This Instant Pot minestrone soup is hearty, rich, and packed with plant-based protein! An easy vegetarian meal that works well for meal prep and is ready in under an hour.
Is there anything more cozy, convenient, and nourishing than Instant Pot vegetable soup, fully loaded vegetable soup, or this Instant Pot minestrone?
This Instant Pot minestrone soup is JUST the ticket if you're looking for something simple, healthy, and cozy to cook up this week.
The bulk of the prep work is chopping your veggies, and after that, the Instant Pot does most of the heavy lifting! Best of all, you can double batch it and stock up the freezer for easy meal prep lunches and dinners. Let's dig into this hearty and delicious minestrone soup that the whole family will enjoy!
Reasons You'll Love This Recipe
- it's cozy, delicious, and veggie-heavy!
- this Instant Pot minestrone tastes like it's been cooking for hours, but takes less than 50 minutes to cook
- it's made with affordable pantry staples that you likely have on hand
Recipe Video
Watch the video below to see exactly how I prepped this Instant Pot minestrone. It’s so easy! You can find more of my recipe videos on my YouTube channel.
Ingredient Notes
- Kidney beans - can be swapped for your favorite fully cooked beans; chickpeas, white beans or black beans will all work!
- Diced tomatoes - for added flavor, consider using fire roasted tomatoes. For added kick, use Rotel (with green chilis!)
- Pasta - we used regular elbow pasta; whole wheat should work fine. We have not tested gluten-free or other alternative pastas. Pasta may be al dente upon initial release of pressure, but softens as it sits. When swapping other pasta shapes, a good rule of thumb is to use half the cook time on the package plus one minute.
- Tomato paste - tomato paste adds significant flavor to this soup; you can freeze leftovers in 1 tablespoon portions on wax paper, then transfer to a freezer bag for longer term storage
- Vegetables - this minestrone soup recipe is really flexible, and you can really swap out almost any of the vegetables for ones you might need to use up in your fridge! We've used our favorites including celery, carrots, and zucchini - but see below for more options and swaps.
- Stock - you can use store bought veggie stock, or homemade vegetable stock. Swap for turkey stock, or bone broth - any of these options will work!
Note - this Instant Pot minstrone has significantly more flavor when made with chicken stock; if using vegetable stock, consider adding 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast to boost the flavor
Veggies You Could Add or Swap
You can use up almost anything you might have in your fridge for this Instant Pot minestrone, including (but not limited to):
- broccoli
- green beans - add after cooking
- corn or peas (fresh or frozen) - add after cooking
- parsnips
- kale or spinach - add after cooking
- potatoes or sweet potatoes cut into ½ inch cubes
- squash
- leeks - sauté with onions (or in place of onions)
Keep in mind that changing the veggies may alter the cooking time; use your best judgment to determine when the vegetables are soft enough to eat.
* Add greens and peas at the same time as the kidney beans.
Step by step directions
Sautée
Select the sauté function of the Instant Pot. To the stainless steel insert, add the olive oil and onions. Cook for around 5 minutes, until onions are soft and translucent. Make a space in the middle of the onions and add the garlic; cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 more minutes.
Tip For Reducing Food Waste - you can freeze leftover tomato paste in 1 tablespoon portions on wax paper, then transfer to a freezer bag for longer-term storage!
Deglaze
Add 1-2 cups of stock and scrape up anything stuck to the bottom of the pot using a spatula. Add the rest of the stock, celery, carrots, zucchini, oregano, basil, salt, diced tomatoes and elbow pasta. Stir to combine.
Cook
Put the lid on the Instant Pot, set the valve to 'sealing', and pressure cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. When the Instant Pot beeps, carefully perform a quick pressure release.
Note - while we normally use a partial natural pressure release for soups, a quick pressure release is essential to prevent the pasta from overcooking in this recipe.
Serve
Stir in the kidney beans and parmesan cheese. Serve with additional parmesan and bread for dipping.
Pro tip - always taste your soup before serving. Often it might need a little 'something' after cooking, like a squeeze of citrus, splash of balsamic vinegar or soy sauce, or a little extra salt!
FAQ
While we have not tested this exact recipe on the stovetop, it would definitely work! See out fully loaded vegetable soup for a similar recipe and stovetop cooking instructions.
Yes, for low carb leave out the pasta, and to make this soup gluten-free, you could swap the pasta for a gluten-free alternative such as brown rice pasta, or chickpea pasta. Note: we have not tested gluten-free pasta in the Instant Pot, so substitute at your own risk. When swapping pasta for the Instant Pot, a good rule of thumb is to use half the time on the package plus one minute.
This soup has a good amount of plant-based protein thanks to the kidney beans, but you could always add more beans such as black beans, chickpeas, or meal-prepped chicken (after cooking).
It sure does! See storage and meal prep tips below. Consider making a double batch of soup and freezing half to stock up the freezer!
Storage
Instant Pot minestrone stores well, making it ideal for meal prep whether you're storing it in the fridge or freezer:
- Fridge - After cooking, cool soup completely. Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freezer - freeze for up to 6 months. We love using plastic freezer jars or 1 quart wide-mouth mason jars
- Thaw - overnight in the fridge (speed the process by leaving on the counter for a few hours, or by immersing the jar in water).
- Reheat - in the microwave or a small pot until steaming hot
Tips for Freezing In Jars
Here are a few tips for freezing black beans in mason jars to avoid the jars breaking:
- Make sure to select canning jars; repurposed pasta sauce or food jars are not designed to withstand dramatic temperature shifts and can break.
- Avoid jars that have 'shoulders' and taper in at the top, as they are more prone to breaking
- Leave an inch from the top of the jar empty to account for expansion when freezing
- Leave the lids ajar until the beans are frozen solid- at this point, you can secure them!
Did you make this? Tag me on social @sweetpeasandsaffron and be sure to leave a comment and rate the recipe!
Instant Pot Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste see note 1
- 6 cups stock chicken or vegetable
- 2 stalks celery finely chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and finely chopped
- ½ zucchini chopped into bite-sized pieces; roughly 1 cup
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 15- ounce diced tomatoes including juices; see note 2
- 1 cup elbow pasta see note 3
After cooking
- 15- ounce can kidney beans drained and rinsed well
- ½ cup shredded parmesan optional; fresh highly recommended
Instructions
- Sauté- Select the sauté function of the Instant Pot. To the stainless steel insert, add the olive oil and onions. Cook for around 5 minutes, until onions are soft and translucent. Make a space in the middle of the onions and add the garlic; cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Deglaze- add 1-2 cups of stock and scrape up anything stuck to the bottom of the pot using a spatula. Add the rest of the stock, celery, carrots, zucchini, oregano, basil, salt, diced tomatoes and elbow pasta. Stir to combine.
- Cook- Put the lid on the Instant Pot, set the valve to 'sealing', and pressure cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. When the Instant Pot beeps, carefully perform a quick pressure release (note 5).
- Serve- stir in the kidney beans and parmesan cheese. Serve with additional parmesan and bread for dipping.
Tips:
- tomato paste adds significant flavor to this soup; you can freeze leftovers in 1 tablespoon portions on wax paper, then transfer to a freezer bag for longer term storage
- for added flavor, consider using fire roasted tomatoes. For added kick, use Rotel.
- we used regular elbow pasta; whole wheat should work fine. We have not tested gluten-free or other alternative pastas. Pasta may be al dente upon initial release of pressure, but softens as it stores.
- When swapping other pasta shapes, a good rule of thumb is to use half the time on the package plus one minute.
- a quick pressure release is essential to prevent the pasta from overcooking.
- after cooking, cool soup completely. Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freeze for up to 6 months. We love using plastic freezer jars or 1 quart wide-mouth mason jars
- heat in the microwave or a small pot until steaming hot
Video
Nutrition Information
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Linda says
Prepped veggies and had my husband throw it together while working on taxes. Fast & delicious! Leftover for lunch and some in the freezer for later.
Sissy says
Check this out
Pamela says
Girl. I'm eating this right now and it's AMAZING. The only thing I changed was I added one extra cup of broth because I used up some grape tomatoes instead of using canned. I also added some left over green beans I had in the fridge. Yummy 😀
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Pamela, awe we're so glad to hear that you enjoyed this IP minestrone! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back to leave a rating and review!