Our easy Instant Pot minestrone soup with noodles and canned beans recipe is full of flavor, healthy and vegetarian. My kids raved that this was their favorite quick one pot meal you can make as a Ninja Foodi recipe too.

A spoonful of easy Instant Pot minestrone soup with pasta shells, beans, carrots, celery, and tomatoes hovers over a steaming pot.

It's soup season and minestrone soup made in a pressure cooker has become one of our favorite Instant Pot recipes because it's so good. With three kids and both of us working full time we need all the help we can get. Especially when it comes to making quick and healthy dinners.

Ok so we are a little obsessed with our new 7 in 1 device. It makes our life so much easier! Once we got our IP we started having more family dinners together. Then we added a Crockpot Express and Ninja Foodi so we had 3 pressure cooker pots to use to make all the things!

Believe it or not our girls actually prefer vegetables over a plate of meat any day, so they were all ready to try this vegetable soup we made.

A hand holds a fresh zucchini in front of a pressure cooker with text about making easy Instant Pot minestrone soup.

We bet you have had this at your favorite Italian restaurant and wished you could have it a lot more often than when you went out to eat right?? We remember eating a big bowl of this at our favorite pizza joint growing up. It was a choice every single time vs. salad and you had to get it.

Ingredient notes

We are going for the easiest way to make this so we use diced tomatoes (canned), and cube up some fresh carrots zucchini and celery and throw all of that in there. You could add yellow squash too if you wanted another one.

Can you use frozen vegetables?

Yes you could, we highly suggest a bag of mixed frozen veggies vs. canned as the latter are already soft and will likely become mushy with extreme heat. We think a mix of green beans, carrots and peas would be the best and most commonly found at the store.

All shapes and sized noodles work for this but elbow macaroni or medium size shells is what we like. Any larger and they will be a bit firmer but that is up to you. We would stay away from egg noodles as they only take 1 minute so they would be mush in this case.

You want to use chicken broth for the necessary liquid. If you want to go all out you could make broth homemade and then noodles too but we wouldn't even venture a guess on how to make those fresh, that isn't in our wheelhouse.

You definitely want to add beans to this dish because you would typically find those in every spoonful. Once again, to make this easier we are going to use canned beans both kidney beans and we like to add garbanzo beans as well. Don't bother to drain them if you don't want, you can throw them both in as is.

Can you add potatoes?

You could but you would need them to be small bite size pieces or else 3 minutes won't get them tender enough for you to enjoy. We would say 1/2″ x 1/2″ taters would work well probably with skin removed so it is easier to chew.

Can you make minestrone soup with dried beans?

This is how to cook kidney beans from dry first. You can do this fastest using the same pressure under high pressure first, drain, and then follow the directions to make this once they are tender.

Can you add ground beef?

You could and we did with our Instant Pot vegetable beef soup recipe. You saute and brown the meat first, drain, and proceed with the directions below to include meat in this bowl.

Can you add chicken?

You could basically make a version of our Instant Pot chicken noodle soup but with beans and more vegetables with a can of diced tomatoes. That would be a good cross between the two you may love.

How Long to Cook Minestrone Soup in Instant Pot

3 minutes is all you need if you use canned beans, vegetables and your favorite small or medium noodles too. This will yield a softer outcome, if you prefer al dente pasta we would opt for 2 minutes with a quick release either way.

If you are going to use a Foodi pot you would follow the same directions below but use the lid that is not attached with the pressure cook button on the front. You can make this and any of our other cheap Instant Pot recipes with any brand of machine you might have on hand.

A bowl of chopped zucchini on a scale, ready to be added to an easy Instant Pot minestrone soup.

Tips for Success

Choose what is in season we say. Squashes usually you can find year round. If you like them all then throw 'em on in. If you prefer to leave out the zucchini…no problem. Make it to your liking! We used a can of petite diced tomatoes because that is what we had on hand but dicing your own fresh tomatoes (use the juice that comes out of them too) is wonderful.

If you're making it vegetarian soup swap out the chicken broth for vegetable broth! We typically use what is in our cupboard but we do eat meat so we are not too picky as far as that one goes. We have made it with all 3 different types we think they all turn out wonderful.

TIP: If you're new to this type of cooking, know it takes little time for pasta to get tender. Use our recipe notes and the exact timing we provide you or noodles will turn to mush with even 2 minutes longer. Pay attention to the timer and quick release right when it's done. Sitting in the liquid much longer will make them too soft too.

Instant Pot Minestrone Soup Recipe

By Easy Instant Pot minestrone soup recipe is full of flavor! Healthy and vegetarian too, our kids raved that this was their favorite pressure cooker soup. Can be made in Ninja foodi too. Prep: 10 minutes minsCook: 4 minutes minsTotal: 14 minutes minsServings: 8 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

1 can kidney beans canned, drained
1 can garbanzo beans, canned, drained
32 oz chicken broth, (for vegetarian use vegetable broth, if you want a darker richer soup use beef broth)
1/2 small onion, sliced or diced, your preference
2 stalks celery, diced
3 large carrots, sliced thin into dials so they become soft, or thicker dials if you want them to stay a bit firm
1 small zucchini, cut into dials, we usually cut dials in half as well – the smaller the pcs. the softer they will be but zucchini cooks fast in the IP!
1.5 cup diced tomatoes petite, canned used
1 cup noodles uncooked small/medium shells

Instructions

Dice all of your vegetables and put them into your Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Add your broth, cans of drained beans, and uncooked noodles, stir gently and add any herbs/spices you'd like (we usually add salt when it is done if we feel it needs a bit).
Close lid and and steam valve, set to pressure high, for 3 minutes.
Do a quick release.
Carefully lift lid and serve topped with shredded parmesan and parsley if desired.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, Main CourseCuisine: Italian Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

What is the best way to save leftover soup?

Always make sure it is cooled completely at room temperature before transferring it to a container. Then set into the fridge and reheat within 3 days. Transfer to a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minute, stir and then 45 seconds beyond that or so until it is as hot as you'd like it to be. Then enjoy away.

Other Instant Pot Soup Recipes you'll Love

When you've tried this give these Instant Pot soup recipes other Instant Pot pasta recipes and soup recipes to choose from. They all make for wonderful meals in about 30 minutes or less so you can't go wrong with any one of them. Work your way thru and have something new every day for the whole year!

If you too are huddled up at home with snow outside, or want a bowl of warm comfort food in your belly we have more! Start with a delish bowl of Instant Pot french onion soup with warm melted cheese on the top. Here are a few other quick soup recipes we think you'll like as well. Our fave Instant Pot potato corn chowder is widely popular. We suggest adding lots of bacon to it so it's over the top good!