Instant Pot vegetarian cacciatore recipe! This delicious pressure cooker vegan cacciatore is made with white beans and ready in only an hour. AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!
Hello, Rhubarbarians! Today's recipe is an AWESOME ONE. It's a flavor packed meat free Instant Pot meal that any carnivore will love: vegetarian cacciatore. You'll never miss the meat in this one! It's loaded with meaty and creamy beans, earthy mushrooms, and briny olives. Mmmm...
We've been using our Instant Pot more and more these days. It kind of seems like the more we use it, the more we love it. It's one of those gadgets you really have to practice with, have to know how to use. Ya know what I mean? When I first got it, I was soooo jazzed about Instant Pot baked potatoes. LOL!
But now we are feeling comfy enough to use the Instant Pot for more complex recipes like chilis, soups, and of course this vegan cacciatore. I really want to try making cheesecake!
Try our rich and flavorful Instant Pot vegetable barley soup!
How to make a flavorful vegetarian cacciatore
This vegan version of chicken cacciatore has all the same flavors that you'd expect from the traditional. Flavor is built by sauteeing lots of mushrooms with onions before cooking them in tomato sauce. Then using fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme. The white beans give you that "meatiness" while keeping it completely plant based.
At the end, we add a splash of red wine for richness and some olives for some salty, briny flavor. Taste and season with as much salt as needed to taste. You will need a LOT of salt! Top it off with fresh parsley and you have made yourself an INCREDIBLE vegetarian cacciatore.
How to make Instant Pot cacciatore
You'll need an Instant Pot for these directions! I use a 6-quart Instant Pot. If you have an 8-quart, the cook time may vary a bit. (See instructions below for stove top)
- First, you'll need to soak your white beans. I like to quick soak mine by boiling for 2 minutes and then letting the beans sit in the hot water for an hour. You can also soak the beans overnight. Whichever is easier.
- Saute the onions directly in the Instant Pot, then add the rest of the veggies and saute those as well. Add the tomatoes, beans, and herbs to the pot and cook on high pressure. It took 7 minutes for the pot to come to pressure, so not long. When the timer goes off, let the pressure naturally release for 5 minutes, then manually release the rest. Total closed lid time is 28 minutes.
- Remove the lid and add the wine and the olives. Let this simmer just until it starts to thicken. Serve with mashed potatoes, pasta, or polenta and top with fresh parsley. Enjoy!
Can I use canned beans in this pressure cooker cacciatore recipe?
Of course you can! I recommend the dry beans because they cook perfectly without becoming mushy in the Instant Pot and they absorb all the flavor of the cacciatore.
If you want to use canned beans, you can use cannellini or great northern. Drain and rinse a couple of cans and add 3 cups of beans to the Instant Pot at the same time as the wine and olives. Let them simmer for a few extra minutes to get as much flavor as possible. You don't want to pressure cook them like you would the soaked dry beans.
Can I make this vegetarian cacciatore on the stove top?
Yep! But it will take quite a bit longer (about 90 minutes cook time) to cook the beans all the way through.
Follow the directions as stated in a dutch oven or soup pot rather than the Instant Pot. Instead of pressure cooking for 15 minutes, you'll want to cover and simmer everything for about 90 minutes, or until the beans are as tender as you'd like.
If using canned beans, you can make this on the stove top pretty quickly. Using a dutch oven or soup pot, follow step 2 as stated in the recipe, but cover and simmer on the stove top for about 20 minutes. Long enough to let all the flavors meld in the pot. Then follow the rest of the recipe.
Instant Pot vegetarian cacciatore recipe
Instant Pot vegetarian cacciatore recipe! This delicious pressure cooker vegan cacciatore is made with white beans and ready in under an hour. AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!
- 1 cup dried great northern beans*
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 5 cups sliced mushrooms
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- can diced tomatoes 15oz can
- ½ Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- ½ Tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves
- ½ Tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
- salt and pepper
- 2 Tbsp dry red wine
- ½ cup pitted green or black olives
- chopped fresh parsley
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Start by quick soaking your beans. Heat them with 3 cups water in a sauce pan until boiling. Rapid boil fo 2 minutes, then remove from heat. Let sit 1 hour. Strain and rinse. Or soak overnight on the counter.
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Start the saute function of your Instant Pot on normal and heat the olive oil. Add the onion and saute until starting to brown, 5 minutes. Add the celery, mushrooms, and garlic and saute until softened, stirring often, 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, rosemary, sage, thyme, and soaked beans. Give a good stir and VERY generously season with salt. Season with pepper. Hit cancel on the Instant Pot, put the lid on, and make sure the sealing valve is pointing to "sealing."
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Start the pressure cook function at high pressure for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, let naturally release for 5 minutes, then manually release the pressure.
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Open the lid and start the saute function on normal again. Add the wine and the olives and saute, stirring often, until thickened, 5-10 minutes.
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Turn off the Instant Pot and season to taste with salt and pepper. You may need a lot of salt.
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Serve with mashed potatoes, pasta, or polenta and top with fresh parsley.
Recipe Video
*See notes above about using canned beans
The cook time includes the time it takes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure and naturally release pressure. In a 6-quart Instant Pot, this takes 7 minutes to come to pressure.
I hope you’ll give this Instant Pot vegetarian cacciatore a try! Snap a pic and give me a shout on social media! #Rhubarbarians
Trish
P.S. Want to see what I’m cooking up this week? Check out my Instagram stories! And don’t forget to join my FaceBook community of vegetarian cooks!
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Douglas Hernandez
Hi, I'll be making this recipe during the weekend, but I was just wondering if 5 cups of sliced mushrooms is too much? To me it sounds like a lot, do you have a rough idea of how many grams are those 5 cups of sliced mushrooms? Thanks!
Trish Bozeman
Hi Douglas! It's a lot of mushrooms. But don't worry they shrink when they cook down and add a lot of flavor to the dish. I'm not sure about grams, but it was about 1LB of mushrooms, which would be about 450 grams. Hope that helps!
Douglas Hernandez
This turned out to be amazing. My wife and I loved the flavours. Although we ended up adding parmesan cheese and a bit of tomato sauce after serving. We had it with pasta and garlic bread and it was sensational. Now we want to make a double batch and freeze in different portions. Do you know if I can freeze this along with some pasta?
Trish Bozeman
Yay I'm so glad you loved it! Yes, you definitely can freeze pasta. But make sure to cook the pasta so that's very al dente or it will become overcooked when reheating.
Nigel
Love this. Eating it now. I often make a batch and add a cup of veggie stock and then put in to food containers over a bottom layer of mashed potato so it can be frozen and taken for work lunches.
Patricia Bozeman
I'm so glad you like it! Great idea to freeze for meal prep lunches! 🙂
Alan
Tastes as good as good as it looks. Wonderful mix of flavors..Thank you for sharing!
Michelle @ Sunkissed Kitchen
Instant pots are so amazing. I love this white bean recipe -- sounds so delicious! Can't wait to make it.
jenny spytek
I'm wondering if I can use canned white bean instead of dry
Thanks so much
Patricia Bozeman
Yep! The instructions for that are listed in the post. Look for the heading "can I use canned beans in this pressure cooker cacciatore recipe." THANKS!
Ann Ertl
What a wonderful recipe! Made it as written except didn’t carefully measure my veggies. I did add a little veg broth for cooking and mayyyybe an extra glug of red wine too...
My first recipe from your site, Patricia, but for sure not my last!
Patricia Bozeman
I'm so glad you liked it, Ann! An extra glug of red wine is always a good idea. 🙂
Annemarie
I love how you layered so many 'meaty' umami ingredients in this! The mushrooms, beans, red wine, tomatoes (esp the tomato paste), and olives all add to the meaty, satisfying flavor. And it's so great I can use dry beans from scratch and have dinner on the table in less than an hour.
Traci
Whoah Tricia...big yum on this one! What a winner...and vegetarian at that! I love this recipe for its simplicity, flavor, beauty, and the fact that I always have these ingredients on hand. Like, always! Thanks for another great one! 🙂
Suzie
Fantastic recipe! I love beans. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
It is also on my blog:
https://suzinspire.com/20-meal-ideas-make-you-go-vegan/
Debra
What an awesome flavor combo...just like cacciatore. You're right, with that great taste, like the original, nobody will miss the chicken. With a wholesome ingredient list like that, I feel good to serve it to family and friends. YUM.
kristen campbell
this turned out so well! we ate most of it for lunch- thanks for a great recipe- so excited to make something besides soup in the IP!
Patricia Bozeman
I'm so glad!
Nicole
Loved this recipe! Easy and delicious will be a new go to!
Patricia Bozeman
Yay! So happy to hear that!
kristen campbell
hello- i am just about to make this an notice there is no liquid for the cooking of the beans- can you please advise about this?
thanks!
Patricia Bozeman
Hi Kristen. You add a can of diced tomatoes with the liquid. It's enough liquid to cook the beans. Hope that helps!
kristen campbell
thank you so much! i am sauteeing as i type- i appreciate your quick reply!