Instant Pot Green Detox Soup

Our Instant Pot Green Detox Soup is full of earthy flavors and loaded with purifying nutrients, satisfying your taste buds and putting the smack-down on cravings. This fiber-filled soup is not only delicious, but it also knocks out most of your daily requirements of vitamins and nutrients in one sitting. We build flavor in this dish by first sautéing an onion, then using deep greens like kale, zucchini, and broccoli. Finally, the last-minute addition of fresh herbs, garlic, and lemon round out the soup with vibrancy. This is the immune support tool everyone needs to stay healthy and balanced!

If your favorite method of getting your greens is through a smoothie, you may want to take a slower sip. My interest in green detox soup stemmed from reading Dr. Michael Gregor’s book How Not To Diet. As a former green drink devotee, I found his study interesting. It showed that people who drank their meals ended up gaining more weight than those who ate or slowly sipped from a spoon. As a result, I made the switch from green drink to green soup, and I do indeed find myself less hungry and a little lighter.

Why The Instant Pot

The Instant Pot is incredible for making soups, and this recipe is no exception. At first, I worried the pressure cooker would kill off all the purifying nutrients due to its high heat. I also worried the process would knock out the flavor. What I found was that while raw foods hold the most nutrients, and cooking vegetables can reduce the number of vitamins and minerals found in their natural state, this soup still boasts a surprising nutrient value. That’s because most nutritionists agree the pressure-cooking method helps vegetables maintain a high level of nutrient retention. According to the Cleveland Clinic, food cooked in the Instant Pot is nutritious, so don’t be afraid to use it!

As a bonus, this method of food preparation can create better taste and texture. I decided to put that theory to the test, and I found the flavor of the pressure-cooked soup was much better than a stove-top version of the same recipe. The color wasn’t as vibrant as if I had steamed my veggies, but I did experience a smoother mouthfeel. All the steam produced from high heat in that little space melded the cruciferous flavors into an award-winning recipe.

Green Soup Is Great For Detoxing

Everyday living is full of choices. Sometimes, we are the very best versions of ourselves: We eat well and exercise. Other times, well, we’ve all eaten too much birthday cake or drank an entire bottle of wine. Don’t worry; we’re not here to judge! But, every now and then, it’s a good idea to do a little detox.

Nowadays, we hear about the need to cleanse and detoxify the impurities in our system, be they from personal choice or environmental damage.Removing toxins from our body can help our digestive tract heal and rebuild. In addition, detoxing can also retrain our bodies to accept vital nutrients in the future.

If you’re planning a cleanse or detox, read this first.

More Fiber For Greater Weight Loss

Fiber is an important part of a well-balanced diet. Unfortunately, Americans need more fiber in their diets. Most Americans only get 15 grams of fiber daily, if that. Women need at least 21 to 25 grams of fiber, and men need 30 to 38 grams.

Each one-cup serving of our green detox soup contains seven grams of fiber, helping you get your fill of both soluble and insoluble fiber. The word soluble means “to dissolve,” so insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve during the digestion process. Instead, the fiber in vegetables like zucchini and kale passes through our systems faster, and extra fat sometimes hitches a ride or gets pushed out.

With that in mind, eating more fiber inevitably leads to weight loss. When fruits and vegetables expand in our stomachs, we feel fuller for longer. Eating our daily allowance of fiber-filled foods may also help reduce cravings for sugar and salt. If our bodies lack vitamins and minerals found in fiber based foods, we’ll turn to foods that satisfy when hunger hits. Namely: fat, sugar, and salt. In the human body, hunger seldom wants a salad, yet eating salad is one of the most ingenious ways to stop food cravings.

Making Instant Pot Green Detox Soup

The first step in making this soup is chopping the vegetables. Since we’ll blend this soup in the final step, the vegetables need only a rough chop. Next, we’ll cook the onions using the Sauté function in the Instant Pot. This usually takes about five minutes, until the onions are softened. After that, throw in the zucchini, broccoli, and kale, and give them a big stir for another five minutes. The veggies should turn greener and get evenly coated with the olive oil from the onions. Finally, pour in the broth, set the timer for 12 minutes on high pressure, and wait for the unit to beep.

Due to the amount of liquid in a soup recipe, I usually wait a few minutes after the timer goes off before manually releasing the pressure. Otherwise, releasing the pressure immediately can be a lot noisier and spurt more steam (sometimes liquid!) from the valve. My advice is to just chill out a bit and use the time to finely chop the herbs. It’s important to remove the stems because they don’t process well when the soup goes into the blender.

When the pressure is fully released, remove the lid and add the herbs, lemon juice, and garlic. Blend the soup until it’s smooth. If you have a smaller blender, you may need to puree the soup in two rounds.

What To Serve With Green Soup

Generally, I eat this instant pot green detox soup on its own, taking it to work as a nutritious lunch. That said, it makes a great starter for dishes like:

• Savory Lemon Whitefish Filets
• Slow Cooker Greek Lemon Chicken
• Simple One Pan Lemon Salmon with Roasted Asparagus

One thing I really love about this soup is eating it slowly while the rest of my family wolfs down dinner. I truly savor the flavor and love that I’m consuming purifying nutrients. And another secret that makes this gem sparkle: If you do end up giving in to a treat, you’ll feel less guilty knowing you’ve already made a good choice earlier in the day.