Instant Pot Red Bean Soup

Sweet Dessert Soups “tong sui” (Chinese: 糖水), literally translated as “sugar water”, is a common dessert to wrap up a meal in Chinese restaurants. Mostly, in Cantonese restaurants.

We, Hong Kongers, love Dessert Soups so much that you’d find Dessert Soup Shops in every neighborhood just like how you’d find Starbucks in the States.

Among some of the most popular traditional Sweet Dessert Soups like Tofu Pudding, Sai Mai Lo, Black Sesame Soup…Red Bean Soup is one of the most common desserts served in Chinese restaurants or Chinese banquets!

Red Bean Soup is unbelievably easy to make, requires only a few ingredients you can store in the pantry. And Instant Pot Pressure Cooker makes it even easier!

What are Adzuki Beans?

Adzuki Beans (aka Azuki, Aduki, or Red beans) are small red mung beans that are mostly grown in East Asia.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, Adzuki Bean provides healing properties. It’s an awesome source for protein and disease-fighting & health-promoting antioxidants among other essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. It’s also low in calories & fat, yet high in nutrition.

In East Asian cuisine, adzuki beans are often used for sweets or desserts such as Tang Yuan, Mooncakes, pastry or bread filling, shaved-ice or ice-cream topping, Taiyaki, Dorayaki, drinks like Bubble Tea or Red Bean Ice…

Step-by-Step Instant Pot Red Bean Soup Guide

Here is the simple ingredients list for Pressure Cooker Red Bean Soup.

*Tip: You can substitute brown sugar in pieces (Chinese: 冰片糖) with normal brown sugar.

Prepare Ingredients

Rehydrate chenpi in cold water for 15 – 20 minutes. Use a spoon to scrub off the white part of the chenpi as those can be bitter.

Pick & rinse 1 cup (200g) adzuki beans in cold tap water. Drain well.

Pressure Cook Red Bean Soup

Place 1 cup (200g) cleaned adzuki beans, 1 piece (2g) chenpi, 2 pinches of kosher salt, and 2 pieces (130g) brown sugar in pieces in Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.

Add 6 cups cold water (1500ml) in Instant Pot.

Close lid, then pressure cook:

• Pressure Cooking Method: High Pressure for 30 minutes + 20 minutes Natural Release

After 20 minutes Natural Release, turn Venting Knob to Venting position to release the remaining pressure.

Emulsify Instant Pot Red Bean Soup

*Pro Tip: Since there is not much movement inside the pot during the pressure cooking process, the red bean soup will not emulsify after pressure cooking. So it’s important to boil the red bean soup in Instant Pot after opening the lid.

Bring the red bean soup to a boil using the “Saute High” function.

Let it boil for 15 – 20 minutes until desired thickness. Stir occasionally.

Or you can go wild and go as thick as you like 🙂

*Pro Tip: The red bean soup can thicken even further after chilling in the fridge overnight.

How Thick Should I Make My Red Bean Soup?

Different countries/regions serve Red Bean Soup with varying thickness/textures. Plus everyone has a different preference on how soupy or thick they like their sweet soup.

We like our Red Bean Soup quite thick – to a point each spoonful of dessert soup has a “sandy”, hearty, earthy texture (the bottom photo above) – what we call「起沙」in Cantonese.

This might just be the reason why Hong Kongers call it「紅豆沙」(Hong Dou Sha; literal translation: Red Bean Sand) rather than「紅豆湯」(Hong Dou Tang; literal translation: Red Bean Soup).

Try both and see which one you like better! 🙂

Taste and add in more sugar if desired. For reference: we added roughly 2 more tablespoons (30g) of sugar in the end.

Serve Instant Pot Red Bean Soup

The red bean soup can be served hot, warm, or cold. Great for both Winter & Summer weather 🙂

You can also add in some coconut milk for another layer of flavor!

Enjoy your Sweet Instant Pot Red Bean Soup!~ 🙂

Tools for Instant Pot Red Bean Soup

• Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker
• Bamboo Wooden Spoons
• Colander

Other Instant Pot HK Desserts

Instant Pot Tofu Pudding (香滑豆腐花 – 免石膏粉!)

Adzuki Beans (Red Beans) Popsicles

Instant Pot HK Egg Custard (超滑鮮奶燉蛋)