6 Ingredient No Chop Minestrone Dump Soup [Instant Pot, Stove top]
For quite some time I’ve been pondering ways to make plant-based and healthy eating easier, especially for families with kids. Ever so slowly we are making progress, and my boys are becoming more and more helpful in the kitchen.
In my quest to find super simple recipes I can delegate to my kids, I remembered making a Minestrone Soup similar to this back in my college days. Little if any chopping, pretty much just open, mix and warm. I couldn’t find a recipe immediately available so came up with my own on an especially busy night when everyone was hungry and I was wishing I’d started dinner hours ago.
The results were fabulous. This is a perfect meal to whip out this week for Halloween or any time when you need healthy food fast. To make this as healthy as possible, choose organic and low-sodium ingredients. However, do your best with whatever is available and chances are good that this will be healthier, faster and less-expensive than most take-out options.
Using frozen vegetables is the secret sauce to making this soup extra fast. I already had chopped onion in my fridge, but you can buy fresh or frozen chopped onions if you want to keep this completely chop free. Or create your own stash by having an onion chop fest and sticking them in freezer bags (if you use sandwich bags, be sure to put them inside a larger, good quality, freezer bag–you don’t want to everything in your freezer tasting like onion!).
Certainly you can sub in any vegetables you have or want, but keeping the frozen ones on hand make for a great quick and easy meal when you need one. Also frozen vegetables are a great option nutritionally–frozen shortly after being harvested, they maintain more nutrition than fresh vegetables that travel long distances to your home. 
If you have time, minestrone is always delicious with a little pasta or quinoa. I love to cook quinoa right in the broth–not only is it much more nutritious than pasta, but it also doesn’t easily get soggy and over-cooked like pasta is prone to in soups. But fun-shaped pasta may be just what your little ones need to be excited about this bowl full of veggies.
Cooking pasta in the instant pot is definitely doable, but it’s easy for it to end up over cooked. If soggy pasta is not your thing, then I recommend making this soup on the stove top. Sometimes I’ve even cooked the pasta separately so that the leftovers avoid the soggy pasta blues, however the downside of this is that my kids are prone to eat a lot more noodles than they are veggies. Again, quinoa is just a great option here.
But because I was super short on time, I skipped the grain altogether and the soup was still deliciously satisfying.
This is one of those recipes that will probably take a little longer to cook in the Instant Pot than it will on the stove top, however, if you need to leave and come home to a warm dinner ready for you, the Instant Pot is the way to go!
Quickly getting all of those warm and satisfying veggies in tummies is a great way to start Halloween!
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 10 minutes |
| Passive Time | 10 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
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- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 12 oz bag frozen green beans
- 1 12 oz bag frozen peas and carrots
- 1 32 oz jar pasta sauce I used Organic Classico from Costco
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- 1 15 oz can kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 2 cups chopped kale or spinach optional
- quinoa or pasta optional, see notes
Ingredients
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- Optional time saver: Rinse frozen vegetables with beans in a colander under warm water to partially thaw.
- Stove top: Over medium high heat, saute onion in a splash of broth in large pot. Add vegetables, sauce, broth and beans to pot. Heat through, stirring occasionally. When soup is hot, add optional spinach or kale and stir until wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.
- Instant Pot: Add vegetables, pasta sauce, broth and rinsed beans to the pot and cook at high pressure for 1 minute. Allow pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then manually release remaining pressure, stir in spinach or kale if using. Allow to wilt for a minute or two and serve.
To add quinoa: add 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup water. Will take about 20 minutes on stove top to fully cook quinoa. No additional time i Instant Pot is needed.
To add pasta: add 1 cup pasta and 1 cup water. Cook until pasta reaches desired firmness. Add additional water if soup becomes too thick. Typically pasta can cook in the Instant Pot when the pressure is set to cook for about half the time recommended on the package. However if your vegetables are still partially frozen it may take longer for the pot to come to pressure and overcook your pasta, so proceed at your own risk here!
I used a 32 oz jar of Organic Classico sauce I got at Costco. 24 oz jars are more common and should work just fine. Add additional basil and/or oregano if desired.