Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

This is the classic, cozy, chicken noodle soup recipe that you’re looking for, but made in the Instant Pot so that it’s ready much more quickly.

What Vegetables Belong In Chicken Noodle Soup?

Often when I’m making chicken noodle soup, I like to stick to the classic veggies of a combination of carrots, celery, and onion. That’s especially true when I want soup quickly, like with this 15-minute Chicken Noodle Soup recipe.

But on occasion, like this one, I like to add some greens in the form of kale or baby spinach. It adds another level of flavor, texture, and nutrition to this comfort food. The greens are wilted into the soup after the pressure-cooking is finished. If you prefer to stick to the classic, leave out the greens at the end of the cooking process.

If you like extras in your chicken noodle soup, you could sauté mushrooms at the beginning or stir in frozen peas at the end instead of leafy greens.

Can I Cook Noodles In The Instant Pot?

Noodles can be cooked in the Instant Pot with great success. When they are added to the dish is dependent on the recipe. With recipes like this Instant Pot Mac and Cheese the noodles are cooked during the pressure cooking time. With soups, I’ve found that the best method is to add the noodles to the pot after the pressurized cooking time is over. Otherwise they get a bit soggy.

Another note on noodles – if I know that we won’t be eating all of the soup in one setting, I cook the appropriate serving of egg noodles in boiling water on the stove top, ladle the soup over them and either refrigerate or freeze the remaining soup separate from the noodles. This will prevent the noodles from absorbing all of the broth and becoming mushy.

What Kind Of Chicken?

Although you can use almost any part of the chicken or even a whole chicken for chicken soup recipes, I recommend using boneless skinless chicken thighs. Because they’re fattier than the white meat of chicken breasts, they stay tender and juicy during the pressure cooking process. They also add a much richer flavor to the broth.

Plus, since there are no bones, shredding the meat after cooking is much easier than cutting it up before hand and easier than trying to remove the meat from bones or a carcass before or after cooking. And no skin means you don’t have to degrease the broth before serving.

Do You Have To Sauté The Veggies First?

There are a couple of ways to make Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup. One way is what I call the dump and cook method. The other way involves sautéing the vegetables before pressure cooking. They both have their benefits. The dump and cook is quick and easy. The pre-sautéing method builds more flavor into the broth.

If you hadn’t guessed my preference for this recipe, it’s the pre-sautéing method. The vegetables are sautéd using the sauté function on the Instant Pot. And I use butter for that richness that you get from chicken fat, bones, and skin simmered for a long time when making slow-cooked soup. Then the balance of the ingredients are added to the pot and the pressure cooking function is employed.

But, it’s not the hugest difference in flavor, so if you’re in a hurry, just dump and go. I would recommend that you still melt in the butter before dumping everything else in though. It just makes the hugest difference, more than the sautéeing does even.

Do You Use Stock Or Water?

In this recipe, I use unsalted or low-sodium chicken stock because it creates a super rich, chicken-y chicken broth. You can also use water or a combination of 1/2 chicken stock and 1/2 water. If you use water and you find that your resulting soup isn’t as chicken-flavored as you’d like, scoop out some liquid and stir some chicken bouillon into it, then add that back into the soup.

You can use low-sodium chicken broth instead of stock. Note that it tends to be saltier than the unsalted stock, so you may want to omit the salt from the recipe, then taste at the end and add more if needed.

Serve in deep soup bowls with your favorite crackers. It can also be nice to add a squeeze of lemon juice and some fresh herbs like parsley or more thyme when serving.