Presents that are fun and surprising and show us that the giver gets us- that’s what everybody wants, right? No matter who is on your list, we should give a gift that will make them smile.
“Present Perfect” for all Instant Pot lovers. Friends who love their Instant Pot will love the gift of FOOD-IN-THE-JAR for easy weeknight dinner.
Food – there’s no greater gift…
I have spotted these two variations of this classic idea, and it couldn’t be simpler. People who love their Instant Pot will love this FOOD-IN-A-JAR for an easy weeknight dinner. On this post I will show you a very simple combination of making Italian Wild Rice, Farro, Great Northern Beans Soup, mixed with Hearty Shiitake Mushrooms that is totally a no brainer, just put it in the Instant Pot and enjoy the meal. You can add a few fresh things if you like as per the suggestions or just skip them altogether. (I will be sharing ‘Khichadi” (an Indian porridge), FOOD-IN-A-JAR combination on another blog post.)
ITALIAN WILD RICE, FARRO, GREAT NOTHERN BEANS, MIXED WITH HEARTY SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS:
This fantastic soup in the jar cooked in the Instant Pot is super-fast and with no hands-on attention required. You can just dump the jar in the pot garnish it with fresh parsley and it will taste like you have been toiling on it all day.
This soup may look simple but has a delicious nutty texture with many different flavors that will open up your taste buds. Accompany it with a crusty Italian baguette bread and you are all set.
WHY MAKE THIS ITALIAN SOUP IN THE INSTANT POT
Instant pot makes it so easy to make this Italian Soup. Once you have tried it in the Instant Pot, you will never go the stovetop way. You will love this perfectly cooked, no fail Italian Soup! Here is why.
- No need to baby sit the soup, just put the ingredients in the Instant Pot and walk away.
- This FOOD-IN-JAR is not just good as a gift but it is a great way to do meal prep in advance and store away so on weekdays when you come back home you can just dump it in the Instant Pot and you are all set. No brainers!!
- Making this soup under pressure in the Instant pot blends all the flavors well thus making it irresistibly delicious.
- Total end to end time is only 45 minutes.
HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT FOOD- IN-A-JAR FOR
ITALIAN SOUP – STEP BY STEP
To prepare the complete “FODD -IN-A-JAR” Italian soup gift, here is a picture of all you will need.
To prepare the Italian soup gift bottle, here are the ingredients you will need.
Ingredients
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried chives
• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
• ½ teaspoon dried granulated garlic
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder (vegetarians can use vegetable bouillon powder)
• 2 tablespoons dried minced onion
• ½ cup great northern beans
• ½ cup uncooked wild rice
• ½ cup farro
• ½ cup chopped dried shitake mushrooms
• ½ cup chopped dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
Wild rice, farro, Great Northern beans and Shitake mushrooms are easy to find ingredients in most grocery stores.
Now lets start layering the bottle.
Step1: Stick Labels: First print instructions for how too cook Italian soup in the jar, on a label and stick it on the jar
Step2: Mix the seasoning: In a small bowl stir together first eight ingredients (through dried minced onion).
Step3: Layer the Beans and seasoning mix: Now in a 2-pint (32oz. 946ml) glass jar layer, first great northern beans. For the second layer put wild rice, the third layer with Farro, fourth layer with shitake mushrooms, fifth with dried tomatoes.
Step4: Top it with seasoning mix: Now top it with the seasoning mix.
Step5: Seal the Jar and Date it: Put the lid on the jar to seal it. Also, put a date on the bottle so people you gift this know when it was bottled.
Step 6: Decorate- Decorate the bottle with colored holiday paper on top of the lid and tie a pretty ribbon.
HOW TO MAKE ITALIAN SOUP IN THE INSTANT POT – STEP BY STEP RECIPE
Now let’s see how to prepare Italian Soup from the jar. Here is a picture of the ingredients that you will need while cooking the soup (Do not add these to the bottled jar). From these two ingredients, water is essential and parsely is optional and you may skip them if you don’t have it on hand, although I would suggest not to skip it as adds a lot of flavor to the soup.
To make Italian Soup, here are the ingredients that you will need.
•6 cups water
•2 tablespoon fresh parsley for garnishing (optional)
Step1. Prep the Instant Pot to Make Soup: Plug in the Instant Pot and remove the lid. Put all the contents of the bottle in the steel pot .
Step2. Add Water: Now add 6 cups of water to the steel pot and combine.
Step3. Pressure Cook: Place the lid on the Instant Pot and lock lid on the pot, switch the “Pressure Release Valve” to close/sealing. Press “Manual” button and adjust the time to 25 minutes or just press the “Bean-chili’ button for 30 minutes, use the “+/-” key to adjust the time. In a few seconds, it will say “ON” on the screen. After ten seconds the pot will begin to heat and build pressure. Once it reaches the required temperature and pressure, the display will begin to count down. The timer will start counting down until the timer reaches 0. Once it reaches 0, the Instant Pot will automatically switch to “Keep Warm” mode and then begin to drop in pressure (you will see the 00:01/ L0:01 on the screen which means it is releasing pressure). Do “Natural Pressure Release” (NPR), which means the pressure will release naturally. It should take about 20 minutes. When the valve drops carefully remove the lid.
Step 5: Serve: Once you open the lid, combine everything well. Press the cancel button on the Instant Pot. To serve, ladle into bowls, and top each with fresh parsley. Enjoy with crusty bread!
If you loved this Gourmet Holiday, FOOD-IN-A-JAR idea then let me know as I have tons of ideas on this line that I can share with you. Please don’t forget to leave your valuable comments.
Instant Pot Gourtmet Food-In-A-Jar for Making Italian Wild Rice Farro, Great Nothern beans soup, with hearty Shitake Musgrooms
Ingredients
Ingredients you will need to put in the jar:
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried chives
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/2 tsp dried granulated garlic
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 3 tbsp chicken bouillon powder (vegetarians can use vegetable bouillon powder)
- 2 tbsp dried minced onion
- 1/2 cup great northern beans
- 2 cups uncooked wild rice
- 1/2 cup farro
- 1/2 cup dried shitake mushrooms
- 1/2 cup dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
Ingredients you will need to make:
- 6 cups water
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley for garnishing (optional)
Instructions
How to layer the FOOD-IN-THE-JAR:
- Step1: Stick Label- First print instructions for how too cook Italian soup in the jar, on a label and stick it on the jar .Step2: Mix the seasoning: In a small bowl stir together first eight ingredients (through dried minced onion).
Step3: Layer the Beans and seasoning mix:Now in a 2-pint (32oz. 946ml) glass jar layer, first great northern beans. For the second layer put wild rice, third layer with Farro, fourth layer with shitake mushrooms, fifth with dried tomatoes.
Step4: Top it with seasoning mix: Now top it with the seasoning mix.
Step5: Seal the Jar and Date it: Put the lid on the jar to seal it. Also put a date on the bottle so people you gift this know when it was bottled.
Step 7: Decorate- Decorate the bottle with colored holiday paper on top of the lid and tie a pretty ribbon.
How to make Italian Soup in the Instant Pot – step by step recipe
- Step1. Prep the Instant Pot to Make Soup: Plug in the Instant Pot and remove the lid. Put all the contents of the bottle in the steel pot .Step3. Pressure Cook:Place the lid on the Instant Pot and lock lid on the pot, switch the “Pressure Release Valve” to close/sealing. Press “Manual” button and adjust the time to 25 minutes or just press the “Bean-chili’ button for 30 minutes, use the “+/-” key to adjust the time. In a few seconds, it will say “ON” on the screen. After ten seconds the pot will begin to heat and build pressure. Once it reaches the required temperature and pressure, the display will begin to count down. The timer will start counting down until the timer reaches 0. Once it reaches 0, the Instant Pot will automatically switch to “Keep Warm” mode and then begin to drop in pressure (you will see the 00:01/ L0:01 on the screen which means it is releasing pressure). Do “Natural Pressure Release” (NPR), which means the pressure will release naturally. It should take about 20 minutes. When the valve drops carefully remove the lid.
Step 5: Serve: Once you open the lid, combine everything well. Press the cancel button on the Instant Pot. To serve, ladle into bowls, and top each with fresh parsley. Enjoy with crusty bread!
Notes
- If desired, to have some variation to this, after the second step when you open the lid press ‘Sauté” key and add 2 cups of packed baby spinach and 2 cups chopped, cooked chicken and bring it to a rolling boil. Close and serve hot.
- You can double, triple or cut this recipe down to half. If you change the quantity, the pressure cooking time in the Instant pot does not change. If you loved this Gourmet Holiday, FOOD-IN-A-JAR idea then let me know as I have tons of ideas on this line that I can share with you. Please don’t forget to leave your valuable comments.
