Description
Instant Pot Lentil and Bacon Soup. Classic comfort food from Laurie Colwin's "More Home Cooking", sped up with my pressure cooker. Bacon, onions, garlic, lentils, and some diced tomatoes, pressure cooked for 12 minutes, make for a cozy, comforting soup.
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 ounces diced bacon
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 pound brown lentils, rinsed (2 ¼ cups)
- 4 cups water
- 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes
- 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Crisp the bacon and render the fat: Spread the bacon out in the bottom of a cold Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Set the pot to Sauté mode - high (medium-high heat for a stovetop PC). Cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until all the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving as much fat behind as possible. Set the bacon on a plate lined with paper towels to drain.
- Sauté the aromatics in the bacon fat: Add the onion and garlic, and sprinkle with the ½ teaspoon of salt. Sauté the onions until they soften, about 5 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot occasionally with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any stuck bits of bacon.
- Everything in the pot: Add the lentils and reserved bacon, then stir them into the onions. Pour in 4 cups of water, scrape the bottom of the pot with the flat-edged wooden spoon one last time to make sure nothing is sticking, then stir in the tomatoes.
- Pressure cook for 15 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid on the pot. Pressure cook on high pressure for 15 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker, or for 12 minutes in a stovetop PC. (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook - Custom mode in an Instant Pot.) When the cooking time is over, let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 minutes. (If you are in a hurry, you can quickly release any remaining pressure after 20 minutes.
- Season, and serve: Unlock the lid, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Stir in 1½ teaspoons of fine sea salt and 1 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Serve and enjoy.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
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Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup of soup
- Calories: 276
- Sugar: 3.2 g
- Sodium: 483.4 mg
- Fat: 6.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 40.3 g
- Fiber: 6.8 g
- Protein: 16.3 g
- Cholesterol: 9.4 mg