Pressure Cooker Lentil Soup With Sausage

Pressure Cooker Lentil Soup With Sausage
Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
50 minutes
Rating
5(2,941)
Comments
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An electric pressure cooker makes quick work of this Italian-style lentil soup, which tastes like it has simmered away on the stovetop for hours. (If time is on your side, get the slow cooker version of this recipe here.) You could use any brown or black lentils, but beluga lentils are ideal because they get creamy on the inside while retaining their shape. (Other lentils may fall apart, but the soup will be no less delicious.) Determine your leafy green selection by what the market has to offer, keeping in mind that heartier types will retain more bite. Finish the soup with a hit of red-wine vinegar and a sprinkle of fresh basil for bright, fresh flavor.

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings
  • Olive oil
  • 1large red or yellow onion, chopped
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1pound hot or sweet Italian sausage (pork, chicken or turkey), casing removed
  • 6garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1teaspoon onion powder
  • 1teaspoon garlic powder
  • 3fresh thyme sprigs or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2tablespoons fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • Generous pinch of red-pepper flakes
  • ¾cup dry white wine
  • 1(14-ounce) can whole or chopped tomatoes
  • 8cups chicken stock
  • 2cups dried lentils, preferably black beluga
  • 1bay leaf
  • 5ounces delicate leafy greens, such as baby spinach or baby kale, or 8 ounces hearty greens, such as chard or collards (stemmed and chopped), fresh or frozen
  • 1tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • Chopped fresh basil, for serving
  • Grated Parmesan, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

596 calories; 20 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 11 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 63 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 38 grams protein; 1443 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Cover the bottom of a 5- to 8-quart pressure cooker with a thin layer of olive oil. Add the onion and season lightly with salt. Using the sauté setting, cook until the onion is softened and translucent, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Add the sausage. Cook, breaking the sausage into small pieces with a spatula or a wooden spoon, until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the fresh garlic, onion and garlic powders, thyme, oregano, red-pepper flakes and several generous grinds of pepper. Stir to combine and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the wine and stir, scraping the bottom of the pot to remove any browned bits. Simmer until reduced by half, about 5 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Add the tomatoes and their juices (if using whole tomatoes, crush them into pieces with your hands as you add them), followed by the chicken stock, lentils and bay leaf. Season generously with pepper and stir to combine. Cover and set steam valve to sealed position. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then release the remaining pressure manually.

  4. Step 4

    Open the lid. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Using the sauté setting, stir in the greens and cook until wilted and tender, 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the type of green. Stir in the vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide among bowls and top with basil and Parmesan.

Ratings

5 out of 5
2,941 user ratings
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Comments

Good; could be better. Thoughts on my first attempt: — It took more like 15 min to brown the sausage. Might make more sense to brown sausage, set aside, deglaze pot with moisture from onions, deglaze again w/wine, & add back sausage. — 8 cups of stock is way too much; this would be the right volume for stovetop. I used 6 and the soup is still too thin. Could be rectified by cooking down for a while, but next time I'll just use 4–5 cups. — 10 minutes PC may be too long for wee 'caviar' lentils

I don't have a pressure cooker but this recipe looks too good to pass up. I'll just follow the directions but use my enameled dutch oven and adjust the Step 3 cooking time. I'll bring the lentils to a boil and then simmer them covered for 50 minutes to an hour.

I would recommend halving the amount of stock instead. This worked perfectly for me tonight. Unfortunately I've found that cooking longer in the Instant Pot doesn't decrease the amount of liquid at the end, because it's not really losing any during the process. Definitely the hardest part of Instant Pot cooking for me.

Continuing from me previous comment... I followed the recipe exactly and used 8 cups of chicken stock (4 cups unsalted and 4 cups regular). The consistency is perfect. I don't understand how people are cutting the liquid in half. It wouldn't be soup otherwise.

Absolutely delicious. can't stop eating it. I followed the recipe exactly. I used hot Italian sausage and also added red pepper flakes. But I like heat, so if you're not a fan of spice, I would either use sweet Italian sausage, or use hot sausage but eliminate the red pepper flakes. A warning though... 50 minutes is not accurate. It was 90 minutes from when I started til when I was eating it. With almost 10 cups of liquid, it took a LONG time for the Instant Pot to come up to pressure.

This is the best soup I’ve ever made. I used the full amount of liquid, this would not be soup if you halved it as other comments suggested!! Adding this to the frequent recipe rotation!

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