Chicken butternut squash & white bean soup - 1 point on WW

I am going to be very sad when winter is over! I am not a summer soup eater but soups are so easy to meal prep for low point options on Weight Watchers! Meal prep is key to staying on track :-)

This soups has only 4 points in the whole pot! The majority of these points come from using a little but of olive oil to sauté the onions. You can reduce the points by using cooking spray instead but I personally don't think it cooks the same way. You need a little bit more grease to get the onion cooking nicely.

I used pre-cut butternut squash for this recipe because I just hate cutting it up so much! We have to take short cuts where we can right? Many of the other ingredients I chopped up while the onions and chicken were cooking to save time.

Ingredients:
Cooking spray

2 tsp of olive oil

1/3 of a white onion, diced
1 large chicken breast (around 10 oz), cut into small cubes of about 1/2 an inch

3 cloves of garlic

2 tsp of cumin
1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp of salt

fresh ground pepper to taste

8 oz of butternut squash, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 ribs of celery, diced

15 oz can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

6 oz of frozen peas (I buy a 12 oz bag and use half)

4-5 cups of water

2 cubes of low sodium chicken bouillon

Cooking equipment: 6 quart Dutch oven and garlic press

Directions:
Spray a 6 quart Dutch oven with cooking spray this allows you to use less olive oil. Add diced onion and olive oil to the pot and sauté on med-high heat until the onions are translucent, about 5-6 minutes. While the onions are cooking, I cut my chicken into cubes. Add chicken to the pot and using a garlic press, add the garlic. Add the cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper to the pot and cook until the chicken is mostly cooked, about 5-7 minutes and then add the squash cubes. While the chicken and squash are cooking, I dice my celery. Add the celery, beans and peas to the pot. Cover the contents with water, about 4-5 cups and add the bouillon cubes. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes.

The recipe makes about 6 bowl-sized servings which the recipe builder calculates at 1 point each. There are only 4 points in the whole pot, 3 from olive oil and 1 from the bouillon cubes.

This blog is not affiliated with Weight Watchers in any way. This post may contain affiliate links, if you make a purchase using one of these links this blog may receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Instant Pot Chicken and Couscous soup - 3 points on Weight Watchers

Sometimes you just can't eat any more zero point taco soup, am I right?!? This chicken and couscous soup may be your salvation. Yes it's 3 points instead of zero but it's a big serving and a different flavor for when you just need a break!

Soups are an excellent item for meal prepping for success on Weight Watchers. They make a big batch, are easy to keep low in points and store well. I always feel like I do better on my points when I have a soup ready to go.

Ingredients:
1 cup Israeli couscous (also called Pearl couscous)
1 zucchini, diced
1 can of corn
3 ribs of celery, diced
1 cup diced green beans
juice of half a lemon (optional - I love it with lemon but my husband less so, you can suit your taste)
6 cups of water
2 tsp of Better than bullion chicken base (or you can use FF chicken broth iinstead of the water + bouillon)
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
2-3 chicken breasts (depending on size)

Place all ingredients in a 6 quart Instant Pot with the chicken breasts on top. Ensure there is enough water to fully cover all of the ingredients. Cook on manual, high pressure for 10 minutes.

When the time goes off, allow to naturally release a few minutes (to avoid soup spraying out) and then quick release the pressure. After you open the pot, take the chicken breasts out and shred them using two forks and add the shredded chicken back to the pot of soup and stir.

It's steaming!

The recipe makes 5 servings, 3 points each. Please note that it will take some time to come up to pressure because the pot is really full. When being extra healthy, my husband and I take a walk while it's coming to pressure and cooking.

I make variations of this soup a lot, using different zero point vegetables. You can also make this recipe using chicken thighs, because they are smaller you probably need 3 thighs. If you are doing WW, using thighs will be higher in points.

This blog is not affiliated with Weight Watchers in any way. Point values were checked in April 2018 under the Freestyle program. This post may contain affiliate links, if you make a purchase from one of these links this blog may receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.

The easiest butternut squash soup ever with the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker

Butternut squash soup is one of the things I love eating but normally I find kind of a pain to make. You have to cut up (which is hard!) and cook the squash, and them puree it. It's kind of a hassle.

However, using my instant pot electric pressure cooker to cook the squash makes the process so much easier! I can make it on a weeknight now! It's healthy, delicious and now easy.

Ingredients:
~2lb butternut squash
3/4 cup heavy cream
32 oz low sodium chicken broth, divided
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Equipment:
6 qt instant pot electric pressure cooker
Immersion blender (I have this one) or you can use a food processor, but an immersion blender will make it easier

Directions:
Cut your squash into fourths, so it will fit in your pressure cooker and cook more easily. Remove the seeds. Pour one cup of water into your pressure cooker pot and place your trivet in the bottom, place squash on top. Close top and close vent. Pressure cook on manual high for 12 minutes. When cooking time is completed quick release the pressure.

Squash ready for cooking

Remove the squash from the pot and dump out the water. Allow the squash to cool slightly, until you can handle it. Pour about half the chicken broth, the cream and all of the seasonings into the pressure cooker pot and set the cooker to the saute, less (ie the lower temp, on my IP it's called "less").

Cooked squash

Scoop the squash out of the peel and return it to the pot. Using your immersion blender, puree the squash in the pot, adding additional chicken stock until it reaches desired consistency. Depending on the exact size of your squash, you may not need the entire container. Continue blending until the soup is smooth. Makes 4-6 entree sized servings.

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Southern Brunswick stew in the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker

I was first introduced to this hearty southern staple when I first went to North Carolina with DH, before we ever moved here. It was hearty and filling and perfect for winter. It also seemed the perfect dish for the Instant Pot! The IP really shines when making soups and stews.

This dish relies on two pressure cook cycles, first to cook the meat and then to cook the stew. For this reason it's not a 10 minute soup but still much quicker in your instant pot that the traditional process.
Ingredients:
~1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs (I would err on the side of less or it can be quite meaty)
~1 pound beef stew meat (in cubes, I would err on the side of less or it can be quite meaty)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp chopped garlic (I use this kind in the jar)
1/2 a small onion, diced
1 small bell pepper,diced (green is fine, I used yellow because that's what I had)
1 bay leaf
14.5oz  of chicken broth
14.5oz can of fire roasted tomatoes
12oz package of frozen corn
12oz package of frozen lima beans
3 tablespoons Corn starch

Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of your instant pot and put your trivet in the pot. Place your chicken thighs and stew meat on the of the trivet. Season the meat with the salt and pepper. Put your IP on manual pressure cook, high for 8 minutes. During this cooking cycle, you can dice your onions and pepper. Make sure the valve is closed. Quick release (QPR) the pressure. Remove the meat from your pot leaving the liquid at the bottom. Set the IP on saute, high to keep it warm for the next cycle.

Meat on the trivet ready to cook

Put the onions and garlic in the pot and allow to cook a few minutes. Then add the bay leaf, chicken broth, tomatoes, corn, pepper and lima beans ingredients to the pot. While your onions and garlic are cooking shred your chicken and stew meat. After it's shredded, add your meat to the pot and start the second pressure cooking cycle. Put the IP on manual, high for 10 minutes. Make sure your valve is closed. . When the cooking time is finished, allow the pressure to naturally release for 2-3 minutes and then you can QPR the remaining pressure.

Everything in the pot ready to do the second cook cycle

If the stew is not thick enough, take 1 cup of broth from the pot and whisk with 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and add it to the pot. Allow to simmer on saute mode, high until it reaches desired thickness.

Cooked! Isn't it nice that my bay leaf came to the top? Easy to find!

Makes approximately 6 servings, total prep and cook time is an hour and 15 minutes. It's not the fastest meal you can make in your IP but most of the time is for it to cook, very little active prep time.

If you liked this stew, check out this round up of other soups you can make in your IP.

Time to eat!

5 soup recipes for the instant pot

It's been cold outside and we have been cooking up soup in our 6 quart Instant Pot electric pressure cooker like crazy. The IP really shines when making soup. It has all-day simmer taste in less than half an hour.

Ready to warm up? Here are 10 great soup recipes you can make in your instant pot!

1. Zuppa Toscana
A la the popular Olive Garden dish. The first time I made this in the IP was the first time I'd ever had it and it was amazing. Here is the link for the version from This Old Gal and here is my version. Her version is closer to the Olive Garden's. I tweaked mine a little to make it easier to make (ie using pancetta cubes cooked right in the pot) and because I don't like kale very much. It's delicious and my husband loved it.

Sausage, potatoes and pancetta - how can you not like zuppa toscana?

2. Chicken Noodle Soup
A winter classic made simple in the instant pot because who has all day to simmer soup when they have a cold? Here is a great recipe from Cook Fast Eat Well.

3. Creamy potato Soup
This recipe is a riff on something I've been making in my crock pot for years. I make it with pancetta, bacon or ham based on what I have on hand. It's hearty and will warm you right up. Here is my recipe.

4. Stuffed Pepper Soup
I made this recipe to kick off our low carb diet for the new year. It was tasty and it's healthy!

Stuffed pepper soup

5. Butternut squash soup
Cut a butternut squash in half and cook it in your instant pot, then you can puree your squash and put it back in the pot to simmer a little (on saute function), following your preferred recipe. Don't have a favorite? Try mine! The IP makes it much easier to make this delicious soup.

I'm hungry just looking at these great soups!

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Low carb stuffed pepper soup for the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker!

It's a new year and we are on the low carb train for the month of January. One of my favorite dishes when eating low carb is a version of stuffed peppers. Instead of rice and meat stuffing you stuff the peppers with meat and black beans to keep the carb count low. It's delicious but it takes forever to make the filling and then bake the peppers until they are tender. So, since it's winter and I am lazy, I have adapted this as a soup for my electric pressure cooker.

I made this in my 6-quart instant pot duo electric pressure cooker.

We're doing a looser, modified low carb diet. Being a little less strict will help us to stay on it longer while still eliminating most sugar and hopefully dropping a few pounds. If you are doing a stricter low carb diet, you might want to modify this to reduce the total number of carbs, thus I have flagged the 3 biggest offenders in the list below - black beans, quinoa and canned tomatoes. These numbers are what is added to the total recipe and not per serving.


This recipe takes approximately 40 minutes for prep, pressurizing and cook time.

Ingredients:
20 oz lean ground turkey or ground beef
1 packet chili seasoning
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 large green peppers, diced
2 large red peppers, diced
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes (adds 14 net carbs)
1 can black beans (adds 38 net carbs)
1 cup quinoa (I used tri-color Trader Joe's quinoa; adds 17 net carbs)
2 cans beef broth
extra water to cover contents

Meat ready to brown

Directions:
Turn your instant pot to saute on normal heat and add your meat, chili seasoning and garlic. My meat was extra lean, so I also used some olive oil in the bottom of  pot. As your meat is browning, you will need to stir it occasionally, you can dice your peppers.

Diced red pepper

After the meat is browned, add your peppers, tomatoes, black beans and quinoa to the pot.

Everything but the broth.

Pour in two cans of beef broth and add extra water until the contents of the pot is covered.

All ingredients added and covered with broth.

In the 6 qt IP, it will be almost to the fill line. I gave it a little stir to mix everything up and then set the pot to manual pressure cook high for 14 minutes. It will take about 10-15 minutes to come to pressure because the pot is really full. When it's ready, do a natural pressure release for 5 minutes (to reduce the chance the soup will spray out) and then quick pressure release.

Now it's time to eat!

Zuppa Toscana in the instant pot!

As someone who doesn't frequent Olive Garden I had never really heard of their zuppa toscana. When I started looking for Instant Pot recipes, I was seeing rave reviews of it all over the place so I thought I'd try it for myself!

I made a variation of the recipe from this old gal, and it's amazing! Now I want to go to Olive Garden to try theirs and see how mine compares!

I made a few alterations of the recipe I started with of course, I have to make it my own!

First, I love pancetta and I often find it easier to cook with than bacon because it already comes cut up into little cubes. I buy it in 4oz packages at Aldi for a little over $2. Especially since the original recipe only called for 4 strips of bacon, I used pancetta instead, I didn't want most of a package of bacon laying around. Or you know, in my stomach.

I also just cooked the pancetta with the sausage and left it in because, laziness. I really did not see any reason to take it out and then put it back on top, except maybe it makes a nicer photo op!

The meat and potatoes in the pot!

The other big switch was to use spinach instead of kale. This is an easy swap. I don't like kale very much so I usually will sub spinach for kale. I also don't like onions so I used onion powder. These are just personal preferences.

The finished product!

I will definitely be making this soup again, it was so delicious! I had planned to make a big batch to have on hand for the work week but that didn't really work out because we ate so much of it there was barely any left! whoops!

Ingredients:

• a little bit of olive oil
• 2 tsp of minced garlic (I use this kind in the jar)
• 12 oz pork sausage (you could use a pound, I was also making a quiche and borrowed a little from my pound!)
• 4oz pancetta
• 3 Large Potatoes cut into bite sized slices
• 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock (I used low sodium)
• ground pepper to taste
• onion powder to taste
• 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 1 cup Heavy Cream

To make it my way you will do as follows:
Turn your instant pot or other electric pressure cooker on saute normal heat (ie not high or low) and pour a small amount of olive oil in the bottom. Allow to heat for 1-2 minutes and add your garlic sauteing for 2-3 minutes. Add the sausage and pancetta to the pot and brown the meat. When the meat is fully cooked (5-7 minutes) turn the pot off and allow to cool before draining the grease (keep the sausage and pancetta in the pot).

Add the potatoes and chicken stock, a little pepper and onion powder (according to your preference) to the pot and set the pressure cooker to manual and set for 5 minutes. After the cook time finishes allow a 10 minute natural pressure release and then you can release the remaining pressure with quick release (I actually let mine NPR 15 minutes because I was busy, and it still turned out fine). Add the spinach and cream. Stir to combine and allow the spinach to wilt before serving.

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Potato Pancetta soup in the instant pot

This was my first time winging it for the instant pot! I felt brave. It was delicious.

It was loosely based on a crockpot potato soup I've been making for years but now adjusted for my instant pot!

I took this photo before putting cheese on top!

1-2 TB of olive oil

1/2 tsp of chopped garlic (I use the jar kind, like this)

8 oz of pancetta (2 packages)

5-6 russet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (you can use another kind but you might need more if they are smaller)

1 quart of chicken broth

1/2 head of broccoli chopped (could omit if you don't like it, I added it to sneak in some veggies)

1/4 tsp of celery seed

pepper to taste (I didn't add salt because the pancetta is salty, you can if you want it saltier)

4 oz of cream cheese, cut into small cubes

cheddar cheese for garnish (optional but yummy!)

Directions:

Turn on your instant pot and set to saute on high temperature. Add olive oil to pot and when it's warm add the garlic. Saute garlic for 1-2 minutes and add pancetta. Cook the pancetta 5-7 minutes until fully cooked. Add the chicken broth, potatoes, broccoli, celery seed and pepper to the pot. Ensure there is enough liquid to cover the contents of the pot and if not add additional broth or water. Turn the instant pot to pressure cook on high temperature and set the time for 12 minutes. Make sure the vent is set to sealing.

After the pressure cooking is finished do a quick pressure release. When the pressure has released, change the pot back to saute and add the cubes of cream cheese, stirring as you do so. Allow soup to simmer for 4-5 minutes to melt the cream cheese into the soup, then serve with shredded cheese on top!

Note: I used a 6 qt instant pot.

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How to cook an almost whole butternut squash in your instant pot

I love butternut squash (see past recipe butternut squash soup here) but I absolutely hate cutting it up. It's hard, especially peeling it. Making it in the instant pot or other electric pressure cooker, you don't have to peel it! It's amazing.

It doesn't quite have the flavor of an oven roasted butternut but it's still pretty good and it's prefect to use for soups or twice baked or just eating on it's own. It's so healthy and easy.

Too big for the pot!

You can put it in your instant pot without peeling it but you need to cut it up enough so it fits inside. For my 6qt pot, I had to cut mine in fourths. I don't recommend putting it in whole, even if it fits because it won't cook very evenly.

I had one small area where my squash was thick that wasn't cooked all the way after my cook time, if you have a thicker squash, add 1-2 minutes. After this trial, I have suggested 13 minute cook time (I had tried 12 minutes). Or use a few minutes of natural pressure release (ie let the pressure come down without opening the valve) if you have a thick squash.

Ready to go!

Directions:
Cut squash into fourths and clean out the seeds. Place trivet in bottom of instant pot and pour in 1 cup of water. Place your squash on the trivet and close the lid. Set instant pot for high pressure, 13 minute cook time. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. After the cook time has finished you can do a quick pressure release by opening the valve. The overall cooking time including for the pot to get to pressure is about 20 minutes.

**If you have a thicker than normal squash, you can add 1-2 minutes cooking time or allow it to do a natural pressure release for a few minutes so it cooks a little bit more. Be advised 2 minutes is a lot in pressure cooker time!

Now you have a perfectly cooked squash with very little fuss!

You can scoop it out eat it as it is (yum!) or use it, for example, for a butternut squash soup! Just remove the squash from your pot. Pour out the water from the bottom and remove the trivet. Scoop the squash back into the instant pot and turn on the saute function and follow this recipe as if you were on the stove top.

Simple (non-authentic) pork wonton soup

Wonton packed soup!

If you haven’t visited your local Asian market, you really need to check it out! Though I sometimes find it a little overwhelming since I don’t know what 90% of the things they sell are for, let alone how to use them (packages are often not in English) if you look around a little you can find some really great stuff that is easy to use even if you don’t speak Chinese/Korean/Japanese J

My favorite aisle is the frozen dumpling aisle. In part because I know what they are and how to cook them but mostly because there are SO many different kinds of dumplings. I buy different ones every time I go there (hint: we never like the shrimp dumplings). However, I always make sure I pick up some pork wontons for making soup.

Full disclosure: my wonton soup is really, really not authentic. I have no idea how they make it in Asian restaurants but this tastes good.

This is an easy recipe and as such it’s not an exact science, I usually just throw it together and have put together the rough directions to share. If you aren’t a “throw it together” type of cook, power through, I promise you can do this one too.

Ingredients:

1lb mild Italian Sausage (I use turkey sometimes and pork sometimes)

3 stalks diced celery

Optional: additional diced veggies if you are feeling healthy! Options include onions, bell peppers, zucchini and mushrooms

1 cube bullion (chicken or veggie is fine)

1 tb garlic

1 tb onion powder (you might omit if adding onions)

Fresh ground pepper to taste

3 TB soy sauce

1 tb white vinegar

Water

A few splashes of fish sauce

Directions:

Remove sausage from casings and crumble in the bottom of a large soup pot (I use a 5 qt cast iron Dutch oven). Cook the sausage on med-high heat, crumbling it as it cooks (you might need to add a small bit of oil if the sausage is very lean). When the sausage is 50% cooked, add the diced celery and any additional veggies you’d like and all the spices. When the sausage is fully cooked, pour enough water in to fully cover the contents of the pot. Add the bouillon cube, soy sauce, vinegar and fish sauce. Boil 5-10 minutes.

Add your wontons and additional water so the contents are still covered and boil another 10-15 minutes until the wontons are fully cooked.

Makes approx. 8 bowl-sized servings of soup

Enjoy!

Sausage Tortellini Soup

It's not really the soup season anymore (or so I would like to think, the weather has been crazy) but I've made this soup twice recently and it was very good, especially for a 20 minute dinner!

I found this recipe via pinterest and you can find the original here and I've put the directions below.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked Italian sausage (see my change below)
3 cups uncooked tortellini
4 cups water
1 can evaporated milk
6 chicken boullion cubes - (I only used 2-3, seemed like a little bit much to me?)
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tbsp. parsley
1 tbsp. chives
salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese

Put all ingredients except tortellini in medium size sauce pan and bring to boil.  Allow to simmer about 15 minutes.  Add tortellini and allow to boil according to pasta pkg. instructions.  Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese and serve.

I did not have any pre-cooked sausage. I had uncooked Italian turkey sausage, I sliced my sausage up and cooked it lightly in the olive oil in the bottom of the pot. After my sausage was cooked I added all the other ingredients except tortellini per the directions above.

Cooking the sausage in the same pan you are going to use for the soup will add all the juices from the meat to the soup = extra flavor!

Butternut squash soup - perfect winter dinner

Butternut squash soup might be the easiest soup to make in the world. Alright, it does make a few more dishes than I'm normally on board with but it might just be worth it. This soup has some wonderful fall flavors with apple, nutmeg and cinnamon.

I had a stray squash in the fridge, which I really needed to use and I was getting ready to head out of town but what to make? I was just getting over a cold, so it was feeling like a soup kind of day. Soup seems to be the standard thing to make with butternut squash, so since I'd never done it, the time seemed ripe! Pun totally intended.

I started browsing some recipes and they all seemed pretty similar, differing a little in their spice pallet but the gist was - cut up squash and boil in chicken broth before pureeing with whatever else you decide to put in there with it. This is what I came up with:

1 medium butternut squash
1 apple (I used 1.5 small gala apples)
2 cubes of chicken bullion
3 oz cream cheese
dash of nutmeg
dash of cinnamon
dash of salt

Equipment: food processor or blender

Cube the squash (tip) and core and dice the apples. Place squash and apples in large sauce pan with bullion and just enough water to cover the contents. Boil for 20 minutes or until squash is tender. Spoon cooked squash mixture into food processor with a sloted spoon, add cream cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and  blend until smooth. If you would like a thinner soup, add cooking liquid and blend until soup reaches desired consistency.  Makes 3 large bowls.

Be careful not to be too heavy handed with the spices, I put a dash because I think even a 1/2 tsp will be too much.

I will definitely be making this again and again all winter long, this soup was tasty. It does make some dishes, mostly because of the food processor but it's worth it. How else can you make a delicious soup in under 30 minutes? Also, it's ridiculously healthy and low in calories.

Beef vegetable soup

It's very cold. Perfect weather for a hearty beef soup. I think this was my first time making beef vegetable soup, I might have made it once in college, I'm not sure. Anyway, I planned on buying a roast, making roast and potatoes and using the leftover meat to make soup, because this is what my mom does and it seemed like a good plan.

Do you know how humongous roasts are? My gosh! When I was in college mom would occasionally give me small (5-6 lbs) roasts (my parents get beef by the side) to make in the small crock pot I had at the time but at the grocery store in my neighborhood all of them were at least 10 lbs. Maybe if I'm having 3 friends over for dinner and then making soup. So I had to switch tracks. The store sold chopped up roast, labeled "stew meat" at my grocery store but it is sometimes also called "wedding roast." I went with this because it allowed me to get just a pound or so to make my soup and it still made for a pretty meaty soup.

I told mom that I wanted to make beef vegetable soup in my crock pot and she advised me to coat the meat in flour, sautee it in a pan and then place it in the crock pot. I sauteed it in a lot of garlic, some salt and pepper. In the pan, she told me to add some water to the drippings from the meat and make kind of a gravy and put this in the pot also to give it flavor. I did this, but to be honest I'm not sure how important it was. I might skip it the next time and see if I notice a difference, I don't see why I need to cook the meat before I cook it!

Keep in mind when looking at my ingredients list that I'm a picky eater, you might want to add onions, mushrooms and carrots. I hate cooked carrots and all commercial soups have carrots in them. Stay warm!