Commemorating the first day of spring and the Persian new year, got a little easier with this recipe for Instant Pot Ash Reshteh, Persian Noodle Soup with Beans and Herbs.
Spring is around the corner and I am jumping for joy! I am not a fan of the dark winter months, but prefer the long sunny days. Although we haven’t been buried in snow in San Diego, we have had a wonderful winter filled with much needed rainy days. Our hills are green and wild flowers are starting to bloom.
Being Persian, I have another reason to love spring. The first day of spring marks the first day of the Persian new year, nowruz. It is a beautiful holiday steeped in traditions dating back 2000 years. And today’s recipe modernizes a very delicious soup we serve for nowruz by cooking it in a pressure cooker, or instant pot.
Jump to:
Recipe highlights
- Faster: Quick soaking the dry beans in the instant pot cuts the soaking time from 12 hours to 25 minutes! I have already shared my stove top ash reshteh recipe where I use canned beans instead of dried to make the cooking process go faster. Dried beans have a longer shelf life and are also cheaper than the canned varieties, making them very budget friendly. Plus the instant pot helps cook the entire soup, beans and all, in a fraction of the time.
- Hearty: Persian soups, or ash, are not the watered down soups you commonly think of. They are thick soups, filled with all kinds of goodies. Ash Reshteh is made with three kinds of beans: kidney, garbanzo and navy beans. Lentils are also included in ash reshteh. This Persian noodle soup is also filled with herbs and greens
- Norouz: The dinner menu Persian families share for nowruz is pretty set. Herb rice (sabzi pollo) is prepared and served with fish. A very aromatic herb frittata (kookoo sabzi) is also served, along with this noodle soup, ash reshteh. The noodles represent long life and the herbs represent the greens of spring.
- Flavor: Ash reshteh is a delicious and aromatic soup on its own, without any garnishes. But it is traditionally served with some extras like caramelized onions, dried mint sautéed in olive oil, saffron steeped in hot water and kashk, fermented yogurt.
Reader’s Reviews
“This is a great recipe and easy too. I love that you can cook the beans and prepare the chopped vegetables while they are cooking, then add all the veggies, beans and spices (used water instead of vegetable stock). While the ash was cooking I had time to clean up. Finally add the noodles and don’t forget to stir the well so that they do not stick together. Added the kashk and enjoyed it so much! Thank you for a delicious healthy dinner in 2 hours.” — Christine
Ingredients you need
This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Read my full disclosure policy
- Dried beans: You will need dried kidney beans, dried navy beans (or Great Northern Beans) and dried garbanzo beans for this recipe. If you use canned beans, add them with the noodles.
- Dried lentils: If you use precooked lentils, add them with the noodles. You don’t want them to over cook and turn to mush.
- Onion: Use brown or white onions.
- Garlic: I use fresh garlic, but you could use garlic powder instead.
- Fresh parsley: I am a huge proponent for using fresh herbs. You could swap it out for ⅓ cup of dried parsley, but the texture and flavor will be a little different.
- Green onions: You could also use one small leek, chopped finely. You could use 3 TBS of dried green onions instead.
- Frozen chopped spinach: This is one green I love to use frozen because fresh spinach is a pain to clean! You could totally use fresh spinach. Just be sure to wash thoroughly and chop it up.
- Persian reshteh noodles: Reshteh noodles are a little thicker than linguine and require a bit more cooking time. So if you are using regular linguine, reduce the noodle cooking time to 10 minutes.
- Pantry staples: Extra virgin olive oil, dried turmeric, vegetable stock and kosher salt.
Step-by-step directions
- Cook the beans. Rinse beans and drain. Transfer beans into instant pot. Add kosher salt and enough water to cover beans by 1-inch, about 6 cups of water. Close lid and seal. Set instant pot to manual (or pressure cook on newer models) set to high pressure for 5 minutes. Allow for 20 minutes natural pressure release. When done, drain beans and discard water. Reserve beans.
- Sauté the onions. Heat instant pot to sauté on high and add olive oil. When oil is hot, add chopped onions. Sauté onions until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in turmeric and salt then continue cooking onions for 2 more minutes.
- Add herbs. Stir in garlic, green onions, chopped parsley and spinach and sauté for 3 more minutes.
- Add legumes. Stir in reserved beans and dry lentils.
Want to save this recipe?
Just enter your email and get it sent to your inbox! Plus you’ll get new recipes from me every week!
- Finish and cook. Stir in vegetable stock. Close lid and seal. Set instant pot to soup with high pressure and cook for 30 minutes. Allow for 20 minutes natural pressure release.
- Add noodles. Remove lid and set instant pot to sauté on high. Stir in reshteh noodles (or linguine) and cook for 5 minutes.
- Simmer. Close lid and seal. Set instant pot to warm and cook until noodles are done. Reshteh noodles are thicker than traditional linguine and takes about 15-20 minutes to cook this way. Italian linguine should take 10 minutes until done.
- Serve. Serve ash reshteh with caramelized onions, dried mint fried in olive oil, saffron steeped in water and kashk (or sour cream). Instead of kashk/sour cream you can use red wine vinegar. Read my traditonal ash reshteh recipe for more details about the garnishes.
Recipe tips and FAQs
How to serve. Ash reshteh is a delicious soup on its own, without any garnishes. But it is traditionally served with some special garnishes. Onions are sliced and fried until dark and caramelized. Dried mint is sautéed in olive oil until aromatic and dark green. Saffron is also crushed and bloomed in hot water.
Once ready to serve, kashk is swirled into the soup. Kashk is fermented yogurt with much of the liquid evaporated off. You can make kashk at home, buy kashk on amazon or at a middle eastern market, or substitute it with sour cream or creme fraiche.
Some people prefer red wine vinegar instead of kashk, and they use that to sour the soup instead. This is a great option if you do not eat dairy or are vegan.
So much flavor bursting in a simple bowl of bean and noodle soup, served every spring to commemorate a holiday celebrated for over 2000 years. Ok, simple is overstating the flavor, but cooking it is super simple. Thank you instant pot.
I created more classic Persian recipes in the instant pot, if you’re interested. Click here for my Instant Pot Khoresh Gheymeh (Persian Split Pea Stew) recipe and click here for my Instant Pot Ghormeh Sabzi (Persian Herb Stew with Beef).
And another nowruz recipe, Instant Pot Kuku Sabzi (Persian Herb Quiche).
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Store any leftover soup in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftovers. Transfer to a resealable bag or freezer safe container and freeze for up to 4 months.
Whenever I make ash reshteh, I always cook with fresh herbs and greens. It’s my personal preference for flavor and freshness. But if you do not have fresh parsley or green onions you can totally swap them out for dry. Typically, you use about 3 times as much fresh herbs as you do dry.
So for this recipe, we are using about ½-cup of chopped fresh green onions, so substitute with 3 tablespoons of dried. I used about 1-cup of chopped fresh parsley that you can substitute with ⅓-cup of dried parsley.
Once ready to serve, kashk is swirled into the soup. Kashk is basically fermented yogurt with much of the liquid evaporated off. You can substitute it with sour cream or creme fraiche or use red wine vinegar instead. Ash reshteh is then garnished with caramelized onions, fried mint oil and drizzles of saffron water.
Ash Reshteh is the soup that is prepared and served for nowruz, the Persian new year and first day of spring. Noodles are served as they represent long life. Reshteh, Persian noodles, can be baked in with rice for reshteh pollo, or they can be added to soup, for ash reshteh.
Instant Pot Ash Reshteh – Persian Noodle Soup with Beans and Herbs
Ingredients
- 4.5 oz dried kidney beans
- 4.5 oz dried navy beans or Great Northern Beans
- 4.5 oz dried garbanzo beans
- 4 teaspoon kosher salt divided
- 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 teaspoon dried turmeric
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 3 green onions chopped
- 1.75 ounces chopped parsley
- 1 cup frozen chopped spinach or 2 ½ cup chopped fresh spinach
- ½ cup dried lentils
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 4 oz Persian reshteh noodles or dried linguini
Instructions
- Rinse beans and drain. Transfer beans into instant pot. Add 2 teaspoon kosher salt and enough water to cover beans by 1-inch, about 6 cups of water.
- Close lid and seal. Set instant pot to manual (or pressure cook on newer models) set to high pressure for 5 minutes. Allow for 20 minutes natural pressure release.
- When done, drain beans and discard water. Reserve beans.
- Heat instant pot to sauté on high and add 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil.
- When oil is hot, add chopped onions. Sauté onions until they start to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in turmeric and 2 teaspoon salt and continue cooking onions for 2 more minutes. Stir in garlic and green onions.
- Stir in chopped parsley and spinach and sauté for 3 more minutes.
- Stir in reserved beans and dry lentils. Stir in vegetable stock.
- Close lid and seal. Set instant pot to soup with high pressure and cook for 30 minutes. Allow for 20 minutes natural pressure release.
- Remove lid and set instant pot to sauté on high. Stir in reshteh noodles (or linguine) and cook for 5 minutes.
- Close lid and seal. Set instant pot to warm and cook until noodles are done. Reshteh noodles are thicker than traditional linguine and takes about 15-20 minutes to cook this way. Italian linguine should take 10 minutes until done.
- Serve ash reshteh with caramelized onions, dried mint fried in olive oil, saffron steeped in water and kashk (or sour cream). Instead of kashk/sour cream you can use red wine vinegar. Click here for more details about the garnishes.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
PS If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback.
You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Sign up for my eMail list, too!
Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
Whether changes to your website are great. I was able to use it in my phone easily this time.
Great recipe and very forgiving for whichever intems you’re short/out of.
The major change I make is 5 minutes pressure cooking once I add the linguine, it comes out perfectly!
Plus I never have the toppings handy, but it gets eaten very quickly!
Recipe and instructions are great. Finished cooking in about an hour. If you have veggie scraps, first make veggie broth. Final outcome is very good.
Website is awful, ads constantly junk you around in the page losing your spot in the recipe. Screenshot or print and work from that.
Hi Sara-
I’m glad you liked the recipe. As far as the ads are concerned, I actually have them set lower than most other sites. I offer these recipes free of charge to anyone who wants it. The ad dollars I earn go to the cost of food, photography, web hosting, and so many other backend costs that I barely have much leftover to pay my mortgage and utilities. I love what I do and I will keep on cooking and continue to share my recipes to anyone who wants to cook them.
Thank you for commenting-
Laura
I should have said that it’s awful on my iphone (hopefully it’s fine with other devices)…whatever they’re doing with the ads you constantly get jumped off the ingredient measures because of how the ads work.
Does it matter what kind of parsley you use? Italian or the flat leaf parsley? Also, can the ash be made without the noodles? If so, do I still warm the ash for 15 minutes or so, as if I had added the noodles? or should I just cook it for 15 additional minutes instead of the original 30 minutes?
Thank you, I love ash but the first time I tried it it did not have noodles, it was made by one of my co-workers.
So despite noodles being in the name of this dish, you can omit it. The soup is hearty without it. You don’t need to cook it for that additional time since you aren’t adding the noodles. The soup base really is delicious on its own.
Laura
Thank you! So yummy.
Yum yum yum! Love dishes like this — such great flavor. Thanks!
Could you use canned beans for this recipe?
Yes, you can. You do not need to cook it for very long since the beans are already soft. Otherwise they will turn to mush.
Laura
Can you give us an alternative for using already cooked beans(canned beans)? Should we just jump into step 13?
This recipe looks delicious, I can’t wait to try it. Can you clarify which lentils you are using? (they look like brown lentils in the photo, but I can’t be sure).
Hi Ritika-
Yes, I used brown lentils. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Laura
This is a great recipe and easy too. I love that you can cook the beans and prepare the chopped vegetables while they are cooking, then add all the veggies, beans and spices (used water instead of vegetable stock). While the ash was cooking I had time to clean up. Finally add the noodles and don’t forget to stir the well so that they do not stick together. Added the kashk and enjoyed it so much! Thank you for a delicious healthy dinner in 2 hours.
I’m so glad you liked this dish. The instant pot really does make cooking bean-based dishes so much easier and faster!
Came out delicious thank you for giving me instant pot directions! Everyone enjoyed it. I used your method in the instant pot to initially cook the dry beans.
I’m so glad you liked the soup! The instant pot really makes it easier and faster, right?!
Laura
As a Persian single man, I always thought ash reshteh is beyond my cooking abilities. Apparently not. Going to try this and thank you for the suggestion.
I know a lot of great cooks who are Persian men so don’t sell yourself short. I hope you enjoy the ash!