Sausage Cauliflower Soup with Zucchini & Potatoes

One pot meals are the best! Quick, easy, and yes they can be delicious.

I am a huge fan of soups - there's nothing better than a mug of thick hearty soup on a cold fall or winter day.

Recently I found a recipe for Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana Soup.

It sounded good but it was low-carb which I didn't want. It called for kale which I can't eat, and coconut milk (another no-no for me).  So I hunted around and found a few other similar recipes.

I love combining recipes, taking bits and pieces from each, and incorporating my own tweaks. So here is what I ended up making and it is totally delicious! And best of all I got to use my wonderful Instant Pot . I don't know how I functioned before I had one.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. mild sausage, removed from casing 
• 4 pieces of maple-flavoured bacon, diced 
• 1 sweet onion, diced 
• 1 4inch piece of the white part of a leek, chopped 
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 
• 3 carrots, sliced into coins 
• 1 red pepper, cut into inch long strips 
• 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets 
• 1/2 head of broccoli, cut into florets 
• 1 cup of frozen hash browns (or potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks) 
• 4-5 cups chicken stock 
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme 
• 1/2 teaspoon Fine Herbes 
• 3/4 teaspoon basil 
• 1 small zucchini cut in half lengthwise and then 1/2 inch slices
• 1 cup milk - any kind you like

Instructions

Prep all the vegetables as described above.

All the vegetables prepped

Remove the sausages from their casing and brown them in your Instant Pot set to saute. Break the meat apart as it browns. This will take about 5 minutes. When the pink is gone, remove them with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Breaking up the Sausage

Add the bacon slices to the pot and saute for about 3 minutes. Remove and set aside until they cool, then cut them into small pieces.

Onion and leeks ready for pot

Now add the onions and leeks to the bacon fat in the pot and saute them until they are translucent. Add olive oil if you need more oil. 

Cancel the saute mode and put all the ingredients into the instant pot except the zucchini and milk. Stir everything and put the cover on. Be sure to set to Sealing. Set to manual pressure for 8 minutes.

 

When the time is done, do a quick release for the pressure. When the button drops and you can remove the lid, add the zucchini and set to manual pressure for another 2 minutes. Do a natural release and when you can remove the lid, add the milk and saute for another 2 minutes.

You can choose to heat the milk in the microwave before you add it to the soup and if you do that, you don't need the last 2 minute saute.

This would work for a supper for a busy mom. You could prep the vegetables the day before, then have this ready and on the table for your hungry crew in less than half an hour. That gives you time to bake some Country Style biscuits to go with the soup.

Enjoy!