Delicious tomato soup all made inside the Instant Pot! This is freezer friendly with one adjustment, which means you can make this now for a busy weeknight coming up! Don't skip the grilled cheese croutons that take this to a whole new level!
Turn the Instant Pot to SAUTÉ and melt the butter. Add the chopped onion and celery. Sauté until golden brown.
Add the finely chopped spinach and parsley and cook until wilted and a little browned.
Turn SAUTÉ setting off, and add the fresh Thyme.
Stir in the chicken broth. Add the stewed tomatoes, tomato puree, and tomato paste, and stir well until tomato paste is melted into soup. Add the water and stir.
Add the Italian seasoning, oregano, brown sugar, coarse ground garlic salt, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well to blend all ingredients.
Place the lid on the Instant Pot, and make sure the pressure valve is set to SEALING. Press the SOUP setting on your Instant pot, and let the soup cook.
When the Instant pot is done, it will beep and turn to OFF. Let the soup sit in the Instant pot for 10 minutes, then do a quick release, by turning the pressure valve to VENTING - make sure you use a pot holder or oven mitt to turn the valve. When all the pressure has been released, and the float valve is down, remove the lid and stir the soup.
Add the cream, and stir well. Add the minced garlic and stir.
Grilled Cheese Croutons
While the soup is cooking, make the croutons.
In a bowl, combine the softened butter, olive oil, garlic salt, and smashed garlic. Blend all together, and spread on one side of each slice of bread.
In a non-stick skillet, place the bread, buttered side down, and sprinkle cheese on the bread, as much, or as little as desired.
Place another piece of bread, buttered side up on top of the cheese.
Cook the grilled cheese until golden brown on both sides. Remove from skillet, and place on a cutting board. Cut grilled cheese into large crouton size pieces, and serve on the side, with the soup.
Notes
Substitute plain crouton instead of the grilled cheese ones. As instructed above, this is freezer friendly as long as you freeze it prior to adding in the heavy cream. Milk-based products like that don't freeze that well. Just defrost, heat, and add the heavy cream when you are ready! This makes it a fantastic freezer meal!!!Make sure to allow the Instant Pot to rest for 10 minutes before you go and release the remaining pressure. Make sure to add in the stock and then use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the Instant Pot to ensure you remove any stuck-on bits.