I never jumped on the Instant Pot train. I didn’t feel I needed yet another small appliance to add to the already over stuffed pantry pouring over onto shelves full of small appliances. My mom started buying me small appliances and cookware when I was 19. Thirty years later I’ve accumulated a small collection.
This past year we have been trying to minimize and down size what we have and part with what we do not need. It’s not as easy as it sounds when you are a food blogger who styles their own photos and needs props to do this. This and other reasons are why I resisted until I could no longer resist.
Enter my Father-In-Law. He raves about his Instant Pot, so much so he gave us one for Christmas this year. He’s already given me many tips and tricks on using the pot and recipes he’s tried, so making this soup was pretty simple. We took our tried and true Slow Cooker Hamburger Soup recipe, changed it up a bit and turned it into an Instant Pot Hamburger Soup recipe.
Receiving an Instant Pot for Christmas had me intrigued and started my mind wandering about what I could actually make in one since I never paid much attention to the recipes even though I have an Instant Pot Pinterest Board. So I fired it up and started with a simple soup.
Our Instant Pot Hamburger Soup features ground beef, bacon, carrots, celery and shallots all coming together in a savoury tomato broth. I added bacon hoping the bacon flavour would infuse into the soup and it did a little but not as much as I had hoped plus the bacon didn’t crisp up. Next time I may cook the bacon in advance and crumble it on top.
Tip: I always cook my pasta separately and then ladle it into individual bowls. This method works best when you have leftover soup to ensure the noodles do not soak up the broth leaving you with no liquid when you are ready to eat the soup again. Cooking your pasta separate and adding it to each bowl, and storing separately keeps the soup loose and brothy the next day.
- 2 pieces of bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 2 shallots, diced
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 1 cup carrots, chopped
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 3 cups beef broth
- 3 tsp beef OXO bullion
- 1 leftover parmesan rind
- 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup small pasta shells or macaroni
- ½ cup grated parmigiano reggiano
- ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting, medium temperature.
- When the pot setting reads hot add the bacon and ground beef.
- Once the beef is no longer pink add the shallots, celery, carrots and turn the setting to high to get some brown happening on the beef. This will happen quickly.
- Stir in oregano, bay leaves, salt and pepper cooking another 5-10 minutes.
- In the meantime mix beef OXO with beef stock.
- Hit cancel, then pour in beef stock, parmesan rind, tomatoes and worcestershire sauce. If sticking occurs de-glaze with broth and stir breaking up any bits on bottom.
- Cover pot with lid, turn vent to sealing position. Select pressure cook for 7 minutes.
- Pot will take a few minutes to reach pressure, then count down and cook.
- When cooking is complete, allow an undisturbed 15 minute natural release.
- Start cooking your pasta. Drain and set aside.
- After 15 minutes carefully, in short bursts at first, release remaining steam in your Instant Pot manually by turning the steam release knob to the venting position. After a few bursts you can leave it release the remaining pressure.
- When pin drops remove lid.
- Fish out the parmesan rind and bay leaves.
- Stir and taste adjusting salt and pepper as needed.
- Spoon into bowls or mugs, top with fresh parsley and ground parmigiano reggiano.
- Serve.
