add some veggies and stock and pressure cook into an addictive beef soup. Then serve it with warm bread for the ultimate winter warmer.  

Leftover Brisket Soup

I often see these articles for how to freeze something, such as can you freeze brisket, and wondered how many of them have actually loaded their own brisket into the freezer and then cooked it again at another mealtime.

Or how many of these can you freeze brisket have just been generalised over and over again and are not practical or realistic.

I am all about walking the walk and talking the talk and had an idea when I was planning brisket week.

What if after we made our instant pot beef brisket sliders or our air fryer brisket, we freeze some? Then on another day make a delicious leftover brisket soup.

Well, that is exactly what we did!

We were heading out on vacation the day after we recipe tested our brisket sliders. The beef we had chopped up was loaded into the freezer and then thawed before being made into this leftover brisket soup.

What you are reading today is our behind the scenes, quickly freezing brisket, before returning a week later to make the best ever winter soup in the instant pot.

Plus, as well as our free newsletter, we also have a free instant pot mini course. It is ideal for instant pot beginners or those that want to get more confident with their instant pot. The free course runs for 5 days with a new lesson delivered each day to your inbox.

Can You Freeze Cooked Brisket?

Yes, you sure can. You can freeze your brisket, reheat it from frozen or thaw it and then reheat it.

You can also store frozen brisket in the freezer for up to three months before you consume it.

What we did was add sliced cold cooked brisket into a zip loc freezer bag. But what we also did was add the beef juices from the instant pot (after making instant pot brisket) into a silicone mould. (This is the one we recommend).

Then what we had later, was frozen beef brisket and frozen beef stock.

This would then be ideal. Because we can thaw the brisket and dice ready for making an instant pot brisket soup and we also had frozen stock cubes that we could load directly into the instant pot, and they cook defrost as the instant pot went to pressure.

Though do note, that freezing brisket is really not difficult you just need to remember the following:

• Make sure it is cool first
• Make sure the air is out of the zip loc bag
• Make sure it is thawed within 3 months

Also note, we were in a rush to set off on our holiday so freezing it and freezing the beef stock was done in less than 3 minutes and well worth it for saving your leftovers.

What To Do With Leftover Brisket?

Let’s just rewind for a moment. We were going on vacation without Kyle (he is 20 and likes the house to himself) and had been batch cooking lots of new recipes for Recipe This and had left way too much food for one.

I walked around the kitchen with him, showed what was in and what he could eat. Then realised he couldn’t possibly eat all the brisket and then decided the best option was to freeze some until we got back home.

I am telling you this because you might be looking at your leftover brisket and wondering what to do with it.

Well, load your leftover brisket into the freezer and you can forget about it for almost three months. You don’t have to stress about the food waste and then plan what to do with it later when you are less busy.

How To Use Leftover Brisket?

Today, we are showing you how to use leftover brisket to make a delicious winter soup. But beyond this, you can also use it in so many other ways.

For example, if you have sliced your brisket for a roast dinner or sandwiches, you can simply warm up your brisket in the air fryer and serve it in sandwiches or as another roast dinner.

You can also make tacos, a stir fry, a casserole or even in a pasta dish.

But what I love about leftover beef soup is that you can add in a lot of veggies, and it will stretch to feed more people.

Brisket Soup Ingredients

Brisket – You don’t have to have a large quantity of leftover brisket to make this work. Note that this brisket soup would feed at least four people, so if there is just two of you, then you could use less. You do want brisket that can be chopped into chunks though.

Veggies – I love my veggies in my soup and will go with what I have in, rather going out and buying lots of extra ingredients. I added onion, tinned tomatoes, carrots, and frozen corn. My family always joke when they see me with frozen corn that I am short on food and just trying to stretch it that little bit further.

Beans – Now this is another great way to fill your family up and feed more people. I had a can of white beans in the pantry that needed using up and added it in.

Stock – Also as mentioned, I added a beef stock cube that was still frozen. You can add it frozen to the instant pot and it will defrost as the instant pot goes to pressure. Perfect for avoiding food waste.

Wine – I love adding some red wine to the instant pot to deglaze it. It also adds great flavour and ideal for recipes with tomatoes and beef.

Seasoning – Next you need the seasonings, and you can mix and match with your own preference. Start with salt and pepper and then we used sweet paprika, coriander leaves, thyme, and mixed herbs. We also recommend adding extra after pressure cooking as the instant pot can strip some of the flavour.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this instant pot beef brisket soup recipe, it has just been our instant pot pressure cooker. We have this one and it is amazing for soups, stews, and casseroles.

How To Cook Leftover Brisket Soup?

• Sauté. Slice your onion and sauté with extra virgin olive oil in the instant pot. Then cancel and deglaze with the red wine.
• Slice. Place your thawed beef brisket onto a chopping board and cut into medium sized pieces.
• Dump. Place everything else (apart from the frozen corn) into the instant pot and stir.
• Cook. Set the valve to sealing and pressure cook for 5 minutes, followed by a 10 minute natural pressure release.
• Stir. After releasing the last bit of pressure, stir in frozen corn. The corn is fantastic at heating through with the warmth of the instant pot soup so no need to thaw it first. Then add in extra seasoning if you feel it needs it.
• Serve. Then serve with warm bread rolls such as our air fryer pull apart bread or our bread machine dinner rolls.

Brisket Soup Ideas

That is my way of cooking an instant pot brisket soup, but I am sure you have ideas of your own.

Note, we used what veggies we had in and would mix and match if our veggies or pantry was stocked differently.

You could add black beans and taco seasoning for a taco brisket soup. Or you could add potatoes instead of white beans and have another filling soup. Or make it paleo by swapping the beans for root vegetables. Or add red lentils like we do in our instant pot butternut squash soup to make it more filling.

More Instant Pot Soup Recipes

Below are a few other instant pot soup ideas, all made from leftovers, or what I have in, to make a hearty family soup.

• Instant Pot Leftover Turkey Soup
• Instant Pot Frozen Vegetable Soup
• Instant Pot Leftover Pot Roast Soup
• Instant Pot Leftover Shepherd’s Pie Soup
• Instant Pot Turkey Neck Soup

Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!