It’s officially soup season, even though I could live on soup all year long. When I got an Instant Pot, I found I was intimidated by it a little bit. Once I got the hang of it, I used it to cook baked potatoes for an entire group, spaghetti squash in ten minutes, and several other staples. This was my first go at a soup, and I honestly think it’s the best soup I’ve ever made! That’s the excellent part about vegetable soups; you can add pretty much anything and it will turn out great! I pack it with a ton of garlic because we can all use that natural antiviral right about now. If you don’t have the bouillon, you can use 4 cups of vegetable broth instead. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can use a large stock pot. It will take much longer to cook the pasta through, but it can definitely be done! You should get up to 8 servings out of this recipe and should freeze well, also.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cooking oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 bay leaves
1 cup chopped carrots
15 oz can white kidney beans (or regular, whatever you have in your pantry)
1 large can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
1 cup small shell noodles
4 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon, dissolved in 4 cups water OR 4 cups vegetable broth
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt (ONLY IF USING VEGETABLE BROTH. No extra salt should be needed if using bouillon.)
1/4-1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes
4-5 oz fresh baby spinach
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
Directions:
Set your Instant Pot to saute mode and pour in your tablespoon of oil. Add garlic. Stir well.
Add celery, onion, and bay leaves, and stir again.
Add carrots, and rinsed and drained beans.
Mix well and allow to saute for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk 4 teaspoons of bouillon and 4 cups of water in a large pot.
Add the can of crushed tomatoes and vegetable broth to the Instant Pot.
Add your uncooked pasta.
Add Italian seasoning, Rosemary, black pepper, salt, (if using vegetable broth), and red chili flakes.
Give it a good stir, scraping the bottom of the pot well, and turn off saute mode.
Turn on pressure cook mode and set for 4 minutes.
Do a careful quick release, once it is done pressure cooking.
Everything should be cooked beautifully.
Stir in your spinach.
I like the added texture of a few croutons on top, but this soup is amazing, as is!
The Veg Table 