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Instant Pot Healthy Golden Chicken Soup

chicken noodle soup in a white bowl

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5 from 1 review

Comforting, healing, Golden Chicken Soup, made so easy in the Instant Pot.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 sweet or yellow onion, diced
  • 3 carrots, sliced thick
  • 3 celery stalks, sliced thick
  • 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 6 cups low sodium chicken broth, divided
  • 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, each breast sliced into 3 long pieces (or substitute with chicken tenders)
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat couscous
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • optional: fresh lemon wedges for serving

Instructions

  1. Select saute on the pressure cooker and add butter.
  2. When melted, add garlic, onion, carrots, celery, and ginger; saute for 4 minutes.
  3. Add turmeric, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper, stir for 1 minute to wake up the spices.
  4. Add chicken, 4 cups chicken broth, and couscous; stir.
  5. Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position.  Cook at high pressure for 7 minutes.
  6. When cooking is complete, use a natural release for 5 minutes and then release any remaining pressure.
  7. Note: If liquid sprays from the valve, turn knob back to a sealed position and wait another 5 minutes before opening again.
  8. Remove chicken from pot and cut or shred into bite-sized pieces.  Return chicken to pot.
  9. Stir in peas and extra salt and pepper to taste.
  10. Add an extra 1-2 cups chicken broth to thin soup if desired.
  11. Serve hot with a splash of fresh lemon juice
  12. To reheat from the fridge it may need an extra splash of chicken broth because it gets quite thick as it sits.

Freezer Meal Instructions

  • Note: I suggest preparing double the amounts of ingredients through step 3 so that half of them can go towards dinner that night and the other half towards a freezer meal.
  • After cooking, place the sauteed vegetables (make sure they are cooled) and spices in a freezer safe ziplock and add 1 pound of sliced chicken breast.  Label bag with recipe title and bag contents.
  • Place ziplock inside a pressure cooker pot and spread chicken out into a flat row on the bottom of the bag.  Freeze.  Once solid, remove bag from pot and return to freezer.
  • When ready to cook, add frozen contents to pressure cooker pot, add 4 cups of chicken broth and 1/2 cup couscous, cook at high pressure for 9 minutes.  Proceed with step 6.

Notes

  • Do not use quick cooking couscous for this recipe.  Use Pearl or Israeli couscous, not Moroccan or quick cooking couscous
  • After refrigerating, the soup will thicken quite a bit.  To reheat, add an extra splash of chicken broth and lemon juice
  • Pasta does not freeze well, I do not suggest freezing this soup