Hey everyone! The summer harvest is in full swing and, I hate to say it, but temperatures are dropping a bit for us in the North East. What better way to use up those local veggies than to make an Instant Pot Minestrone Soup with Lentils! This hearty Italian soup comes together in 20 minutes once all the veggies are chopped. You can add a ton of different veggies, pasta, and beans. There’s no one way to make this but I’ll show you how I made mine with what I had in my pantry.
The Ingredients
Lentils are a great thickener for this soup. Add more or less as you like. More to make a thicker lentil soup type consistency or less to make a thinner soup. I think tomatoes and pasta are key (I used gluten-free pasta) and I love fresh green beans.
celery
onion
carrot
olive oil
garlic
zucchini
green beans
tomato
lentils
pasta
bay leaf
broth
Italian seasoning
salt
Saute the Vegetables
The start to any good soup has carrot, celery and onion sauteed together in olive oil before adding the rest of the ingredients. Cook them at the bottom of your Instant Pot for a few minutes until soft then add the garlic and saute briefly.
Pressure Cook
Add your chopped green beans, tomato, lentils, pasta, bay leaf, broth, Italian seasoning, and salt. Give it a stir, put the lid on, and pressure cook on high for 8 minutes! That’s it! I opted to not pressure cook the zucchini. This is optional in this minestrone. I find that zucchini tends to get a bit mushy.
Adding the Zucchini
Adding the zucchini and simmering the soup for 3 minutes after it’s been pressure cooked adds a summery crunch of fresh vegetables in the soup. Feel free to add the zucchini before pressure cooking through if you want it soft! Taste for seasoning and drizzle with a little olive oil. Serve with crusty bread or pack up for lunch the next day!
Instant Pot Minestrone Soup
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 13 mins
Simmering time: 2 mins
Course: Appetizer, Lunch, Soup
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 8 servings
Equipment
Instant Pot
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil plus more for drizzling
3 stalks celery chopped
3 small carrots peeled and chopped
1 small onion peeled and chopped
2 large cloves garlic peeled and chopped
2 cup green beans tipped and chopped into 1cm pieces
2 tomatoes chopped
0.5-1.5 cup lentils depending on how thick you'd like the soup
1 cup pasta (I used brown rice gluten free fussili)
1 tsp salt plus more to taste
½ tsp Italian seasoning
6 cup broth
3 small zucchini tipped and chopped
crusty bread or crackers for serving (optional)
Instructions
Set instant pot to normal saute setting. Swirl in olive oil and add in celery, carrots and onion. Sautee for 4 minutes or until softened.
Add in garlic and saute 1 minute.
Cancel saute setting.
Add in green beans, tomato, lentils, pasta, bay leaf, salt, Italian seasoning and broth.
Pressure cook on high pressure for 8 minutes.
Release pressure and carefully remove the lid. Stir in zucchini and simmer on the normal saute setting for 2 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if desired.
Serve in bowls and optionally drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil.
