This Instant Pot Minestrone recipe features big veggies, pasta, and a hearty broth. Top with pesto or parmesan for a healthy and flavorful meal!
What could be more comforting than a steaming bowl of minestrone and crusty bread? Made with lots of veggies, hearty broth, and pasta, this healthy Italian soup is simply delicious! Alex and I realized that 1. we love minestrone and 2. we didn’t have a recipe for this Italian soup using our pressure cooker. So we set out to create the best Instant Pot minestrone we could find. This one is packed with the best veggies and paired with flavor. Even better, you can top it with pesto for tons of savory flavor. Ready to start?
How to Make Instant Pot Minestrone (Basic Steps)
First. Despite the brand image of this pressure cooker The Instant Pot doesn’t make minestrone faster or easier than on the stovetop. It takes just as much time and effort as our stovetop minestrone soup. So why in the Instant Pot? Well if you have a pressure cooker, using your favorite to make a healthy vegetarian meal is a great way!
But even better: the Instant Pot replaces the cooker. So you don’t need a kitchen at all to make this minestrone soup: which is pretty amazing! It’s perfect when your kitchen is down, you’re teaching a cooking class, etc. While it’s no faster or easier than the standard method, it’s definitely still fun to use an Instant Pot to cook soup! Here are the basic steps to do it.
Step 1: Prepare the vegetables.
You will dice an onion, chop carrots and celery, and chop zucchini. If desired, you can substitute 1-2 cups of another vegetable in place of the zucchini, since minestrone was originally intended to use whatever veggies you had on hand.
Step 2: Frying mode: cook onion, carrot and celery.
In this recipe, you’ll use Saute mode twice. The first time is to soften and add flavor to the onion, carrot and celery. It should be on the middle setting, which is the default setting for Skip mode. (In Step 4 you want to set it to Low.)
Step 3: Pressure cook 0 minutes, then quickly release.
Add zucchini, broth, tomatoes and spices and cook under pressure. 0 minutes? Yes, it still cooks the soup because it cooks when the pot increases the pressure. Pressure build-up takes about 15 minutes.
Step 4: Frying mode: cook the noodles.
Then use jump mode again! It should be on the low setting this time as you don’t want it to overcook. Add beans and noodles. Then rub the garlic cloves into the broth (the pressure cooker mutes the garlic flavor, so we add it to our soups at the end.) Cook until the pasta is al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the baby greens and voila! Delicious Instant Pot Minestrone: A fabulous healthy dinner.
Top with all toppings!
This Instant Pot Minestrone tastes great on its own, but tastes even better with different toppings! Here’s what we recommend:
- Finely chopped parsley (or other herbs). Sprinkle with herbs adds a fresh element. Other interesting additions would be basil, thyme or oregano. Served this way, it remains 100% plant-based.
- Parmesan cheese or Roman pecorino. Add in some parmesan shavings and it’s surprisingly good. Even better, the Pecorino Romano is spicier and even tastier.
- Basil pesto or vegan pesto. Serve this soup with pesto and it’s called Genovese soup. In Italian it means “minestrone soup from Genoa”, the capital of the Liguria region of Italy and where all that good pesto comes from! Alex and I like to serve this dish “alla genovese” because it adds an amazingly savory flavor.
What Kind of Instant Pot Should I Use?
The pressure cooker we tested this recipe with is the Instant Pot 6 quart pressure cooker. But there are many great brands! If you use a different brand, you may find that the cooking times are slightly different. That shouldn’t be a problem with this soup, because there are no spicy vegetables like dried chickpeas or lentils.
Ways to Make Instant Pot Minestrone a Meal
In this Instant Pot Minestrone recipe, you’ll have two breaks to make a side dish with your meal! Here are some of our soup side dishes that we recommend:
- Crusty bread Use either store-bought bread or one of our homemade bread recipes.
- Easy Arugula Salad Here’s the easiest salad you’ll ever make! This easy arugula salad is foolproof: you don’t even have to make any dressing.
- Garlic Bread An absolute treat would be this easy Garlic Bread! Crispy on top, soft on the inside and full of flavor: the perfect accompaniment to minestrone soup.
More Instant Pot Soup Recipes
Finally, do you like Instant Pot soups? Alex and I love making pressure cooker recipes and using them as resources for your kitchen. If you like this Instant Pot Minestrone, we think you’ll love it:
This Instant Pot Minestrone recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based and dairy-free. For gluten-free pasta, use gluten-free or legume pasta.
The description
This easy Instant Pot Minestrone recipe is loaded with veggies, pasta, and a hearty broth. Top with pesto or parmesan for a healthy and flavorful meal!
- 1 medium onion (or leek)
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 chop celery
- 1 small zucchini (or 1 at 2 cups other chopped vegetables)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 liter vegetable soup
- 281 ounce fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 cup the water
- 1 Bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon every dried oregano and thyme
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt, shared
- 1 15 ounces cannellini beans
- ¾ cup Pasta shells or spirals (gluten-free or legume pasta if needed)
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 3 cups baby cabbage (or spinach or other chopped veggies)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh parsley for garnish
- Optional Garnish: Parmesan, basil pesto, or vegan pesto
- Prepare the vegetables: peel and finely dice the onion and carrot. Cut the celery and zucchini into small cubes.
- Enable skip mode (on medium) and add the olive oil to the Instant Pot. When hot, add onion, carrots, celery, and tomato puree and cook until onions are barely translucent, 5 to 6 minutes.
- Add vegetable broth, tomatoes and juices, water, zucchini, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Lock the Instant Pot lid. Place the pressure relief (vent) handle in the “seal” position.
- Cook at high pressure for 0 minutes: Press the pressure cook button, make sure the ‘high pressure’ setting is selected and set the time. Note that it takes about 15 minutes for the pan to “preheat” and build pressure before you start cooking. (Avoid touching the metal part of the lid during cooking.)
- Fast Release: Release any remaining steam from the Instant Pot by setting the pressure release handle to “Vent” and covering your hand with a heated towel or pad. Never put your hands or face near the opening when dispensing steam. Open the lid of the pressure cooker. Remove the bay leaf. Add the kidney beans, pasta, and grated garlic (you can grate it directly into the pan).
- Enable Skip mode on Low and cook until pasta is al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the baby lettuce for a few seconds until tender. (If using tougher vegetables like seasoned kale, chop and add in the last 5 minutes of the cook time.)
- Add the remaining ½ teaspoon of kosher salt. Taste and add freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt to taste. Garnish with chopped parsley (or optionally add parmesan shavings or basil pesto or vegan pesto).
- Category: main course
- Method: Cook
- Kitchen: Italian
Keywords: Instant pot minestrone, pressure cooker minestrone
