If you want to make use of your pressure cooker, you should undoubtedly check out this recipe to learn how to make the most delicious Instant Pot Chicken Soup.
If you use fresh ingredients as opposed to tinned products, you are sure to find that this meal will be even more delicious.
Despite needing a whole chicken, this dish takes only an hour to cook! That is pretty impressive and such a time saver, especially for those of you that don’t have much time to cook in the evenings.
This is a wholesome, comforting, nourishing, and simple dish to make, so you are guaranteed to love it. There is a lot to love about this humble yet iconic meal.
But what makes it truly remarkable is how you can easily modify this recipe to your liking.
On top of that, you only require minimal preparation, a few simple ingredients, and just a few minutes of hands-on time. So, in this article, we are going to take a closer look at ‘A Saucy Kitchen’s instant pot chicken soup recipe and how you can make this tasty dish from scratch.
With that said, let’s dive right in and get started!
Quick Answer: A Saucy Kitchen’s Instant Pot Chicken Soup From Scratch
This dish takes a fraction of the time it takes to cook other chicken soup recipes. That being said, there are a few steps that you need to follow first.
To make this dish, you will need the following: whole chicken, olive oil, yellow onions, garlic cloves, carrots, celery stalks, chicken stock, water, bay leaves, lemon juice, fresh parsley, black pepper, and salt.
For those of you that require a quick answer, in this section, we are going to briefly go over how to make this tasty dish.
1. Start by cooking the aromatics in the slow cooker on the sauté function.
2. Put the chicken and stock water in the pressure cooker and seal the valve.
3. Allow the ingredients to cook on high for twenty minutes.
4. Depressurize the pressure cooker for fifteen minutes.
5. Take the chicken out and shred it.
6. Put the shredded chicken back in the soup with the other flavorings.
7. Serve and Enjoy!
To learn more about making this dish, make sure to read on, we cover everything you need to know and more further down.
What Tips And Tricks Should You Bear In Mind?
Before we go over how to make this delicious and wholesome instant pot chicken soup (Also check out Best Spices For Chicken Soup) from scratch, there are a few tips and tricks that you need to consider.
In this section, we are going to go over a few things that you need to know before you do any cooking.
Do You Need To Use A Whole Chicken?
You can use chicken thighs or breasts if you prefer, however, using whole chicken can be beneficial. For one thing, you will get a variety of dark meat and light meat, which can make your soup more flavorsome.
If you do not want to use a whole chicken, we recommend that you use some thighs and some breast meat so that you use a combination of dark and light meat.
What if a whole chicken does not quite fit in your pressure cooker? Well, if this is an issue that you are experiencing, you might find that you need to cut your chicken into portions.
There are plenty of videos or articles that you can reference to learn how to break down a whole chicken properly.
Is It A Good Idea To Use Boneless Or Skinless Chicken?
If you would prefer to use boneless or skinless chicken, you can absolutely do this instead. Bear in mind, that a chicken soup made with skin and bone will be more silky, rich, and flavorful than a soup without it.
On top of adding to the flavor, and richness of the soup, the collagen that the skin and bone add is very good for you.
It is highly beneficial for your skin, hair, and overall health. But if bones in your food give you the ick, you can use chicken without these components.
Is It A Good Idea To Use Frozen Chicken In This Dish?
If you forgot to take your chicken out of the freezer, do not worry! You can absolutely use frozen chicken in this dish. The main thing to remember is that if you do use frozen chicken, you can end up with a longer cook time.
A whole thawed chicken should take about forty minutes to cook. For chicken thighs with the bone, it will take between twenty-five and thirty minutes to cook.
If your thighs are skinless and boneless, it will take only twenty minutes to cook. Skinless chicken breasts will take even shorter to cook at about fifteen minutes.
If any of these pieces of meat are frozen, it will take longer. But, you can minimize the cooking time if your chicken pieces are frozen separately instead of stuck together.
Is It A Good Idea To Skim Your Chicken Soup?
For most chicken soup recipes, it is considered the norm to skim the surface to get rid of any impurities. Because this recipe is cooked in an instant pot, this is not possible, while the chicken is cooking at least.
But, you do not NEED to skim an instant pot chicken soup, most of the time.
In some cases, when you open the lid of the instant pot, you might see gray scum will be floating on the surface, skimming the top might be a good idea.
This does not happen often, so with an instant pot chicken soup, you will likely not need to skim the surface.
Is Searing the Chicken Skin Before Cooking A Good Idea?
While you do not have to sear your chicken skin before putting it in the crock pot, it can add to the flavor to do so. Seared chicken skin can add a richness to the soup that you would not taste otherwise.
Simply putting your chicken in a hot pan and browning the skin will caramelize it and make your soup more tasty and rich.
However, you really only need to sear the skin if your chicken has skin. If you intend to use skinless chicken breasts or thighs, this is a step that you can skip.
What Do You Need To Know About This Recipe?
Before you do any cooking, there are a few things you must consider if you want to make this dish. For one, this recipe in particular will yield between four and six servings.
If you require more, you can double the recipe as you see fit.
You will spend about fifteen minutes prepping, twenty-five minutes of cooking time, and an additional thirty minutes of time for other tidbits.
So, overall, you can expect to spend about an hour and ten minutes making this dish.
What do you need to keep in mind about this recipe? Well, there are a few things, and we have listed them below for your convenience:
If you want to make this dish, you need to be using an instant pot that is at least a six-quart instant pot, or bigger.
If you can’t fit a whole chicken in the pot, you can cut it into smaller pieces. Make sure to check out some videos on how to do this safely.
Before you release the steam valve, you might want to throw a kitchen towel over the pot. This will prevent a significant amount of spluttering, and steam, from being sprayed when the valve is released.
Once your soup has completely cooled down, there will be a gelatinous film which will form on the top of the pot. Don’t worry, all you need to do is stir your soup and heat it up. The film will dissolve, and your soup will be just as good as the day you made it.
Bear in mind that you need to allow for additional time so that your instant pot has time to reach its full pressure for cooking. It also needs additional time for the instant pot to depressurize before you actually open the lid.
Don’t be afraid to make this dish, it is so easy to do. Despite these notes, it is actually super hard to mess up this soup.
You should be able to make and enjoy this dish without much trouble. But first, you need to make sure that you have the right ingredients.
What Ingredients Will You Need?
In order to make this delightful, comforting meal, you are inevitably going to need a few things. This is why we have listed all the ingredients and how much you need of each to make this delightful dish.
Whole Chicken – You need one whole chicken or two to three pounds of chicken pieces. You can use drumsticks, thighs, or breast meat depending on your preference.
Olive Oil – You will need two tablespoons of olive oil or thirty milliliters of olive oil to make this delicious and nutritious chicken soup.
Yellow Onion – One large yellow onion or brown onion is needed for this recipe. Make sure to slice and dice your onion before cooking it.
Garlic Cloves – To make this chicken soup, you will need five large garlic cloves which have been minced. You can use a knife or a garlic crusher to do this.
Carrots – For this recipe, you will require three large carrots. Make sure that your carrots have been peeled and diced before cooking.
Celery Stalks – Three large stalks of celery are needed to make this dish. Just make sure that they have been diced before you cook them.
Chicken Stock – To make this dish, you will need four cups, one quart, or 950 milliliters of chicken stock.
Water – To make this dish, you will need four cups, one quart, or 950 milliliters of water. Alternatively, you could use more chicken stock if you want a stronger flavor.
Bay Leaves – To add an extract kick of flavor, you will need two bay leaves for this recipe. They can be fresh or dried.
Fresh Parsley – You need just a handful of fresh parsley for this recipe for the garnish. You can use any herb you like though, for example, rosemary, basil, dill, or, thyme.
Black Pepper – To add just a hint of spice and tie this dish together, add just a hint of black pepper to your soup. You can add this ingredient to taste.
Salt – Add just a bit of salt to your soup. You can use any salt you prefer, and you can add as much or as little as you like.
None of these ingredients should be super hard to find. They should be readily available at your local store. But, the great thing about this recipe, is that you can substitute certain herbs and spices to suit your preferences.
Step-By-Step—How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Soup
Now that you know how long it will take to make this dish, and what ingredients you are going to need, you can finally check out the steps that you need to follow.
So, in this section, we are going to go over the instructions in a simple step-by-step format so that you can easily understand what to do in order to make this delicious dish.
Step 1 – Add Olive Oil To the Instant Pot & Sear The Chicken
To start things off, you should add two tablespoons of olive oil to your instant pot. Hit the sauté button. If you like, you can add your chicken to the instant pot with this bread facing downward.
Allow the meat to cook for between two and three minutes. This helps to sear the skin, which can make your soup more flavorful.
Once that is done, take the chicken out and put it aside. If the pan looks dry, add a little more olive oil.
Step 2 – Sauté Your Veggies
Once the oil is nice and hot, add your minced garlic, diced carrots, diced celery, and diced onions to the slow cooker. Allow all these ingredients to cook for between four and five minutes.
Step 3 – Add Your Chicken & Chicken Stock
With your aromatics and veggies nicely sautéed, add your chicken to the pot. If you are using a whole chicken, make sure that the breast is facing upward.
Now, pour your chicken stock, water, and bay leaves into the slow cooker.
Step 4 – Get Your Instant Pot Ready To Cook
On your instant pot, click the Cancel button or the Keep Warm button so that you turn off Sauté mode. Put the lid on and make sure that it is properly secured.
The steam valve needs to be set to a Closed Position. Once you are happy that the lid is nice and secure, click the Manual button or the Pressure Cook button.
Finally, set your timer to about twenty minutes and allow your soup to cook.
Step 5 – Set To Keep Warm & Release The Steam Valve
Once your twenty minutes have passed, the instant pot should switch to a Keep Warm mode. Allow your soup to stay in this mode for about fifteen minutes before you release the steam valve.
Step 6 – Remove And Shred Your Chicken
Take care to completely release the steam before you open the valve on the lid of your pressure cooker. Now, take the chicken out of the pot using tongs or a slotted spoon.
Place the chicken on a plate, in a bowl, or on a board, and start shredding it.
The chicken should come apart quite easily. As such, you need to be careful while you shred the chicken. You can easily splash scalding hot soup on your arm.
You can use two forms to shred your chicken, or you could use your hands, as long as you have allowed enough time for your chicken to cool.
Take the chicken bones, and skin out and discard them. Now you need to spend a few minutes shredding the rest of your chicken into manageable bite-sized ribbons.
Step 7 – Put the Shredded Chicken Back In The Instant Pot
Now that your chicken is perfectly shredded, add it back into the instant pot. Also, add lemon juice and fresh herbs.
Stir everything together until it has all been combined. Add a pinch of salt and black pepper to the pot and give it one more stir. You can add as much or as little as you like.
It all depends on your tastes and what your preferences are. Bear in mind that some chicken stocks are very salty, so take them into consideration before going ham on the salt.
We recommend tasting your soup before adding any salt. This way, you can properly gauge how much you need to add to make your soup perfect.
Step 8 – Serve Your Delicious Soup With A Side & Enjoy
With that, your soup should be perfectly cooked and ready to be eaten. So, dish your delicious warm soup up in a bowl and enjoy!
If you have any leftovers, you can store it in a plastic container for about five days in the refrigerator.
Bear in mind, you should only put your soup in the refrigerator once it has completely cooked. Alternatively, you could store your soup in the freezer.
The same rules apply, allow the soup to completely cool, and use an airtight container or a bag. In the freezer, your soup will keep for about three months.
How Should You Serve Your Instant Pot Chicken Soup?
From experience, we highly recommend enjoying this dish with a side of delicious crusty gluten-free bread or maybe crackers.
Both of these options are fantastic with chicken soup. You can dip them in the soup or crumble them on top of your soup. There are tons of great gluten-free crackers recipes out there, some popular options are as follows:
Easy Gluten-Free Vegan Crackers
Gluten-Free Cheese Crackers
Gluten-Free Spicy Cheddar Crackers
Low Carb Garlic and Herb Biscuits (Also check out Keto Soup Recipes)
Bacon and Herb Biscuits
Gluten-Free Bread
Gluten-Free Cheese Bread
You are going to find a load more astounding side recipes to go with your instant pot chicken soup. The above are merely a few suggestions to inspire you and get you started!
Final Thoughts
We hope that you have enjoyed reading this article and learning about how to make the best and most delicious instant pot chicken soup.
It really is super easy to make and with just a few ingredients and this recipe, you should be well on your way to making the most delicious instant pot chicken soup. One taste and you will be completely hooked!
If you enjoyed reading this article and learning about how to make this delicious dish from scratch, make sure to check out our website.
We have a range of amazing recipes and other food-related articles there that you are sure to find interesting, useful, and maybe even helpful.
Thanks for reading!
Frequently Asked Questions
In this section, we are going to answer some of your most frequently asked questions concerning instant pot chicken soup and making this dish from scratch.
What Is The Soup Setting On The Instant Pot?
Most instant pots will have soup or broth settings that you can use to make delicious soups. These settings will bring your soup to a slow simmer, which can result in a delicious clear broth.
If you are making a meatless soup, you could use the Less Mode. For meaty soups, like this one, simply use normal mode. If you are making a soup that requires a longer cook time, use the More mode.
Why Is Your Chicken Tough In The Instant Pot?
Sometimes it is a real challenge to get the right texture when you are making soup or other chicken dishes in an instant pot. Because they cook quickly, the chicken can become rubbery.
Too long and your chicken may be dry and kind of flaky. As such, make sure that you are cooking your chicken for the right amount of time to avoid either scenario.
What Is The Secret To Clear Soups?
The secret to making the perfect clear soup is to make sure that it is properly simmered. Start by using cold water and having all your ingredients in the pot.
Once it starts to boil, make sure that it does not cook for too long. So, stay close to the slow cooker at this stage for the best clear soup.
Hey! I’m Lana, the original Soup Chick! I decided to create this website as I am a massive soup fan. I will literally make soup for every occasion. Whether a friend is under the weather, has the flu, or I just want to try out something new in my slow cooker!
I hope that you can find some really interesting and different soup recipes to try out with my site. I know I’ve had a lot of fun curating and trying them all, and I hope that you do too!
