What’s the best way to get like all of your vegetable servings for the day in one meal? Vegetable soup, of course. What’s the best way to get a week or more of homemade vegetable soup lunches in just a couple of hours? The Instant Pot, baby. This low calorie (0 points if you do WW), high fiber, veggie loaded soup is on my lunch menu most days. It is filling and delicious.
Before we get to the recipe, however, I want share with you a story that warms my heart more than the vegetable soup you are about to make. I teach English to children in China with VIPKID. Recently, I was teaching one of my higher level students the folktale, Stone Soup. We were talking about the story and soup…
STOP! I kid, I kid. You will never find a long winded story about some random ass moment in my life before the recipe. I know why you are here. For the food. And. I know from experience, you don’t want to waste time scrolling. Scrolling. Scrolling down the river. Please tell me that I am not the only one who randomly turns what I am thinking into song. But. I digress. Onto the recipe.
Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
About 4 carrots, sliced
About 4 stalks of celery, sliced
1 zucchini (more or less or none to preference), diced
1 onion (more or less to preference), diced
2 cans of diced tomatoes with liquid
1 can of light kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of Italian cut green beans, drained
1 can of sweet corn, drained
8 cups (2 regular sized boxes) of broth (chicken, beef, vegetable)
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons parsley
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
2 bay leaves
- The vegetables are a guideline. Omit what you want. Add what you want. If you don’t like beans like the rest of my family, don’t add beans. If the rest of your family doesn’t like beans, add beans and have all the soup to yourself. Like I do.
- If you want to minestrone it up, throw in about 1 1/3 cups of small pasta – elbows, shells, ruffles.
Instructions:
1. Prepare all your fresh veggies so they are ready to dump. The prep time of 30 minutes was a complete estimate. It will probably take you less time than that. It probably takes me longer to prepare 4 carrots, 4 stalks of celery and a zucchini. For some reason, prepping takes me FOREVER. (still over here #becomingdomesticated)
2. If you are NOT including diced onions, skip ahead to step 4. If you are including diced onions, add 1-2 tablespoons of oil (I use grapeseed oil) to the Instant Pot. Push Saute. Once the Pot heats up, add the diced onion and saute until they are softened.
3. Push Cancel.
4. Add everything else. Yes, I mean everything, including the pasta if you are adding pasta. I usually dump the fresh veggies, followed by the canned veggies, then the broth and finally the herbs. But really, it doesn’t matter. It is all going in. Stir it up real good.
5. Put your lid on the Instant Pot. Make sure the vent is on Sealing/closed.
6. Set the Instant Pot to manual pressure for 4 minutes.
7. Go about your day. Pressurizing will vary based on the model of your Instant Pot. It will take longer than many of your recipes because the Pot is filled so much with yummy goodness.
8. Once pressure is reached, the timer will switch from ON to the 4 minute countdown. When the 4 minutes is complete, push Cancel.
9. I would let it natural release for at least 15 minutes. To release the pressure, move the vent to Open. Usually, I just leave it to naturally release for longer because I am doing other things.
Nutritional information per 1 CUP serving (WITHOUT PASTA): Calories 90; Fat .5 g (Sat. Fat .01 g, Unsat. Fat .04 g); Carbs 17.7 g (Fiber 5; Sugar 5 g); Protein 5 g; Cholesterol 0 mg; Sodium 774 mg; Potassium 220 mg
And there you have. Easy, delicious, healthy and fast-for-a-soup Vegetable Soup. I store it in the the fridge until it is gone. Switching it to a smaller storage bowl every couple of days.
Becoming Domesticated 