Tomato Basil Soup - Instant Pot Recipe

 I love Tomato Basil soup and have been thinking of making it for a while. Since I have vowed to use my Instant Pot at least once a month this year, I decided to see if I could find recipe that I thought I would enjoy...luckily I found one on Recipe Teacher.  This one was a bit different than some others saw.  Most use heavy cream but this one uses Greek yogurt so I decided to give it a try.

Now, I SWORE I took a photo of all the ingredients (as I usually do) but it appears the photo didn't actually take - oh well.

I will just jump right in.

First, this called for 1/2 cup chopped onions.  Now I am not a fan of onions but I do like the flavor it gives so often I substitute onion powder in recipes that call for onions.  However, since I knew this would be blended, I decided to add the onions...so I chopped up 1/2 of an onion

I then put the Instant Pot on "Saute" and melted the butter, added the onions and sauteed for about 5 minutes until the onions seemed done and tender.

My house was starting to smell good at this point.  I then turned off the Instant Pot and added the Fire-Roasted tomatoes, broth, sugar, salt and dried basil.

So far, so good...next, I made sure the pressure valve was sealed, closed the lid (I love that little sound it makes when you open/close the lid) and manually set for 10 minutes on high pressure.

When the timer was up, I opened the vent to release the steam, then used an immersion blender to blend the soup so it would be smooth.

 Finally, I added the Greek yogurt and stirred that in with a spoon.

Results: Tomato-Basil Soup (topped with a little cheese)

Thoughts:  This was pretty good but wasn't life-changing or anything.  I would make it again, but would use fresh instead of dried basil and would try it with cream instead of yogurt.  The yogurt didn't really seem to add much to this recipe and the dried basil took away from the smoothness of the soup.  Plus, I just really like fresh basil.

I may seek out a different Tomato Basil soup to try.  I liked this but didn't love it and for a recipe to become part of my regular rotation, I have to kind of love it.

If you try it, let me know what you think.

Instant Pot Tomato Basil Soup

• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 28.5oz cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

1. Set your Instant Pot to saute on high setting and melt the butter. When butter is melted and hot, add onions and celery and saute for about 5 minutes.
   
   
2. Press cancel and add tomatoes, broth, sugar, salt and basil. Not the yogurt yet! With the tomatoes, broth, sugar and basil added to the sauteed onions and celery, secure the lid, close the seal and pressure cook for 10 minutes. When cooking cycle is complete do a quick release of the pressure and remove lid.