Pressure Cooker Minestrone Soup with Basil Pesto

A hearty Italian soup loaded with vegetables, beans and pasta ready in just 20 minutes. Basil pesto is swirled in at the end of the cooking time to add an extra burst of fresh flavor.

Recently, I had the pleasure of having lunch at a SLC Mixer with the founders of Edible Wasatch, David Vogel and Rachel Hodson. Edible Wasatch’s mission is to inspire their readers to support local producers, restaurants and related businesses by voting with their forks. A delicious idea!

One of the recipes they share on Edible Wasatch is Letty’s Minestrone Soup with Basil Pesto by Letty Flatt, the executive pastry chef for Deer Valley and author of a great cookbook, Chocolate Snowball.

I adapted the recipe to use what I had on hand and for the electric pressure cooker. Luckily, I had frozen leftover pesto in ice cube trays so I had pesto on hand too. One pesto “ice cube” equals one tablespoon of pesto.

Making Minestrone Soup with Basil Pesto in an Instant Pot

An Instant Pot is one of the most popular brands of electric pressure cookers. They are easy to use and your Instant Pot can help you create this delicious Minestrone Soup with Basil Pesto!

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Pressure Cooker Minestrone Soup with Basil Pesto

Yield: 10 cups

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Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 3 carrots diced
• 1 cup celery diced
• 2 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomato
• 5 cups vegetable stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
• 2 cups digitali pasta, cooked
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 14.5 ounce cans of kidney beans
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 to 4 Tablespoons basil pesto

Instructions

Select Saute and add the oil to the pressure cooker pot. When oil is hot, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots and celery. Keep stirring and cook about 5 more minutes.

Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, bay leaves and salt. Lock lid in place, select High Pressure and 5 minutes cook time and start. When timer beeps, turn off pressure cooker and wait 5 minutes, then do a quick pressure release.

Remove the bay leaves. Add the pasta, spinach and beans. Taste and season with pepper and more salt if needed. Set pressure cooker to Keep Warm setting to hold soup until ready to serve. Stir in the pesto just before serving.

Letty also has a delicious blog, Muffin Talk, where she shares more great recipes she’s cooking up. Visit Edible Wasatch to  see where you can pick up a copy of their magazine, or if you don’t live in the Wasatch area, visit Edible Communities to find out how you can support local producers, restaurants and businesses in your area.