A hot bowl of home made chicken soup is one of the perfect comfort foods and awakens childhood memories. America’s Test Kitchen recently had a pressure cooker version and I had to test it in the Instant Pot. I was surprised at how good it tasted compared to the traditional slow simmered soup and made very little adjustments to the recipe. The Instant Pot is a worthy tool for extracting the full amount of flavor from the chicken while speeding up cooking time.
Only a few items to note in my tests. First, a 4lb chicken will take this recipe close to capacity for the 6 quart Instant Pot. Secondly, if you prefer not to have vegetables in your soup when serving, just cut the pieces larger to make them easy to remove after cooking. Lastly, I always cook my noodles separately since they don’t hold up well as leftovers, but I did include directions in case you wish to cook yours directly in the pot.
chicken soup
Chicken Soup Ingredients
1 roasting chicken or parts. 3-4 pounds provides plenty of meat.
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
4 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced and include leafy tops
2 tsp soy sauce (substitute with salt or chicken seasoning if needed)
8 cups water
Ground black pepper, season to taste
Chicken Soup Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to saute mode (I use Medium heat setting for my Ultra) and add 2TB vegetable oil.
- Add onions. Cook until soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add garlic, thyme, carrots, and celery and cook for 1 minute.
- Add soy sauce and 8 cups of water (adjust if needed for capacity)
- Cook on High Pressure 20 minutes.
- When cooking is finished, manually release pressure (quick release).
- Remove chicken and shred once cool enough to handle.
- OPTIONAL: Add 4oz egg noodles to pot and boil for 5 minutes.
- Skim off foam and any excess fat once broth cools a bit.
Add cooked noodles or rice and chicken to bowl, then ladle broth and vegetables on top. The leftover chicken also makes some amazing sandwiches. Enjoy!
Instant Pot Chicken Soup
