As I mentioned over Instagram the other day, our youngest son recently came down with a fever, the first of his life (he’s only 11 months old, but still, I like saying that). Four airplane rides over the course of seven days will do that (we traveled to my home state of Washington for Thanksgiving last week). No problem regarding the fever, though – chicken soup to the rescue, and he was back to his usual, trouble-making self the following day.
I think the Instant Pot pressure cooker craze has reached a fever pitch this year; in fact, it was on heavilty discounted during both Black Friday and Cyber Monday this past week on Amazon (I mentioned the sale in my periodic newsletter – which you’re signed up for, right?). So it seems right to share a simple pressure-cooker chicken soup recipe with you folks today.
Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker) Chicken Soup with Kale (Gluten-free, Primal, Paleo, Perfect Health Diet, Whole30)
2 tbsp butter or olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1.5 cups chopped)
3 carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
4 stalks celery, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt, more to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper, more to taste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried oregano
4 cups chicken broth
1 lb cooked, shredded chicken, breast preferred (see note below)
1 large handful kale, chopped (about 2 cups chopped)
1/2 tsp fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce
1. Press the “Sauté” button on the Instant Pot, then add the butter and onion. Sauté until tender, about 5 minutes, then add the carrots, celery, bay leaves, salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano. Sauté until aromatic, about 1 minute, then add the chicken broth and enough water to reach the “6 cup” fill line on the inside of the pot, about 1 cup of water altogether.
2. Cover and press the “Cancel” button to cancel the Sauté function, then press the “Soup” button and adjust the time to 4 minutes (high pressure). Once the Instant Pot finishes cooking, force-depressurize the pressure cooker by twisting the valve on top and letting the steam escape.
3. Once the Instant Pot is depressurized, remove the lid and add the chicken and kale. Allow the soup to set for a minute, until the kale is bright green. Stir in the fish sauce, add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.
** You can use raw chicken instead of leftover chicken. To do so, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, then brown the chicken after the onions are tender, but before adding the carrots and other ingredients. Once the chicken is browned, add the carrots and other ingredients and follow the recipe as instructed. Don’t force-depressurize the soup since that will make the meat mealy – instead, allow the soup to depressurize naturally (just let it sit for about 15 minutes before removing the lid).
Since we had an emergent need for chicken meat for the soup, I grabbed a local whole chicken and roasted it for the meat (and for other meals). Bonus: we used the carcass to make more broth (2 hours on the “Soup” setting in the Instant Pot does the trick nicely). Here is my simple recipe for roast chicken.
