Warm Up with a Bowl of Instant Pot Minestrone Soup – A Quick & Healthy Delight!

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This easy Instant Pot Minestrone soup is perfect comfort food for cold days! It is a quick, easy and nutritious one pot meal the entire family will love. Full of flavor and packed with veggies in a rich broth it is a healthy 30 minute meal.

Nothing beats a steaming, warm bowl of soup when it is cold and blustery. This vegan soup is a simple dump and go recipe, making it perfect for new Instant Pot owner or anyone who needs to get dinner on the table fast. And since it is full of tasty veggies you can feel good about what you are serving!

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This filling soup is like the popular Olive Garden minestrone soup, only made at home, full of fresh flavor and ready in about 30 minutes! This recipe embraces simplicity and skips the traditional step of sautéing vegetables. And it is so filling you won’t miss the meat.

Sounds too good to be true but keep reading for all the details on this copycat Olive Garden recipe. And if you love healthy soup, check out my Instant Pot Vegetable Soup or Colcannon soup for more meatless favorites.

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🍅Key Ingredients

For exact amounts needed see the recipe card below

  • Vegetables – I used the classic minestrone vegetables of onions, carrots, celery, bell pepper and zucchini in this recipe. But you can vary these and use whatever you have in the refrigerator. Include a variety of colors in your veggies so the soup looks amazing.
  • Tomato juice
  • Diced tomatoes
  • Vegetable broth – If you use low sodium vegetable broth you might need to add salt to the final dish.
  • Pasta – Pick a small pasta, like shells, elbows or ditalini. There is just a little bit of pasta in the soup. If you add too much it will overwhelm the veggies.
  • Seasoning – Classic minestrone seasoning is parsley, oregano and a bay leaf. You could also substitute Italian seasoning.
ingredients for minestrone soup

🥣How to Make Instant Pot Minestrone Soup

  1. Dice the onions, carrots, celery, yellow pepper and zucchini.
  2. Put the diced veggies in the Instant Pot. Add the vegetable broth, tomato juice, diced tomatoes, pasta and seasoning. Don’t add fresh herbs or any optional ingredients like beans or spinach. Stir to mix everything and put the lid on the Instant Pot.
  3. Set the Instant Pot for Manual, high pressure, for 10 minutes. It will take 10-15 minutes for it to reach pressure.
  4. Once it is done cooking do a quick pressure release and take the lid off. Taste it to check the seasoning and add some salt and pepper if needed.
  5. If you want to add beans or greens like spinach or kale to the Instant Pot minestrone soup do it after pressure cooking. Just stir the extra ingredients in, put the lid back on, and let it sit for 3-5 minutes. The residual heat will warm up the beans and wilt the spinach.
add the veggies to the Instant Pot
Diced veggies in pressure cooker
adding pasta and tomatoes to soup
Before pressure cooking
Minestrone soup in Instant Pot
After pressure cooking
minestrone soup before pressure cooking in instant pot
Ready to serve

Find More Instant Pot Recipes!

🍴How to Serve

Serve a big bowl of this tasty soup garnished with fresh parsley or basil. If you don’t care about keeping the soup vegan then sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese for a classic Italian flavor.

This copycat Olive Garden minestrone tastes amazing paired with crusty Italian bread. My kids love it when I make air fryer garlic bread to go with it too!

spoonful of olive garden minestrone soup

💭How to Store

This soup makes great leftovers and gives you a hearty and healthy lunch! It will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

To reheat it warm it up on the stove on low heat or microwave it for a few minutes. The pasta will absorb some of the broth in the refrigerator, so it won’t be as brothy when reheated.

🧊How to Freeze

Instant Pot minestrone soup freezes best if you leave the pasta out. The pasta tends to get mushy when frozen and thawed. So to freeze the soup skip the pasta and add fresh cooked pasta to the soup when you serve it.

If it is frozen thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat it on low heat on the stove. This will give the vegetables the best texture.

🥘Instant Pot Minestrone Soup Variations

Minestrone is a classic Italian recipe that can be changed up in lots of ways, depending on the cooks preference! Here are some of my ideas for making this recipe your own unique soup.

  • Use rice, quinoa or another grain in the soup instead of pasta.
  • Add different vegetables such as broccoli, squash or asparagus.
  • Try different types of beans such as navy beans, cannellini beans, kidney beans or black beans.
minestrone soup made the instant pot

⭐Tips & Variations

Be sure to check out the step by step instructions

  • Most grocery stores sell pre-diced mirepoix, consisting of onions, carrots and celery in the produce section. Using already cut vegetables will cut your prep time and simplify the recipe even more.
  • To save time you can skip sauteing the onions before pressure cooking. I’ve tried it both ways and I don’t think it makes much flavor difference in this recipe.
  • Taste the soup and add the salt and pepper after pressure cooking so you get it seasoned to your taste. The amount of salt in vegetable broths varies widely.

Did You Make This? Leave a Star Rating!

copycat olive garden minestrone soup
4.87 from 44 votes

Instant Pot Minestrone Soup

Published By Anne
This easy Instant Pot Minestrone soup is perfect, healthy comfort food!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Pressure Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Servings: 4
Print Save Rate Pin

Ingredients
 

  • 2 small onions chopped
  • 2 carrots diced
  • 2 stalks celery diced
  • 2 zucchini diced
  • 1 bell pepper cored and diced
  • 1 can tomato juice 19 ounces
  • 1 can diced tomatoes 28 ounces
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup small pasta shells, elbows or ditalini
  • 1 tablespoon dry parsley
  • ½ tablespoon oregano
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Optional

  • 1 can cannellini or kidney beans rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups baby spinach
  • fresh parsley or basil for garnishing

Instructions

  • Dice the onion, carrots, celery, zucchini, and bell pepper.
    2 small onions, 2 carrots, 2 stalks celery, 2 zucchini, 1 bell pepper
  • Add the diced veggies to the pressure cooker, along with tomato juice, diced tomatoes, broth, pasta, parsley, oregano and bay leaf.
    1 can tomato juice, 1 can diced tomatoes, 4 cups vegetable broth, 1/2 cup small pasta, 1 tablespoon dry parsley, ½ tablespoon oregano, 1 bay leaf
  • Put the lid on and make sure the sealing ring is in and the valve is closed.
  • Set the pressure cooker for Manual, high pressure, for 10 minutes. It will take 10-15 minutes for the soup to reach pressure.
  • When the cooking time is over do a quick release.
  • Open the lid carefully. Taste the soup and add salt and pepper to taste.
    Salt and pepper to taste
  • If you want to add beans or spinach add them now, put the lid back on and wait 5 minutes.
    1 can cannellini or kidney beans, 2 cups baby spinach
  • Or just stir in the fresh herbs and serve with crusty bread.
    fresh parsley or basil for garnishing

Notes

  • Buy pre-diced mirepoix, consisting of onions, carrots and celery to cut prep time.
  • Vegetable broths vary widely in their sodium content, so I suggest tasting and adding salt after pressure cooking.
  • Vary the vegetables in the soup based on what you have in the refrigerator.
  • Sprinkle the soup with Parmesan if you don't care about it being vegan.

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Nutrition Information

Serving: 1g | Calories: 135kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 1011mg | Potassium: 833mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 8354IU | Vitamin C: 74mg | Calcium: 103mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutrition facts are estimates.

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bowl of instant pot minestrone soup
anne

Hi, I’m Anne!

I love to cook and I want to share my recipes with you. I believe cooking should be approachable and fun, not a chore. I want to make simple recipes using everyday ingredients that you can make again and again, whether it is for a busy weeknight, a summer cookout or a special dessert. Read more...

2 thoughts on “Warm Up with a Bowl of Instant Pot Minestrone Soup – A Quick & Healthy Delight!”

  1. 4 stars
    This recipe was delicious and easy! I only took off one star because for some reason it sprayed soup all over the walls and ceiling when I did the quick release. I followed the base recipe exactly and did not add beans or spinach. The pot did seem pretty full and I didn’t think to notice the fill line. Need less liquid or maybe a natural release, not quick.

    Reply
    • You took off one star off of the recipe because you didn’t know how to use your instapot correctly? That’s absurd.

      Reply

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