A delicious and hearty Instant Pot Vegetarian Minestrone Soup that can be a meal by itself with some bread on the side.

Minestrone soup is one of the first soups after tomato soup that I liked. We have eaten it only in Olive Garden restaurant as that is the only restaurant chain that has the vegetarian version of the soup. My boys love to go to Olive Garden especially to eat the Minestrone soup and the Bread sticks.

I am though a little more obsessed with Olive Garden and have recreated quite a few of their recipes at home. This Instant Pot Vegetarian Minestrone Soup, is one such of my creation that adds to my list of Olive Garden Copy cat recipes.

Why Instant Pot -

I have made Minestrone soup earlier on stove top and it is quite time consuming. It takes a good hour and half from start to finish. Ever since I have started using the Instant Pot, it has been fun to make recipes that takes quite a bit of time on stove top much quicker without compromising the flavors.

This recipe takes 30 to 35 minutes start to finish. It can't get any better than this to make a hearty Instant Pot Vegetarian Minestrone Soup for weeknight dinner. I had some French bread loaves that I made it into Garlic bread and made it a meal.

This week my theme for BM is Meal time dishes and this is my third recipe under the theme.

If you are looking for more Olive Garden Copy Cat recipes -

Olive Garden style Bread sticks

Fettuccine Alfredo

Penne All' Arrabbiata

Preparation time - 15 minutes

Cooking time - 20 minutes

Difficulty level - Easy

Ingredients to make Instant Pot Vegetarian Minestrone Soup - Serves 6

Onion - 1 cup (chopped)

Garlic - 3 cloves (finely minced)

Carrot - 1/2 cup (chopped)

Celery - 3 stalks (sliced)

Zucchini - 1 medium (sliced)

Diced tomato - 1 - 28 oz can

Tomato sauce - 1 - 8 oz can

Fresh Spinach - 1 1/2 cups (tightly packed)

Kidney beans - 1 - 14 oz can (drained and washed)

Cannellini beans - 1 - 14 oz can (drained and washed)

Vegetable Broth - 32 oz

Pasta - 1/2 cup

Salt - to taste

Black pepper - to taste

Italian Seasoning - 1 TBSP

Olive oil - 2 TBSP

Parmesan cheese - as needed (to serve)

Procedure to make Instant Pot Vegetarian Minestrone Soup -

Chop all the vegetables and have it ready.

Place the inner pot of the instant pot and turn it on saute mode.

When the pot displays 'Hot', add the olive oil.

Add the chopped onions and celery and mix well. Let them saute until lightly translucent (about 3 minutes).

Then add the garlic and saute for few seconds.

Now add the Chopped carrots and zucchini and saute them for couple of minutes.

Next add the diced tomato and tomato sauce and mix well.

Pour the vegetable broth along with the drained beans and mix well. Add the salt, pepper and the Italian seasoning and give it a good mix

Also add the pasta to the pot and mix. This makes the pasta a little mushy and hence I prefer to cook the pasta separately and then add it to the soup at then end when adding the spinach.

Give it a good stir and turn off the pot. Place the lid of the Instant pot and place the vent on 'sealing' position.

Turn on the Instant pot on 'Manual' and set it for 4 minutes on high pressure.

Once the Instant pot turns off after finishing the cycle, do a quick release in 10 minutes

Open the pot and add the washed spinach leaves to the soup. Also add the cooked pasta at this stage. Mix it well and cover the pot again so that the spinach leaves wilts a little in the heat.

After about 5 minutes, open the pot and check for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper, if needed and serve hot sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.