From the roundup: 22 Instant Pot Soup Recipes for Easy Weeknight Dinners

Around 3:30, before the pickup run starts, I seal up the Instant Pot with a jar of well-fermented kimchi, a generous spoonful of gochujang, and enough broth to make this Instant Pot spicy kimchi tofu soup worth ladling over rice for all seven of us. The pressure cycle does the work in about eight minutes, and I add the soft tofu after the lid comes off so it stays in clean, tender cubes instead of falling apart in the broth. The kimchi juice pulls double duty as the base flavor, so there is no need to fuss over a long simmer or complicated seasoning. We eat it with rice straight from the cooker, and the pot is almost always empty before I start the dishes.

Why you will love this

Kimchi juice and gochujang build a real broth without a lot of ingredients or time.
Soft tofu keeps the soup filling without making it heavy.
You control the heat: less gochujang for mild, add gochugaru if you want more fire.
The pressure cooker cuts the usual simmer time down to under 30 minutes total.
It works as a standalone bowl over rice, no side dishes required.

Tips for success

Saute the kimchi until it smells toasty and the edges start to caramelize before you add any liquid. Skipping this step is the biggest reason the broth tastes flat.
Add the tofu only after the pressure cooking is done. If it goes in before, it breaks apart and turns grainy in the broth.
Quick-release carefully on spicy soups. The liquid can spit through the valve, so keep a folded towel nearby and point the vent away from you.
Taste the broth before adding the tofu and adjust salt or gochujang at that point. It is much harder to balance once the tofu is in.

Common questions

Is it supposed to be this red? Yes. The color comes from the gochujang and kimchi brine, not food coloring.
Can I use firm tofu instead of soft? You can, but the texture is chewier and it absorbs less broth. Soft or silken is traditional here.
What rice goes best with it? Plain short-grain white rice is what I use. It soaks up the broth without competing with the flavor.
Can kids eat this? Mine do not, honestly. It is genuinely spicy. If you are feeding younger kids, cut the gochujang in half and skip the gochugaru.

Substitutions

To keep it vegetarian, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. If you want more savoriness without meat, a small splash of soy sauce works better than fish sauce for that version. For a non-vegetarian version, a few shrimp or a spoonful of fish sauce stirred in at the end adds depth. If you are out of gochujang, one teaspoon of chili paste plus a small pinch of sugar is a reasonable stand-in, though the flavor will be sharper and less complex.

Firm tofu works if soft is not available. Just know the cubes will not absorb the broth the same way, so the soup reads more like a chunky stew than a silky one.

Make-ahead and storage

The soup keeps in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheat it low and slow on the stovetop so the tofu does not break apart from the heat. I usually add a small splash of broth or water when reheating because the tofu absorbs liquid as it sits.

Freezing the finished soup is not great for soft tofu. The texture turns spongy after thawing. If you want to freeze a batch, make the broth base without the tofu, freeze that for up to two months, and add fresh tofu when you reheat it.

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