As of late, I have been using my instant pot way more. I’ll be the first to admit that pressure cooking always scared me a bit (due to, you know, my crippling fear of being horrifically scalded). But I promise, once you get the hang of it there is nothing to fear.
So welcome to the blog instant pot section of my recipe index! You are here to stay! Now that I know how easy you are to use I will never forget you or leave you to collect dust on a shelf in my cupboards. If everything that comes out of you is as tasty as this vegan minestrone soup, we certainly have a bright future ahead of us.
So this soup came to be in much the same way as my other recipes – I was craving something really specific. I have been vegan for about 6 years now and Olive Garden has only recently begun to add vegan options to their menu. Why should I care about this you might ask? This matters to me because Olive Garden is really the only “nice” restaurant in my home town. Yes nice is in quotations for a reason.
Whenever I had to patronize this establishment for some occasion or other, there was only one item on the menu that could suit my needs: the vegetarian minestrone soup. As you can probably guess, this soup was accidentally vegan if you didn’t let the waiter add any cheese. I would always have to jump in and stop them quickly.
Anyways, this past weekend I had an inexplainable urge to make my own version of this soup. I wanted it to have more veggies and contain WAY less sodium. I wanted it to be hearty yet completely pasta free. And oh yeah! I wanted it to be made in an instant pot. No biggie.
All that needs to be done to create this soup is load all the ingredients into the instant pot and then set to pressure/manual for 10 minutes. That’s it! Perfection is sure to follow.
Instant Pot Minestrone
This Instant Pot Minestrone Soup is full of fresh veggies and cooks for only 20 minutes!
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Cuisine: vegan, soup
Ingredients
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
3 large bay leaves
1/2 head cabbage, finely chopped
2 cups yellow squash, chopped
28oz can crushed tomatoes
5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (or 5 cups water with 4 tsp. vegetable bouillon)
1 cup farro, uncooked
15 oz can white beans, rinsed and drained
Instructions
1. Set your Instant Pot to the “Sauté” setting for 8 minutes. Add a splash of water or vegetable broth to the pot followed by the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, salt, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, and a pinch of pepper. Sauté in pot, stirring often until sauté cycle comes to an end.
2. Add cabbage, squash, crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, and farro. Secure pot with lid and make sure vent on top is set to “sealing” position. Hit the “Pressure Cook” button (or “Manual” button depending on model) and set to cook for 10 minutes on high. Once the 10 minutes are up, allow steam to release naturally for 10 minutes before turning the valve on the top of your Instant Pot to “venting” position. Allow pressure to release completely.
3. Once steam has finished releasing, carefully open Instant Pot facing lid away from you. Stir in white beans and hit cancel button. Serve with fresh bread and top with parsley or nutritional yeast if you wish. This soup can keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 3-5 days or be frozen for up to a month.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cups
- Calories: 419
- Sugar: 20.6g
- Sodium: 560mg
- Fat: 2.5g
- Saturated Fat: 0.4g
- Carbohydrates: 90.7g
- Fiber: 15.3g
- Protein: 13.5g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Keywords: vegan, instant pot, soup, minestrone
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