Instant Pot Soupe au Pistou. Pressure cooked Provencal pesto soup with white beans and summer vegetables. A taste of southern France, with a dollop of Pistou (French pesto). It is ready in under an hour thanks to pressure cooking dry beans. Soak the beans, sauté the vegetables, and 15 minutes at high pressure is all you need to make this soup.
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We're heading to Provence (virtually) for Soupe au Pistou, a bean soup with summer herbs and vegetables from southern France.
Now, I'm rushing the season, making this recipe in the spring. I'm ready for a taste of summer. (Is there anything that says "summer" to a home cook than making a big batch of pesto because the basil is out of control?) The soup is a ray of sunshine, even if the ingredients from my local grocery store are a little out of season, and I'm buying my pesto in a jar. (If it is summer when you read this, take advantage of the bounty of your local farmers market for the ingredients in this recipe.)
There aren't many tricks to this recipe besides the joy of pressure cooking dried beans. Usually, I don't soak dried beans before pressure cooking, but this recipe is an example of the exception. I soak dried beans when I need to cut back on the cooking time for the other ingredients. I don't want to pressure cook the summer vegetables into mush. And, even then, I simmer the pasta and zucchini after pressure cooking. They're too tender for even the short pressure cooking time the soaked beans need.
Are you looking for a taste of summer in the South of France? Try some pesto soup.
(If you're looking for a Spanish recipe with white beans, try my Instant Pot Spanish Farm Beans. For simple country-style beans, try my Instant Pot Ham and Beans.)
Ingredients
Soaking the Beans
8 ounces dried navy beans (or Alubia Blanca beans), sorted and rinsed
6 cups water
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Pesto Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon dried thyme (or fresh thyme leaves)
6 cups water
3 large carrots (about 8 ounces), peeled and cut into ½-inch rounds
8 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
14- to 16-ounce can diced tomatoes and juice (or 1 cup diced fresh Roma tomatoes)
1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
1 cup ditalini dried pasta (or other small shape like tubetini, shells, or elbows)
2 medium zucchini, cut into ½-inch rounds
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
6- to 8-ounce jar of basil pesto - 1 tablespoon per bowl of soup
How to make Instant Pot Soupe au Pistou
Sort and rinse the beans
Sort the beans, discarding any stones, dirt clods, or broken beans. Rinse the beans, then do an overnight or a quick soak.
Overnight soak
Stir the beans, water, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl. Leave the beans on the counter to soak at least 8 hours, or overnight. Drain and discard the soaking liquid, and rinse the beans.
OR: Pressure Quick Soak for 1 minute with a 30-minute rest
Put the beans and 6 cups of water in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Pressure cook at high pressure for 1 minute ("Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode in an Instant Pot for 1 minute), then let the beans sit in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes. Drain and discard the soaking liquid, rinse the beans, and wipe out the pressure cooker pot.
Sauté the aromatics
Heat the olive oil in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker set to sauté mode (medium heat for a stovetop PC) until the oil starts shimmering. Add the onion and garlic, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and the thyme. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes.
Everything in the pot
Add the drained and rinsed white beans to the pressure cooker, then pour in the 6 cups of water. Stir in the carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and 1 ½ teaspoon salt.
Pressure cook for 15 minutes with a quick release
Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 18 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric PC (Use "manual" or "pressure cook" mode in an Instant Pot) or for 15 minutes in a stovetop PC. Quick release the pressure.
Cook the pasta and zucchini, season, and serve
Open the pressure cooker lid, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode adjusted to high (use medium-high heat in a stovetop PC). Add the pasta and zucchini, bring to a boil, and boil for the time on your pasta package's directions (my ditalini took 10 minutes). Stir in the fresh ground black pepper, then ladle into bowls and stir a tablespoon of pesto into each bowl. (Eyeball this - it doesn't have to be a precisely measured tablespoon.) Serve, passing extra pesto at the table in case anyone wants to add more. Enjoy!
Substitutions
- Other beans: If you can't find Navy beans, substitute Great Northern beans, and increase the cooking time to 20 minutes at high pressure.
- Other vegetables: This soup is meant to use up summer vegetables, so use whatever you have available. Hard vegetables like winter squash, potatoes, parsnips, and turnips should go in with carrots to get pressure cooked. (So should tough greens like kale and collards.) Tender vegetables like summer squash and kale should go in with the zucchini so they are simmered and don't fall apart under pressure.
Equipment
A 6-quart pressure cooker and a fine mesh strainer.
Scaling
This recipe bumps up against the max fill line in a 6-quart pressure cooker. To double it, you must move up to an 8-quart pressure cooker. Or, if you want a smaller batch, cut all the ingredients in half, and this recipe will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker. The cooking time does not change; it takes the same amount of time to cook the beans, no matter how many there are.
Storage
Soup makes excellent leftovers. This soup will last, refrigerated, for a couple of days. I portion leftovers into 2-cup containers and freeze them, where they will last for up to 6 months.
Tips and Tricks
The key to this recipe is the dry beans. Sorting, rinsing, and soaking the beans is extra work. Don't get intimidated because the results are well worth the extra effort. Homemade beans are so much better than store-bought beans. (Especially with quick pressure cooking - dry beans are one of the reasons my pressure cooker never wound up on the "kitchen gadgets I never use" shelf in the back of my basement.)
What to Serve with Soupe Au Pistou
This soup is a hearty one-pot meal; the obvious thing to serve it with is a loaf of crusty French bread and a salad. (Soup and salad are a classic combo for a reason.)
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to soak the beans?
Soaking the beans helps them cook more quickly. I do an overnight soak (or a quick soak) to speed up the cooking process. If I forget to soak the beans - hey, it happens - I increase the pressure cooking time to 30 minutes with a natural pressure release.
Why sort beans?
Beans are an agricultural product, and stuff tends to creep in during picking and processing. Beans should always be sorted and rinsed before use to remove twigs, stones, dirt, or broken beans.
How do I sort beans?
To sort beans, I pour them out on the far side of a rimmed baking sheet. Then I slowly pull the beans towards me, a little at a time, running my fingers through the beans and watching for anything that doesn't look right. If something catches my eye, I find it and discard it. I repeat this several times until I'm satisfied everything is out of the beans.
Then, I rinse the beans in a fine mesh strainer under cold running water to wash off any dirt or dust still on the beans.
Now, the beans are sorted, rinsed, and ready for soaking or cooking.
Inspired by: Soupe au pistou - David Lebovitz
Print
Instant Pot Soupe au Pistou (Provencal Pesto Soup)
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 10 cups of soup 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Instant Pot Soupe au Pistou. Pressure cooked Provencal pesto soup, with white beans and summer vegetables.
Ingredients
Soaking the beans
- 8 ounces dried navy beans (or Alubia Blanca beans), sorted and rinsed
- 6 cups water
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Pesto Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme (or fresh thyme leaves)
- 6 cups water
- 3 large carrots (about 8 ounces), peeled and cut into ½-inch rounds
- 8 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 14- to 16-ounce can diced tomatoes and juice (or 1 cup diced fresh Roma tomatoes)
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 cup ditalini dried pasta (or other small shape like tubetini, shells, or elbows)
- 2 medium zucchini, cut into ½-inch rounds
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 6- to 8-ounce jar of basil pesto - 1 tablespoon per bowl of soup
Instructions
- Sort and rinse the beans: Sort the beans, discarding any stones, dirt, or broken beans. Rinse the beans, then do an overnight or a quick soak.
- Overnight soak: Stir the beans, water, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl. Leave the beans on the counter to soak at least 8 hours, or overnight. Drain and discard the soaking liquid, and rinse the beans.
- OR: Pressure Quick Soak for 1 minute with a 30 minute rest: Put the beans and 6 cups of water in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Pressure cook at high pressure for 1 minute (“Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode in an Instant Pot for 1 minute), then let the beans sit in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes. Drain and discard the soaking liquid, rinse the beans, and wipe out the pressure cooker pot.
- Sauté the aromatics: Heat the olive oil in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker set to sauté mode (medium heat for a stovetop PC) until the oil starts shimmering. Add the onion and garlic, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and the thyme. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes.
- Everything in the pot: Add the drained and rinsed white beans to the pressure cooker, then pour in the 6 cups of water. Stir in the carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and 1 ½ teaspoons of salt.
- Pressure cook for 15 minutes with a quick release: Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 18 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric PC (Use “manual” or “pressure cook” mode in an Instant Pot), or for 15 minutes in a stovetop PC. Quick release the pressure.
- Cook the pasta and zucchini, season, and serve: Open the pressure cooker lid, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode adjusted to high (use medium-high heat in a stovetop PC). Add the pasta and zucchini, bring to a boil, and boil for the time on your pasta package’s directions (my ditalini took 10 minutes). Stir in the fresh ground black pepper, then ladle into bowls, and stir a tablespoon of pesto into each bowl. (Eyeball this - it doesn’t have to be a precisely measured tablespoon.) Serve, passing extra pesto at the table in case anyone wants to add more. Enjoy!
Notes
Want to add a little smoky pork to this vegetarian recipe? Add a hunk of salt pork or a smoked ham hock to the soup bowl.
Have other summer vegetables you want to add? If they’re harder vegetables, add them with the carrots and green beans so they are pressure cooked. If they are tender vegetables, add them with the zucchini, so they are only simmered at the end.
Tools
6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker)
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Sunday Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Provencal
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Chris Janey says
I'm going to try this tonight!
Mike Vrobel says
Try it, you'll like it!