Instant Pot Italian Chicken Soup [+Video]

This Instant Pot Italian Chicken Soup is the perfect cozy meal for a chilly day. Loaded with hearty vegetables and tender chicken, it’s a delicious twist on classic chicken soup. Plus, it can be made in just minutes using an Instant Pot. Watch the video for step-by-step instructions!

The yummiest Instant Pot chicken soup recipe I’ve ever made! It is healthy, quick and easy. This might just be my new favorite chicken soup!! And that is saying a lot because I LOVE so many soups. Pure comfort food!

If you haven’t tried “The Soup“, you have to do that! It is a staple around here, but this new Italian chicken soup recipe is light, but filling, and so, so flavorful.

And then there is our chicken tortilla soup, which is the best chicken tortilla soup that has ever existed, but still, there’s something about this Italian chicken soup that just hits the spot for me! You have to try it!

With the Instant Pot, you end up with a soup in less than an hour that tastes like it has been simmering all day!

Ingredients Needed for Instant Pot Chicken Soup

This soup is packed with veggies, rotisserie chicken, fresh herbs and orzo and topped with Parmesan and chunks of crusty bread. I’ve also seen it called chicken pastina soup or penicillin soup because it’s so nourishing to the soul that it will cure anything that ails you! Head down to the recipe card for the exact measurements, but here is your grocery list:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Vegetables: Yellow Onion, Garlic, Carrots, Celery and Tomatoes
• Water or Chicken Broth
• Better than Bouillon Chicken (not needed if you use chicken broth)
• Seasonings: Bay Leaves, Kosher Salt, Black Pepper
• Herbs: Fresh Parsley and Fresh Basil
• Orzo Pasta
  • NOTE: If you want to keep this gluten-free, skip the orzo and bread chunks.
• Rotisserie Chicken
• Lemon
• Parmesan Cheese
• Bread (optional)

How to Make Italian Chicken Soup in the Instant Pot

Your going to want to start this recipe by chopping all the veggies so that they are ready to add at the appropriate time. I know most people hate chopping veggies, but I kind of like it. Does that make me the nerdiest? Once the veggies are chopped, you are ready to start cooking.

1. Sauté the veggies in the Instant Pot.
2. Add broth, bay leaves, minced garlic and S&P.
3. Place lid on and set valve to sealing position.
4. Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes.
5. Cook the orzo in a pot on the stove top and then drain it while running it under cold water.
6. Quick release the pressure cooker and remove the bay leaves.
7. Add the chopped tomato, cooked orzo, shredded chicken (see next section) and herbs and place the lid

Cozy Ham and Bean Soup [+Video]

Warm up on a cold day with this delicious and hearty ham and bean soup recipe. Packed with protein and flavor, it’s the perfect comfort food for using up leftover ham.

I wish there was a grand story behind this recipe, but the truth is, there isn’t! Sometimes I am given suggestions for recipes that would benefit the blog, and this was one of them. So away I went to make a perfect ham and bean soup, and this is it!

It is very cozy anyway without being heavy and I love that while it’s mostly broth it actually is a bit creamy from the white beans and doing a little trick that I love doing with soups. Keep scrolling to find out!

Ingredients for Ham and Bean Soup

We like to make this recipe with leftover Christmas (or Easter) ham, but if you don’t have, just buy a ham at the store. With a few vegetables and herbs, you’ll be making delicious ham and bean soup in no time! Here is everything you will need:

• Oil
• Celery Stalks
• Carrots
• Onion
• Garlic
• Fresh Thyme
• Fresh Flat Leaf Italian Parsley
• Ground Mustard
• Vegetable or Chicken Broth
• Ham Hock
• Ham
  • Leftover ham from any of our ham recipes would work great! Slow Cooker Ham, Best Brown Sugar Ham, Honey Baked Ham, or Garlic Honey Mustard Ham
• Great Northern Beans or Navy Beans
• Bay Leaves
• White Pepper (black pepper is also fine)
• Salt

All the details and measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

How to Make Ham and Bean Soup

Soup should be easy! And this soup is so simple! I’m going to walk you through each step, and most of the time spent on this recipe is waiting for it to simmer and get all delicious! Here are the basic steps:

1. Sauté: Heat the oil over medium heat in a large Dutch oven or large pot and sauté all the veggies including the garlic until tender and fragrant.
2. Stir: Add the herbs and seasonings and stir. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and stir together.
3. Boil and Simmer: Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 2-3 hours.
4. Blend: Scoop out 1 ½ cups of the soup (avoiding the meat) and blend until smooth (using an immersion blender or regular blender). Add it back into the soup and stir to combine.
5. Remove: Take out the ham hocks and remove any meat left on the bones and remove the bay leaves.
6. Simmer: Let the soup cook for another 30 minutes and serve with crusty bread.

Keep scrolling to

Green Beans and Potatoes in the Instant Pot [+Video]

This is a Southern recipe with an electric pressure cooker twist! These Green Beans and Potatoes in the Instant Pot are so flavorful and tender, and there’s bacon on top!

Easy Instant Pot Side Dish

You read that right — these green beans and potatoes are topped with BACON! It all starts by sautéing the bacon and ends by mixing the bacon into the dish. Bacon is just SO GOOD, and it really takes these soulful Instant Pot green beans and potatoes to the next level.

So basically, we are taking one delicious side dish, combining it with another delicious side dish, and adding bacon. You just can’t go wrong! Then it’s all cooked in just a few minutes in the Instant Pot! Winning!

Green Beans and Potatoes

Green beans and potatoes would make a great side dish for any holiday dinner you have coming up. And I’m telling you, that bacon just reels people in. It’s irresistible! It complements the green beans and potatoes perfectly.

These pressure cooker green beans and potatoes also could be made just for a simple weeknight meal. Our kids love this dish, and it’s a great way to get some vegetables in their bellies.

Instant Pot Green Beans and Potatoes Ingredients

To make Instant Pot green beans with bacon and potatoes, you’ll need the following: 

• Bacon
• Red Onion
• Fresh Garlic
• Potatoes
• Butter
• Green Beans
• Chicken Broth
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Fresh Parsley

Which Green Beans Should I Buy?

There are a lot of different kinds of green beans. Not all green beans are created equal!  You want to buy haricot vert green beans. Pardon my French there! It is actually French for the long, slender green beans you can find in your produce section.

It is pronounced “heir covair,” not “harry cot vert.”  Although I like to say “harry cot vert” in my brain because it sounds so dang funny! Say “heir covair” in your best French accent and you’ll be impressing all your dinner guests!

Haricot vert are thinner than green beans native to the U.S.A. and are picked at an earlier point in their growth, making them more flavorful.  

Which Potatoes Should I Buy?

When all is said and done, really any potato would get the job done here, but Yukon Gold potatoes are our favorite for this dish.  They are smooth and soak in that yummy bacon flavor so well!  They also have a very light and flaky skin, which means you don’t have to peel them.  If you don’t have Yukon Gold in the house, here is our ranking of which potatoes to use:

1. Yukon Gold Potatoes — golden flesh inside, waxy, buttery flavor

Healthy Wild Blueberry Cottage Cheese Pancakes [+Video]

Sometimes you just need a big pile of fluffy pancakes and these healthy wild blueberry cottage cheese pancakes will fill your belly but not your waistline.

Growing up I was pretty die hard french toast. My Uncle Richard taught me to do maple syrup, homemade of course, and then a dusting of powdered sugar which is probably why I ended up with a few cavities but I forgive him. 😉 Once Cade and I got married we started experimenting with breakfast recipes and ended up with our Saturday morning hot breakfast tradition.

Most often it’s crepes, Cade’s nutella crepes to be exact but we also love our melt in your mouth buttermilk pancakes recipe that you’ll see by the comments, it’s the best in the entire world. Seriously.

The problem is, I don’t want to always be packing in the calories with heavier breakfasts so with all of this cottage cheese pancake craze I set out to make a healthier pancake. I can’t even describe sinking your teeth into these pancakes and finding little pockets of fresh blueberries. It’s a taste that can’t be beat!

Ingredients for Cottage Cheese Pancakes

I know when you hear the word “pancakes” you don’t think healthy breakfast, but these pancakes use a couple of different ingredients to make them a healthier choice that traditional pancakes. One pancake is only 16 carbohydrates and 3g of fat with 7g of protein (see the recipe card for the complete nutrition facts). Here is what you will need:

• Old Fashioned Oats: We will blend this up to make oat flour which is higher in fiber, vitamins and mineral than all purpose flour.
• Cottage Cheese: We chose to use the low fat cottage cheese and don’t notice any difference in flavor at all. It’s got great protein!
• Vanilla Extract: adds flavor
• Sugar: adds some sweetness
• Eggs : gives the pancakes structure and rise and using more egg whites keeps the protein high while calories are lower
• Baking Powder: gives the pancakes their fluffiness
• Salt: enhances all the flavors
• Wild Blueberries: Depending on the season, you can use fresh or frozen blueberries. Obviously fresh is preferred but sometimes it’s just not feasible. Wild berries take it from delicious to farm-to-table fresh deliciousness!

The measurements for all the ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

How to Make Blueberry Cottage Cheese Pancakes

This pancake recipe is easy and we make most of the recipe in a blender. Here are steps:

Read more