Description
You will love this creamy zucchini soup Instant Pot recipe. It’s silky and smooth, delicious yet low in calories even with a touch of cream swirled in. This Instant Pot zucchini soup recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free and great as a starter or a main dish.
Ingredients
Scale
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 large onion, diced
2 lb zucchini, diced into cubes or half circles
3 cloves garlic, diced
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
750 ml / 3 cups water
1.5 stock cube
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup cream
Instructions
- Prep. Dice the onions, garlic and zucchini; roughly is fine as the soup will be pureed at the end.
- Saute. Turn the Saute function on and once heated, add the olive oil and onions. Cook for 4-5 minutes on the Normal setting, until softened. Stir a few times. Press Cancel to stop the function.
- Add ingredients. Add zucchini, garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Add water and crumbled stock cubes or ready-made vegetable stock. Stir through. The liquid should just barely cover the zucchini as the vegetable will give out a lot of moisture during cooking.
- Set & cook. Secure and lock the lid; make sure the pressure handle is pointing to Sealing. Select Manual/Pressure Cook and adjust the timer to 2 minutes on HIGH pressure. After a few seconds, the ON sign will come on, indicating the pressure is building (you might also hear 3 beeps on some models); pressurizing will take about 12 minutes, and then the 2-minute timer will begin.
- Once the timer is done, manually let off the remaining steam (quick release).
- Blend. Use an immersion stick blender to puree the soup directly in the Instant Pot or cool it off slightly and transfer it to a standing blender or a food processor in batches.
- Finish with cream. Return pureed soup to the pot. Stir in the cream and lemon juice. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Serve with fresh herbs, scallions or chives and croutons or crusty bread on the side. You can also top it with shaved or grated Parmesan cheese or any other cheese you like.
Notes
- Zucchini is also known as courgette in the UK, You will need about 1 kg/ 2lb (6 medium ones (about 20cm/8″ long, 4cm / 1.5″ wide), or 8 small ones, or 3- 4 large ones)
- The cream is used to add some richness and flavor, you can use regular or low-fat cream, half and half, creme fraiche, sour cream, or even mascarpone or cream cheese. Or just a bit of butter will do.
- To puree the soup, you can use an immersion stick blender or a standing blender. In this case, cool the soup slightly before whizzing the soup in 2-3 batches. Then return to the pot to stir in the cream and to taste for seasoning.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cups
- Calories: 182
- Sugar: 9.9 g
- Sodium: 752.3 mg
- Fat: 13.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 15 g
- Fiber: 3.2 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 17 mg
Keywords: Zucchini, Courgette, Soup, Instant Pot, Pressure Cooker, Vegetarian, Low-Carb, Gluten-Free