Most weeks, I make a couple of pots of soup to serve at lunch and sometimes dinner. The ingredients depend on what I have in the pantry and fridge. For this particular soup, I decided to start by cooking a package of dry beans in the Instant Pot. It worked great! I didn’t even have to presoak the beans. I found some really great info on using the Instant Pot for cooking beans from Kristin Chidsey over at A Mind Full Mom. She has lots of healthy recipes as well as tips and tricks when using the Instant y be sure to head over and check her blog out.

Along with the dry beans from the pantry, I found some precooked sausage patties in my freezer which made my decision to make this soup. After the beans were cooked, I switched the pot to the slow cook function, prepped and added the remaining ingredients, and let everything mingle for a few hours. The result was something pretty delicious. I hope you enjoy it.

White Beans and Sausage Soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry Great Northern white beans, washed and checked for stones

OR

4 15.5-ounce cans of white beans

• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 ½ pound sausage, I had breakfast sausage in the freezer, so I used that, but Italian would also be great.
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 3 carrots, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons Italian Style Soffritto seasoning blend.

Italian Style Soffritto seasoning blend is minced dried onion, tomato flakes, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, dried parsley, dried rosemary, dried sage. Aside from the tomato flakes, most of these herbs are probably in your spice collection. If not, use what you have to make a flavor blend unique to your kitchen.

Italian Style Soffritto seasoning blend is a Trader Joe’s product found online or in stores.

Instructions

1. Place dry white beans in Instant Pot. Add 8 cups of water. Place the lid in lock position with vent closed. Set to cook for 35 minutes. Allow to natural release for 15 minutes. Open vent to allow any remaining steam to escape. Open lid and season with salt.
2. Switch Instant Pot setting to slow cook on low.
3. In a medium frying pan, cook sausage and add to beans.
4. In the same skillet, add olive oil—Cook the onions, carrots, peppers until tender-crisp. Add to the beans along with seasonings.
5. Allow to slow cook and mingle for a few hours. The beans will break down a bit and thicken the soup.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.
7. Enjoy.