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| Hearty chicken soup mmm mmm yum |
This is my basic recipe for chicken soup and I make it at least once a month. I make a big pot and eat it all week. I love chicken soup! It's a great cold remedy and anytime-pick-me-up. It is low-carber friendly too.
Ingredients
(for about 5 quarts of soup)
Optional Ingredients
(for about 5 quarts of soup)
1 small whole chicken (4-5 lbs)
1 whole bulb of garlic
2 stalks celery
2 carrots
1 bunch parsley (about 5 stalks)
1 thumb-sized knob of ginger
2 tablespoons salt
6 cups water
Directions
- Place the chicken in the Instant Pot.
- Cut the carrots and celery diagonally into large pieces. Cut the parsley into 2 inch long sections, stems and all. Cut the ginger into thick slices. Separate the garlic bulb into cloves and peel the skins off each clove.
- Add all the vegetables into the Instant Pot.
- Add the salt and the water.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot, set the pressure valve to 'seal' and select 'Poultry', which will give 15 minutes of pressure cooking. (It will take about 15 minutes for the liquid inside to come to a boil and build up pressure, then it will pressure cook for 15 minutes. Total cook time 30 minutes).
- After the Instant Pot has worked it magic on the ingredients you placed inside it, fish the chicken out and set it on a large plate to cool a bit. Then pull all the meat off the bones. Return the meat to the soup as large chunks, or after chopping into smaller pieces, depending on what you prefer).
- Serve warm. Happy eating!
Optional Ingredients
To this basic chicken soup recipe, you can add pretty much anything you like to jazz it up. I add serano or jalapeno peppers for some extra heat. Or ginseng root as a real pick-me-up.
What's your favorite chicken soup recipe? Would love to hear from you!
Next up in the Instant Pot Chronicles - Herbal Chicken Soup that will cure almost anything, even a broken heart. :)
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| Anticlockwise L-R: Parsley, carrot, celery, garlic, ginseng root, ginger root, chicken. |
What's your favorite chicken soup recipe? Would love to hear from you!
Next up in the Instant Pot Chronicles - Herbal Chicken Soup that will cure almost anything, even a broken heart. :)
2 T salt was perhaps for 5qts. I used 1.5 T salt (was tired) and it was way too much.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Judy and sorry your soup turned out too salty. Yes the two tablespoons is usually good for five quarts of soup - did you make less than that? Perhaps using regular table salt was a factor - I use sea salt and that is less salt that table salt.
DeleteAfter experimentation and browsing through many blogs, I've learned that 3/4 tsp per lb. of meat is perfect when using the instant pot. Hope this helps!
DeleteRight on!
DeleteDo you ever brown your chicken first?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your question - no I don't, because I prefer a clear plain broth. However, browning the chicken first would give a different flavor profile and still taste delicious!
DeleteThis was soooo good and easy. I just used a 5 pack of organic drum sticks instead of a whole chicken, so it was just a few dollars. I cant get over this recipe, I am so happy to find something that doesn't require better than bullion or a premade stock. This is the best chicken soup I have ever had. I will use more carrots and celery next time. I also used dried instead of freah parsely. The salt was perfect but I also like soup salty and use sea salt as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment and so glad you enjoyed the soup! Don't you just love the awesome Instant Pot pressure cooker?
DeleteI would agree with Judy in that 2 tablespoons of salt would be too much for many of us. I plan to start with about a teaspoon of salt and work up from there if needed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! That's a good idea especially if you prefer less salt in your food!
DeleteI just made chicken soup in my brand-new Instant Pot. I didn't use the amount of salt this recipe specifies. What I did do was put a combination of chicken broth and water into the pot FIRST, gradually adding Costco brand garlic salt and tasting it until it tasted about right. Then I added just the raw chicken to the pot and pressure-cooked it for 50 min. I then removed the chicken, which was falling-apart done, and added roughly chopped carrots, celery, and onion to the soup, which I pressure-cooked for 15 min.
DeleteI did make a few beginner's mistakes. I used a roaster chicken that was probably a little too large, and I overfilled the pot even though I cooked the vegetables separately. It wasn't overfilled by much, but it was enough to make the pressure valve fizz all over the countertop when I released it. You CAN use a bigger chicken; just don't add as much liquid. Actually, you don't need to since the chicken and vegetables themselves release quite a bit of liquid into the pot while cooking. I poured the cooked vegetables and broth into a large bowl containing the already-shredded chicken. The result was delicious. The soup broth was incredibly good, and the chicken and veggies were very tender without being mushy,
I've never liked cooking in a crockpot for hours on end because it changes the flavors and then everything tastes like it came out of a can. Pressure cooking doesn't do that to the food. You get real stovetop flavor without the long simmering time.
Thanks for your awesome comments and so glad the broth turned out so delicious for you! I totally agree with you about the taste/texture of pressure cooked food being sooo much better than slow cooked crock pot food. The food tastes 'fresher' and flavors stay brighter!
DeleteThank you for this recipe! I've been trying to find a good pressure cooker chicken soup recipe that doesn't use chicken stock or bouillon cubes as an ingredient (seems to defeat the purpose of cooking from scratch!). I'm going out right now to buy the ingredients to make this in my Instant Pot for my 10-yo daughter who's got a cold.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the ginseng in the photo but not in the ingredient list -- does that add to the flavor profile? Have you ever tried adding green onion? My mom (Chinese) used to make a version with just chicken, water, salt, ginger, and green onion.
Thanks Norm Lao for your comments! Yes I do love ginseng in the soup. Green onion gives a different flavor too, and my grandma makes it with exactly the same ingredients as your mom!
DeleteWhy no onions? I'm making this as the inaugural Instapot recipe (husband has a cold) and I'm adding onions... Hope that works ok!
ReplyDeleteGood question Sea, you can definitely add onions! I leave them out because my husband can't digest them. :)
Delete6 cups of water or 6 quarts of water? How does 6 cups of water translate into 5 quarts of soup?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your question! It's definitely 6 cups of water (1.5 quarts) maybe even less than that if your chicken is very large. With the chicken and vegetables added to the pot, it should come up to 5 quarts of the finished product (soup). Hope this helps!
DeleteThank you!
DeleteI will be making this every week. It's delicious and really easy.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoy this soup Gwendolyn!
DeleteHow come you used the poultry setting and not soup?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your question Darrell. I use the poultry setting that pressure cooks for 15 minutes only, and gives sufficiently tender chicken. The soup setting would pressure cook for twice as long and likely get chicken that falls apart too much (for my taste anyway). Hope this helps!
DeleteHave you ever made this with noodles? Maybe cook them in the broth when you are taking apart the chicken?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Yes putting the noodles in while deboning the chicken would work well. Good luck!
Deleteexactly how and how long would you cook the noodles in the broth? I'm new to the Instant Pot
DeleteThanks for your question missy! After you remove the chicken from the pressure cooker, you would set the cooker on the sauté or boil setting (cooking without pressure) and throw the noodles in the broth while deboning the chicken. Ten minutes to cook the noodles should do it. :)
DeleteWhat if the chicken is frozen? How would you adjust the time for everything?
ReplyDeleteGood question robin! Just add another 15 minutes to your cooking time - instead of 'poultry' setting, use the 'stew' setting (30 minutes) and that should do it. Doing it this way however, will result in very soft vegetables and while the inside of the chicken will be perfectly cooked, the outer parts may be very tender (too overcooked for my taste). Ideally thaw before cooking but in a crunch it will still taste good. All the best!
Deletethank you...nbewbie here and just trying to use this cool tool to its fullest....
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! Let me know how it goes!
DeleteThanks so much for this recipe! I love that it uses a whole chicken, makes it so much easier for me and hearty, which my husband will love. Can't wait to give it a try, making a batch for our camping trip this weekend so our bellies can stay nice and warm :-)
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure and thanks for your comment! Have a wonderful camping trip!
DeleteDo you allow the instant pot to remain in "keep warm" mode for 10 minutes and then release pressure? Release it right away? or allow it to come down naturally on its own?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your question! I usually want to fish it out right away as it will be perfectly cooked then, but no harm leaving it a little longer
DeleteWhen I released the pressure all the fat squirted up through the vent and went all over my kitchen. What did I do wrong?
ReplyDeleteGosh sorry to hear that your kitchen must be a mess! If you're not in a rush, I'd give it ten minutes after cooking time is done before releasing pressure. Or you could also release it verrrrrry slightly at first. Opening it all the way would let all the pressure out at one go.
DeleteThis is going to sound dumb, but I followed the recipe and want to fish the chicken out, but I can't get the lid off. Should I release the pressure first, and if so, how? (Second time using this pot, not sure what I'm doing, obviously)
ReplyDeleteHi Mary, gosh I somehow missed your post until now, so sorry. I am guessing you managed to eventually get that lid off. The pressure releases naturally given time (quite a bit of time).
DeleteThanks for the simple recipe. Until I found it,I couldn't find just basic simple recipes for the Instant Pot. Everything had exotic ingredients that I don't have on hand or was otherwise troublesome. So your soup will be the first thing I try. What if I want to add brown rice to the soup? What adaptations do I need to make? Can I add the brown rice at the beginning so I save time and effort? Then debone the chicken afterwards or just eat around the bones, LOL? Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteHi! Thanks for your question Francesca. You can absolutely throw in a handful of brown rice together with all the ingredients and let the Instant Pot do its thing. I also put in quinoa, amaranth seeds and other ingredients too. If you put a whole lot of rice, or beans and if the pot is filled to the max, sometimes it could bubble too much so you'll want to limit those ingredients. I just eat around the bones because I'm lazy haha. Let me know how it turns out for you!
DeleteGrace, thank you so much! That's really useful info!
Deletemy pleasure!
DeleteMy instant pot takes over a half an hour to get pressurized on the poultry setting with a five-pound chicken & 6 cups of water. Any idea why it takes so much longer than 15 minutes?
ReplyDeleteI tried this recipe as written, on the poultry setting it showed 20 minutes not 15. When it beeped I slid the knob to "Venting" and OMG...it was a 4 minute volcano of chicken fat and broth all over my kitchen!!!! I don't think it is wise to use that setting for soup. The recipe itself is delicious.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness it sounds like your pot may have been a little on the full side. Glad it was tasty! Perhaps next time let the pressure dissipate by itself instead of the release valve? Thanks for your comment!
DeleteJust made this and it came out great. The poultry setting was perfect. I didn't use ginger and cut the garlic portion in half. I also added rice afterwards and it was awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and so glad the broth turned out wonderful for you!
Delete