20 Minute Vegetarian Chickpea Minestrone Soup (Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot)

Comforting soup made in just 20 minutes? YES! This chickpea minestrone is a great way to warm up in the winter and the beans add a hefty dose of protein to this vegetarian soup! [284 calories, 39.5 g Carbs, 9g Fat, and 13.4 g Protein per 2 cup serving]

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SOAPBOX: Good soup, actual good soup that is both filling and simple, is hard to make and even harder to buy.

I grew up eating amazing soups. Both of my parents made great soup. I moved out when I was a teenager and I suffered through many years of bland, flavorless soups. What a sad time. There used to be a great soup deli (that was owned by a Romanian family to boot!) downtown but sadly they closed. The shop now houses some chain restaurant, ugh what a waste!

In the past two years I think I finally made inroads into good soup. It started with this chili, which is NOT soup, but is a relative. Then I created a Thai Butternut Squash Wild Rice soup that turned the tide. STILL, I wanted a vegetarian soup. Something light and low cal, but still filling with a dose of protein. Enter minestrone, sub pasta for chickpeas and kidney beans, then add some raw (gasp!) zuchinni at the end, which softens from the residual heat. Make it all in the pressure cooker and you’ve got healthy, vegetarian soup for the whole week! All in 20 minutes. YES!!!

The secret to this soup is to use a high quality jar of marinara. Marinara comes with so many seasonings that you don’t need to add any more to the soup. When using pre-made tomato products I always try to find one that has no added sugar. Not because sugar is “addicting” (IT’S NOT). It is simply because tomatoes already have so much inherent sweetness, they just do not need added sugar. This is same reason I use no sugar/ low sugar ketchup.

Why this soup works:

• no sugary marinara, the flavor of the tomato is at the forefront.
• sautéing the aromatic veggies beforehand, not just dumping them in raw, helps them give more flavor!
• pressure cooker infuses the ingredients together in just 10 minutes. It’ll take you longer just to chop a salad to serve on the side.

Now, I love eating this for a light lunch option with a small side salad and a bag of chips. Balance people, balance! This soup would also be a great snack in between meals, it is so low cal!

If you eat meat, this option is also great with some turkey meatballs or cooked chicken thighs! My boyfriend always adds meat to his to increase the protein, which also helps keep him full on 10 hour work shifts. When I was photographing this recipe, he jokingly thrust his bowl to me said “take a picture” because I’d told him how this was being posted as a vegetarian recipe.

Quick, cheap, tasty, and filling. I hope ya try out this recipe soon!

NOTE: This soup can be made on the stovetop, just use a large soup pot, saute veggies in oil, add broth, bring it to a boil, add beans and other ingredients, reduce heat to low and cook for 45 minutes-1 hour. Lastly, add the zuchinni and stir to combine. Serve hot with salt and pepper.

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20 Minute Vegetarian Chickpea Minestrone Soup (Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot)

Soothing minestrone soup chock full of chickpeas and veggies, perfect as a light lunch or side. 

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American, Italian, Mediterranean

Keyword chickpea, crockpot express crock multi cooker, instant pot, meal prep, minestrone, pressure cooker, soup, standing in the kitchen, vegetarian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 12 cups

Calories 284 kcal

Author Lillian

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 whole onion large dice
• 2-3 large carrots peeled, large dice
• 3-4 stalks celery large dice
• 1 15 oz can chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1 15 oz can kidney beans drained and rinsed
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 4 cups broth
• 1 2 lb jar Marinara* with no added sugar!
• 1 medium zuchinni* sliced into half circles, add AFTER soup is cooked
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Press HEAT/SAUTE button on your pressure cooker, when fully heated add in oil and diced veggies. Saute veggies until lightly caramelized, the edges should be colored and the veggies will be very aromatic. 

2. Keep the HEAT/SAUTE option on, add broth into the pot. Add the beans and marinara. Stir to combine (use a wooden spoon so you don't scratch the inner bowl!). Add the lid and twist it to the locked position, make sure the steam release is set to closed. Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes under the manual setting*.

3. When the soup is done, manually release the pressure (be careful, it's hot pressure!!!) by twisting the steam release knob until all pressure is released. Close steam release knob, remove lid, add the sliced zuchinni and stir to combine. Remove to bay leaves. Finish to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Recipe can be frozen with great results! See notes.

Recipe Notes

I use Costco's brand of marinara. It does not have any added sugar and tastes delicious! 

Adding zuchinni at the end ensures they do not overcook in the soup, the residual heat will soften and cook them.

I own and use the Crock Pot Express Crock Multi Cooker. It does not have a labelled manual setting. Instead you can use either the Beans/Chili, Dessert, or Soup settings, which operate as manual. Make sure to adjust the pressure for your recipe! You can read more on their FAQ page here.

To freeze, place soup in a large FREEZER ziploc bag, remove as much air as possible and seal it. Lay on a sheet pan and freeze, so that it freezes flat and is easier to store! To thaw, just place in the fridge overnight. Heat in the microwave or on the stovetop. The zuchinni does get very soft but I find that I don't mind it. 

This recipe photo was pretty popular at my place. Even my cat, Pisica, wanted in on the shots. Normally I yell at her in Romanian to get down, my furry girl is bilingual, but I just had to get these shots in first.