Instant Pot Basil Zucchini Soup (Paleo, AIP, Whole 30)
Something that’s surprised me, and made me incredibly happy at the same time is how many people try and love my soup recipes. I always had the misconception that food blogs and social were really just for sharing sugar-y treats and fried comfort foods, and even though I love sharing those recipes too, my gut healing soups are incredibly close to my heart. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is… there’s always room for soup in every season! That’s why I’m sharing this fresh green Basil Zucchini soup that’s perfect for summer!
Why I Love Veggie Soups…
1. They’re easy to make.
Especially with this particular soup being made in the instant pot, these soups are such an easy way to get a meal done! Where as stews can take hours, these soups are easily done in under an hour.
2. They’re packed full of nutrients.
Soups always an easy way to get in tons of veggies and nutrients! You can easily fit way more veggies into a soup than you likely could on your plate, and mask certain vegetables for picky eaters. I remember never liking parsnips… until I tried them in a soup. Now, the rest is history.
Another favorite thing to do with soups that I always recommend is to add an extra drizzle of fat on top with something like coconut oil or olive oil. Not only does this make the soup more satiating, but these fats help us absorb the nutrients in the vegetables more easily.
And of course, bone broth! Bone broth is well known to promote gut health and is the traditional way to prepare broth. Don’t cheat yourself by buying broth from a carton… make the real stuff.
3. The nutrients are easy to digest and absorb.
For those of us with serious gut issues, vegetables can be problematic. Fiber is hard to break down, and raw vegetables may be hard on the gut and the digestion. We can eat all of the vegetables we want, but if we’re not absorbing them, it doesn’t do much good. Cooking the vegetables in this soup well and pureeing them helps them to be more easily digested and absorbed!
Basil Zucchini Summer Soup (Paleo, AIP, Whole 30)
Ingredients
- 3 cups of bone broth (chicken is more mild, but beef bone broth works as well
- 3 medium zucchinis, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 large leek, chopped
- 1/4 cup basil, roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Juice of 1/4 lemon
- 2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Set the instant pot to sauté and pour in 2 tbsp of olive oil
- Add the zucchini and sauté for 4-5 minutes
- Next, add in the leeks and basil and sauté for 2-3 minutes
- Turn the instant pot off sauté
- Pour in the bone broth, lemon juice, and season with salt
- Stir to combine
- Put the lid on the instant pot and set the vent to close
- Set it to manual, high pressure for 8 minutes
- Allow the pressure to release naturally and remove the lid when ready
- Either using an immersion blender or a high speed blender, puree the soup
- To serve, top the soup with more olive oil and fresh basil if desired
- NOTE : If using a stove top, follow all instructions above, and adjust cook time of the soup to 20-25 minutes or until vegetables are soft
That’s all there is to it! I love using the instant pot this time of year as opposed to using the stove or the oven, so I can’t get enough of these easy summer recipes.
What I love about this summer soup is that it can easily be served luke warm and still taste fresh and delicious. The summer flavors make it so it doesn’t have to be pipping hot which is also incredibly welcome this time of year.
Enjoy this healing summer soup!
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I never made or ate zucchini soup because I thought it will be bland. I had nothing to made for lunch at work so in the morning found your recipe and didn’t had a time to peal the zucchinis and used half onion instead of leeks and OMG!! The best soup I had for a long time. thanks Michelle it was delicious.
★★★★★
YAY! So so glad you liked it! Thank you so much 🙂
This was so easy and delicious, even using onion and dried basil because that’s what I had. I’ll be making this again and again.
★★★★★
Yum! Thank you so much, Maggie! So glad you liked it 🙂
Can this be made with vegetable broth?
You can do that!
Followed all the directions …. not as thick as photo suggests, and taste is not pleasant. My first instapot fail.
★★
Wow, I honestly had zero faith that this would be good enough not to have to make myself eat it. My husband grew zucchini and let it get monster sized and he challenged me to use it for something we didn’t throw away. I found this recipe and did a trial run with 1 huge about 4” round and 12” tall squash. I followed directions and voila it needed nothing but a spoon to eat. We’re going to can it since we have several more to use. I did use just boiled chicken broth with some bouillon cubes so I cheated a little but super impressed.
★★★★★