Name: Pressure Cooker Americana Wedding Soup
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 4 min
Total time: 29 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: Chicken Stock/Broth; 1 pound Ground Beef ((or Pork)); 1/2 cup Pearl Barley ((not instant)); 1/4 cup Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley; 1 Egg; 1 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil ((if beef is super lean)); 1 clove Fresh Garlic (minced); 1/2 cup (1.5oz) Asiago or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (grated); 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt; 1/2 teaspoon Dried Basil; 1/2 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper; 1/8 teaspoon Fennel Seeds (finely crushed); 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil; 1 medium Yellow/Brown Onion (finely diced); 1 stalk Fresh Celery (finely diced); 1 pound Red Radishes (small) (sliced lengthwise); 1/2 pound Carrots (peeled and sliced); 1 cloves Fresh Garlic (minced); 1/4 cup Dry White Wine; 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt ((or 1 tsp Sea Salt)); 2.5 quarts (10cups) Chicken Stock/Broth; 1/2-1 cup Fresh Escarole or Swiss Chard or Arugula (sliced into thick strips); 1 Egg (well beaten)

Simple, yet delicious, this Pressure Cooker Americana Wedding Soup is colorful, with lots of round things that kids will love.

Pressure Cooker Americana Wedding Soup

There is an Italian Wedding Soup, so I thought it is high time we have a Pressure Cooker Americana Wedding Soup.

I wanted to create a fun and somewhat unusual recipe with a familiar taste, but different.

It also had to be a recipe that is naturally low in carbohydrates, but one that everyone will enjoy, not just those following a low carb diet.

It needed to be fun to make and cook up quickly in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.

Cast of Ingredients for Pressure Cooker Americana Wedding Soup

Colorful was important too!

For those following a Gluten Free diet, no worries, as subs are easily made for the Barley.

If you follow a Keto diet, sub or omit the Barley. Mushrooms will work well in place of Barley.

This Pressure Cooker Americana Wedding Soup is also full of fiber and heart smart too.

It is a delicious and satisfying soup, that also happens to be great for Weight Watchers and people on a low calorie diet!

But it is not a diet food! Nor does it taste diet or low calorie.

After months and month of testing, I finally achieved what I set out to achieve. A very full flavored, fun soup that is Low in Carbs, added Fiber, Round, Colorful, fun for kids and adults and naturally low in calories, without being considered a diet soup.

If you are Gluten Free, skip the Pearl Barley and use Rice, if you like!

Another delicious Low Carb, Keto, Gluten Free recipe to try is my Air Fryer Radish Hash Browns/Home Fries.

Prepare the Soup Meatballs

My Food Processor has been such a time saver!

I use it all the time. It was so useful in my Instant Pot Italian Meatballs in Red Wine Sauce recipe.

Check it out in my Pressure Cooker Salisbury Steak in Onion and Mushroom Gravy recipe.

My personal opinion is that this Food Processor is a must have in the kitchen to help cut down on preparation time.

Grinding up the ingredients first will ensure that each bite is the same.

Mixing the Meat with the veggies will ensure a nice and tight Mini Meatball.

Form Meat Mixture into Tiny Meatballs

Get the kids involved, as they might like to make up the Mini Meatballs.

For a reference of size, I do 37-39 meatballs.

If you would like to use a Small Cookie Scoop, it will help make the Balls more uniform.

Make sure the Meatballs are rolled very tight.

You can see the bits of the Pearl Barley in the balls, which will plump them up, but not make them like Porcupines. 🙂

If you prefer to use Farro, that works really well too and will give a little chew to the Meatballs, while upping the Protein!

Give a Drizzle of Oil to the Hot Pot

As always, wait until your Pressure Cooker is fully heated.

It will make a Stainless Steel cooking pot, non-stick.

Sauté the Onions and Celery

This Pressure Cooker Americana Wedding Soup has a short cook time.

The Onions and Celery are for flavor, not for texture, so you will want them to really caramelize and break down.

Therefore, Sauté until Onions soften and begin to brown.

Finely Minced Garlic

Make sure you use a good Spatula that can withstand a higher heat, so that it does not melt.

The veggie are getting nice and brown.

Don’t worry about the cooking pot. It is okay that it is during brown.

The cooking pot will deglaze very quickly, as you will see below.

Nicely Caramelized

All those brown bits are flavor baby!

It is called Fond.

Keep cooking until the Onions are brown.

Deglaze with White Wine

All it takes is a little White Wine.

Ask the person at the wine shop, which is a mildly priced White Wine that is nice for drinking.

Please do not use Wine labeled for cooking. It won’t be good.

The bits stuck on the cooking pot will jump off right away.

Lookie Here!!!

The Pressure Cooker cooking pot is once again, nice and clean.

Use your Spatula to scrape the bottom. Most of the bits will release on their own.

Simmer to Reduce the White Wine

Continue to Simmer, until the Wine has reduced.

This part of the cooking process is highly important as this is where much of the magic happens.

The deep flavors develop in this step.

You don’t have to be a wine drinker to love cooking with Wine. The reduction of the Wine changes the taste and becomes syrupy.

If you love soup, like so many of us do, check out my Pressure Cooker Zuppa Toscana Soup and my Pressure Cooker Nordstrom Tomato Basil Soup. There are a bunch of other delicious Soup recipes on the Blog.

Add Rich Chicken Broth

This recipe went through many incantations.

You may wonder why I am using Chicken Broth instead of Beef Broth.

After all, the Meatballs are made with Beef.

IMO, the overall taste using Chicken Broth, is better for this recipe.

My Homemade Pressure Cooker Chicken Bone Broth, is perfect for this recipe.

The next best thing is to use Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base with Fresh Water. Just grab a Measuring Cup and add the Base with Fresh Water and Whisk away.

Drop in the Meatballs

Carefully drop in those cute little Meatballs.

The yummy and interesting flavors are housed in the Meatballs.

As they cook, they will release just the right amount of flavor into the Broth.

Scrub the Radish and Slice

Radishes can be quite dirty, so make sure to wash them well.

When you cut off the green tops, leave about 1/4 to 1/2 inch left.

It will look super cute.

The root can go! 🙂

Floating Radishes!

Are you now thinking I have lost my mind?

Presumably, if you are here reading this recipe, you already know my recipes and trust my cooking.

After all, with a name like “Pressure Cooker Americana Wedding Soup,” no one is searching on the web for this Title. I made it up.

Plus, I am not one to go find the most searched for recipe on line and then blog it; I mean, that’s no fun. I like uniqueness.

I’ve never been one to follow trends and I prefer to create my own yummy recipes. Then, I’ll give it a name I feel suits the recipe. Even if it is silly. But, then again, I am not like most. 🙂

How Pretty is This???

Maybe don’t tell the kids about the Radishes, just yet. I mean, don’t lie to them, but don’t bring it up, until later.

The Radishes look so pretty in the Soup. I love the pink color and the little green stems.

Cooked Radish tastes nothing like raw Radish.

There is no bitter taste. I’m not fond of raw Radish.

If I have to describe the taste, to me it is kind of a cross between a young turnip and a sweet carrot. The texture is light and delicate and juicy.

Must Have Greens!

Okay, so I couldn’t exactly get Red, White and Blue.

Green is right next to Blue on the Rainbow. Roy G. Biv, after all.

But, don’t you think the Soup looks seriously pretty?

Don’t you just want to dig in?

Everything is Bite-Sized.

But, one last thing………to tie it all in.

Whisk in Beaten Eggs

At the witching hour, it hit me.

Eggs.

There had to be ribbons of Eggs.

Gently Use a Fork to Incorporate Eggs

Make sure to go slowly when incorporating the Eggs.

Use a Fork and slowly go in a circular motion, in the surface of the Soup.

Instant Pot Americana Wedding Soup

And there it is, folks.

Beautiful and so much fun to eat.

Please let me know if you have enjoyed making this recipe.

For more Meatball recipes, try my Pressure Cooker Greek Keftedes and my Hungryman/Woman Barbecue Meatballs, which will appear in my new This Old Gal Pressure Cooker Book, as a Pressure Cooker recipe!

Kitchen Equipment and Essentials

Caring is sharing! If you would like to support This Old Gal, please share this recipe on Social Media, so that I can continue to bring you more wonderful recipes!

Here is the handy printable recipe: