This instant pot chicken soup is ready in 25 minutes. Flavored with warm spices such as cinnamon and cumin, this soup is perfect for warming up on a cold day.
I'm one of those people who can have soup any time of the year regardless of the weather. Be it a creamy curry lentil soup or a chunky chicken lentil soup, a bowl of hearty soup never disappoints. This easy instant pot chicken soup is one of our favorites because it's packed with warm spices and it's so easy to make.
Table Of Contents:
About this recipe
I didn't grow up having chicken noodle soup, but I did devour many bowls of chicken soup flavored with middle eastern spices. This easy chicken soup is like no other you've had before. Its deep flavors come from cinnamon and cumin and instead of noodles, we have added chickpeas.
I'm happy to let you know that this is a gluten free chicken soup that's easy to make and is a great alternative to the standard soup recipes that seem to be everywhere on the internet. It's simple and easy to prepare, making it a perfect fall dinner to enjoy on cold days.
Ingredients
- Onion and garlic: The amount of garlic depends on your preference. You can either use yellow or white onion for this recipe.
- Carrots and potatoes - Make sure the carrot pieces are not too big. The potato chunks can be larger.
- Spices - We are using warm middle eastern spices such as cinnamon, cumin, Aleppo pepper, salt.
- Chicken - This recipe calls for cooked and shredded chicken breast. Check our our tutorial on instant pot poached chicken to use for this recipe.
- Tomato paste - Not tomato sauce. Tomato paste is denser and adds a nice color.
- Chickpeas - canned would work well. Check out this guide on how to cook dried chickpeas if you prefer to cook chickpeas at home.
Instructions
- Pour olive oil in the instant pot and press the "saute" button.
- Once the olive oil in hot, saute the onion and garlic until golden.
- Add in the carrots, potatoes and chickpeas (drained). Stir well and season with the spices and add the tomato paste.
- Add in the shredded chicken chicken. Pour in the chicken stock. Secure the lid and make sure the valve in turned to "sealing".
- Press the "pressure cook" button, make sure it's on "high" and set the timer for 5 minutes. Once the timer is up, do a quick release.
- Stir in chopped parsley and serve warm.
Releasing pressure in the instant pot
When cooking with the instant pot, there are two ways to release the pressure: natural and quick.
Natural pressure release means letting the instant pot release the pressure naturally. This means that you won't touch the valve and the cooking would continue until the pressure is fully released. This method of pressure release takes longer.
Quick pressure release, on the other hand, means to turn the valve to "venting" and manually release the pressure. This would take about two to four minutes and is quicker than natural release. For this instant pot soup recipe, we are doing the quick release method.
Caution: When doing a quick release, always stay back and protect your hand since the steam is very hot. I prefer to drop a kitchen towel on the valve before I turn it because it absorbs the steam.
Variations
What I love about this chicken soup recipe is that you can make changes and still have a tasty soup.
- Don't own an instant pot? Make this soup on the stove. Simply follow the recipe as instructed and cook it in a large pot. Once you add the chicken stock, cover and cook the soup for about 15 to 20 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are cooked.
- Use other vegetables: Add zucchini, green peas, cauliflower or corn to the soup. If you want to use spinach, once the soup is cooked take the lid off and add two cups baby spinach to the soup. Stir until the spinach is wilted.
- Not a fan of chickpeas? Leave them out or substitute with navy beans or pinto beans.
Frequently asked questions
I suggest you don't use the soup function because it's a pre-programmed function and might overcook the ingredients and make the chicken rubbery.
Store the leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 days. You can also freeze this soup for up to 2 months.
This soup is perfect with leftover chicken. Got some rotisserie chicken leftovers? Throw it in there. Don't know what to do with the grilled chicken you made a couple of days ago? Shred it and add it to this soup. You'll find that this is a very forgiving recipe; be creative and use up any kind of leftover chicken you have on hand.
Not necessarily. You can use raw chicken if that's what you have on hand and don't want to cook it before adding it to the soup. Cut the chicken into chunks and saute it with onion and garlic. Proceed with the recipe and add the remaining ingredients. Secure the lid and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes. Do a quick release and voila, your soup is ready.
Notes and tips
- Make sure the potato chunks are no smaller than one inch. Potato cooks pretty fast in the instant pot and might get mushy if the chunks are too small.
- You can also add the shredded chicken after the soup is cooked. I like to add it before so it soaks in some of that flavor from the spices and tomato paste.
- Store the leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to two days. To reheat, pour the soup into a saucepan and reheat over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently until warm.
- Once the quick pressure release is done and the valve has dropped, you can open the lid easily. If you can't twist and lift the lid easily, it's because the pressure hasn't been released completely. In this situation, don't force it - just give it more time to release the pressure.
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Step-by-Step Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Soup Recipe
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 golden potato peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper see notes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 chicken breast cooked and shredded (see notes)
- 1 can chickpeas 15.5 oz
- 5 cups chicken stock
- ½ cup parsley chopped
Instructions
- Pour olive oil into instant pot and press the "saute" button. Once the oil is hot, saute onion and garlic until golden and fragrant.
- Add in diced carrots and chopped potatoes.
- Drain the chickpeas and add them to the instant pot.
- Add cinnamon, cumin, Aleppo pepper, salt and tomato paste to the vegetable. Stir well to combine.
- Add shredded chicken breast and the chicken stock. Stir well.
- Secure the lid and set the valve to "sealing". Press the "pressure cook" button and set it on "high". Set the timer for 5 minutes.
- Once the cooking time is done, do a quick release.
- Open the lid, stir in chopped parsley. Taste to make sure the soup has enough salt for your taste.
- Serve warm with some lemon juice.
Video
Notes
- If Aleppo pepper is not available, use red pepper flakes or chili powder.
- You can use leftover chicken breast (grilled, baked or rotisserie) or make poached chicken in instant pot.
- If you don't have an instant pot, make this soup on the stove. Follow the recipe as instructed and prepare it in a large pot on the stove top. Once you add the chicken stock, cover with the lid and cook over medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes until the carrot and potatoes are cooked.
- To make this instant pot chicken soup with raw chicken breast, cut it into chunks and add it to the onion and garlic and saute until golden. Proceed with the recipe as instructed. The timing will remain the same.
Allison
Made a couple substitutions based on what ingredients I had. It came out delicious! Thank you!
Hanna
I couldn't find the Aleppo Pepper so I just used red pepper flakes. They worked great! It was soo good! Thanks for all the tips!
Abigail Raines
You know a recipe is great when as you cook it you can smell it's delicious and aromatic flavors and this is exactly that! YUMMY!
Shadi HasanzadeNemati
Thank you! It's such a good soup for this weather!
Beth
What a tasty twist to a comforting classic! Love the flavors in this quick, flavorful dish!