Instant Pot Vegetable Bean Soup Pressure Cooker Recipe

Instant Pot Vegetable Bean Soup Pressure Cooker Recipe

Ingredients

SERVES 3 to 4 – Cooker 5- to 7-quart – Time Consult pages 400-404 for your particular type of beans

• 1 cup dried beans of choice, rinsed and picked over
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth, or combination broth or water
• 1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
• 1 to 2 carrots, to taste, sliced ½ inch thick (½ to 1 cup)
• 1 to 2 ribs celery, to taste, sliced ½ inch thick (½ to 1 cup)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon light olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried herbs, such as thyme, marjoram, Mexican oregano, poultry seasoning, Italian seasoning, etc., or salt-free herb blend
• ½ bay leaf
• meat, if desired (optional), such as 1 to 2 slices bacon cut into strips or ½ cup diced ham or smoked turkey or sliced cooked sausage.
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• sea salt
• 1 to 3 tablespoons good quality vinegar of your choice or fresh lemon or lime juice, to taste
• minced fresh herbs, such as parsley or cilantro.

Method

1. In a 5- to 7-quart pressure cooker, combine the beans, water, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, parsley, oil, and dried herbs
2. If you are using bacon, add it now
3. Stir to combine
4. Close and lock the lid
5. Set the burner heat to high
6. When the cooker reaches HIGH pressure, reduce the burner heat as low as you can and still maintain HIGH pressure
7. Set a timer to cook for the proper cooking time per the bean cooking chart
8. Remove the pot from the heat
9. Open the cooker with the Natural Release method; let stand for 15 minutes
10. Be careful of the steam as you remove the lid
11. You will want the beans to be very soft for soup, so if they are not soft enough, relock the cooker, bring it back up to HIGH pressure, and cook for another 2 to 5 minutes
12. If desired, puree part of the soup right in the pot with an immersion blender
13. If you are using a meat other than bacon, add it now
14. Add salt to taste
15. Let simmer, uncovered, a few minutes over medium heat
16. Stir in the vinegar
17. Serve the soup hot in bowls, topped with a sprinkle of minced herbs
18. This will keep 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator or in the freezer up to 4 months
19. How can you tell which is which? Look at the suggested cooking time on the package
20. The fast-cooking ones need about an hour by conventional methods; the slow ones usually call for soaking the beans, then a cook time of two hours or more
21. A good rule to remember is this: Let the longest-cooking bean in the mix be your guide
22. If you have a dusty package of bean mix that has been on your shelf longer than you can remember, please toss it out and start fresh

Full List of Pressure-Cooker Recipes
Full List of Instant-Pot Recipes