Instant Pot Dolly Parton’s Stone Soup–a nourishing soup with cabbage and other veggies and a bit of smoked ham hock. This soup will warm you right up!
Note: the SLOW COOKER instructions are in the recipe card below
Instant Pot Dolly Parton’s Stone Soup
I came across Dolly Parton’s Stone Soup recipe and immediately was intrigued. I do remember reading a book called Stone Soup when I was young. Initially I didn’t remember much about the book but as I went to my old friend Google I found out more about the storyline and then it all came back to me. The story of stone soup as told by Wikipedia goes something like this…
“Some travelers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the very hungry travelers. Then the travelers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travelers answer that they are making “stone soup”, which tastes wonderful and which they would be delighted to share with the villager, although it still needs a little bit of garnish, which they are missing, to improve the flavor.
The villager, who anticipates enjoying a share of the soup, does not mind parting with a few carrots, so these are added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travelers again mention their stone soup which has not yet reached its full potential. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, the stone (being inedible) is removed from the pot, and a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by travelers and villagers alike. Although the travelers have thus tricked the villagers into sharing their food with them, they have successfully transformed it into a tasty meal which they share with the donors.”
Dolly tells the story of when she was a young girl her mom would tell the kids to go out to the yard and find a stone for dinner. Each child would bring back their rock and clean it up well. Then Dolly’s mother would choose which stone would go into the soup pot. Her mother would usually choose the child that was struggling with something that week and it would make them feel special. I love Dolly Parton and her story-telling ability that makes me feel nostalgic for a Tennessee mountain childhood.
The stone is optional in my version of the soup! Although it could be a good way to get your kids out of the house for a while. We loved this soup and I mentioned after dinner that it just tastes so nourishing and comforting. With less than 200 calories per serving it’s also pretty low calorie! The smoked ham hock gives the soup excellent flavor. Enjoy Instant Pot stone soup at your house this week! Try serving it with French Bread mmmmmm!
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Instant Pot Dolly Parton’s Stone Soup
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
A nourishing soup with cabbage and other veggies and a bit of smoked ham hock. This soup will warm you right up!
Ingredients
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 pound peeled and diced potatoes
- 1 small head of cabbage, chopped
- 3 diced carrots
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 smoked ham hock
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ¼ tsp sage
- ½ tsp crushed rosemary
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 very clean stone (optional)
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting and pour the broth into the pot. Let the broth heat up to a simmer while you chop and prepare all the vegetables.
- Cancel the sauté setting. Add the potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onion, garlic, ham hock, bay leaf, thyme, sage, rosemary and paprika into Instant Pot.
- Cover Instant Pot and make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the SOUP button to 5 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Remove the meat from the bone and chop it up. Add the meat back to the soup and stone, if using.
- Ladle into bowls and if needed, season with salt and pepper.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Add broth, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onion, garlic, ham hock, bay leaf, thyme, sage, rosemary and paprika (and stone, if using) into slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
- Remove the meat from the bone and chop it up. Add the meat back to the soup.
- Ladle into bowls and if needed, season with salt and pepper.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
Recipe adapted from Dolly’s soup as shared on Hallmark Channel
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Hey, I really like your recipes, & have always found the stone soup story charming (we did it church& grade school, etc)
However, putting a rock in a pressure cooker is potentially a REALLY BAD IDEA! Like, accidental bomb bad. May I suggest a stone-shaped hunk of cheese instead
I changed the recipe so that the stone is added after the pressure cooking cycle ❤️️
Stone soup… yum. I am a little concerned about adding the stone to a pressure cooker and then bringing it up to pressure. Some stones have tiny, almost microscopic fissures in them. If water gets into them and they are put under pressure, the possibility exists that they will explode and at least, damage the pressure cooker. Don’t want anyone to get hurt.
Good point! I’ll add this into recipe card
Would this work with red cabbage instead of green cabbage?
yes I think it would. It’ll be more colorful!
Frankly, purple cabbage looks terrible when used in a soup. It turns a dull, “dirt” brown and is extremely unappetizing.
★★★
Well, with a name like “Stone Soup,” would anyone expect it to appear perfectly and pristinely clear, like plain chicken broth?!
I think in this case that bit of extra color would add a little authenticity (color-wise!).
I remember growing up that we had a few Church Suppers that were “Stone Soup Suppers”. We were a small family type church and had 5th Sunday Suppers. On Stone Soup nights we had different soups brought by the ladies, but there would be a big pot of stone soup made with no meat. The stone was removed and shown to the kids to show that not everyone had meat in there soup because their families could not afford it.
★★★★★
Oh I love this story. Thanks so much for sharing Helen!
Karen, would love to try this. I don’t have a ham hock but do have a thick ham slice in the freezer. Would that work as well?
Love your recipes and videos. Keep up the great work!
Yes it will! If you need more seasoning at the end you can add more in!
This is the same thing as Boiled Dinner. Been making it for 45 years, and my mother and grandmother made it for ever also.
I love traditional recipes from Grandma 😊
Yes, and now we make them in the Instant Pot and save a ton of time.
★★★★★
I’m showing my age but I remember Captain Kangaroo reading this book on TV in the morning before heading off to walk to elementary school!
😂
I loved captain kangaroo when I was a kid! I’ve only heard of stone soup from watching little house on the prairie 🤷 can’t wait to try this recipe
All these nostalgic tv shows 😍