If you live in the East, you’re experiencing an arctic blast of obscenely low temperatures. We’re so bundled up against the cold, not even the runners are out these mornings. There is a cure for the cold. And that of course, is a bowl of soup. And of all the various kinds of soup one can warm oneself with, nothing comes with quite the credentials of a bowl of Chicken Soup. It is commonly called “Jewish Penicillin” around here, because it is an inevitable part of every Jewish mother’s routine to restore health. And guess what? They’re right. I won’t go into detail but scientists say Chicken soup may be a better medicine than over-the-counter cold medicines.
Food History doesn’t go back much further than Soup. Evidence of its existence go back to 20,000 BC. With the invention of waterproof pottery containers, boiling became a cooking technique. Before that animal hides and watertight baskets were used to boil food. The word “Soup” comes from the French word soupe which was derived from the Latin ‘suppa’ which means ‘bread soaked in broth. Originally in France the ‘soupe’ was not the liquid. It was the slice of bread over which was poured the contents of the cooking pot which was called ‘potage’. In France now the two words are virtually interchangeable. About that cooking pot. In many homes, a large pot occupied a burner on the stove for weeks on end. Into it, thrifty cooks added an almost steady stream of ingredients. Bones, vegetables, beans, leftover bits of meat would be added almost daily. The soup could be served to anyone needing a little restorative at any point in the day. Indeed, the word ‘restaurant’ which means ‘restoring’ was first used in France to refer to a highly concentrated soup sold by street vendors as an antidote to physical exhaustion. In 1765, an enterprising Parisian opened a shop that specialized in these soups. It became the world’s first restaurant.
The kettle of soup back-burnered and ready to be dipped into seems completely counter to the use of the Instant Pot to make something that usually simmers away on the stove unattended. But the glory here is that you can make a great bowl of soup in the Instant Pot in about 30 minutes. I have an odd relationship to my Instant Pot. I have had some terrible failures with the device. I am so wary of our Instant Pot that when I recently made an astonishingly good spaghetti and meatball dinner in it, I didn’t have a single picture to record it. But as I contemplated the incredible cold and came across numerous recipes that claimed I could have a warming bowl of Chicken Noodle soup on the table in a half hour, I was all over it. I loved the result…as good a bowl of thick chicken-y noodle-y soup filled with vegetables in a rich broth. It was definitely worth making and so I present the recipe here. But with one caveat. I am completely puzzled by the times mentioned in Instant Pot recipes. Yes, you set the timer for 3 minutes but it’s far longer than that just to get the pressure cooker up to speed. And then there’s little mention of the time required for that same steam to release. Finally, I left the finished recipe to cook away for far longer than a half hour. However, the result was without question a terrific bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup. And I wanted another.
This go-round, I thought back to the potage concept where the soup came together with whatever was left over. And this seemed to me the ideal way to clear out the refrigerator, a task which I do not get to often enough. It did not surprise me at all to hear that 30 percent of the food Americans buy gets thrown out not eaten. I am guilty as sin of this. Half the time I’ve got so much going on in the refrigerator, I don’t even remember something is there. To make today’s soup, I perused the vegetable bin and found a box of mushrooms, I didn’t remember I had. A single leek, a carrot likely left over from the first round of soup, a heart of celery, and half a ‘Healthy 8 chopped veggie mix” were all readied for the pot. I even added a handful of cubed hard cheese left over from who knows what. The first batch of soup I’d used uncooked, on-the-bone chicken. This time, I had a lot of cooked chicken—left over from a roast. But unlike in batch one, it waited its turn to be added to the veggies once they’d cooked. There’s no question I could have eaten bowl #2 in about 30 minutes. But I didn’t. I liked the idea of the potage simmering away in the Instant Pot, the broth getting richer, the flavors getting deeper, our soup waiting for us to come in from the cold. Here are the recipes.
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
A sincerely good bowl of soup prepared in far less time thanks to the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, thighs, or a mix
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion — chopped
- 1 pound carrots — peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices
- 3 medium stalks celery — cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt — plus additional to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper — or to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 cups water — plus additional as needed
- 2 1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat egg noodles — about 3 3/4 ounces
- Chopped fresh parsley
Directions
- Step 1 Carefully remove the skin from the chicken. If your chicken breasts are very large (more than 1 pound each), use a very sharp knife to carefully slice them in half crosswise through the bone. Set aside.
- Step 2 Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté setting. Add the olive oil and butter.
- Step 3 Once the butter is melted, add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion softens and becomes translucent.
- Step 4 Stir in the salt, pepper, and oregano. Place the thyme and bay leaf on top. Pour in the chicken broth and 3 cups water. Gently add the chicken pieces.
- Step 5 Close and seal the Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure (manual) for 10 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then immediately vent to release any remaining pressure. Carefully open the lid.
- Step 6 Remove the chicken and transfer it to a cutting board. Pick out the thyme stems and bay leaf and discard. Turn the Instant Pot to saute (you will need to press “cancel” first).
- Step 7 Add the noodles. Let cook, uncovered, until noodles are al dente, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Step 8 While the noodles cook, shred the chicken and discard the bones. Once the noodles are done, turn off the Instant Pot. Stir in the parsley and shredded chicken. If you’d like a more brothy, thinner soup, stir in additional water until your desired consistency is reached. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Enjoy hot with an extra sprinkle of fresh parsley.
Instant Pot Chicken Soup without Noodles
A truly hearty soup, full of tender chicken, a host of vegetables and a luscious broth...cold weather comfort food at its best.
Ingredients
- 3 or 4 Cups of diced or shredded leftover or rotisserie chicken, skin removed.
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Various vegetables including celery, onion, carrots and from there on, take your pick, to equal 6-7 cups of diced or sliced vegetables
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 6 cups of Chicken Stock
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 heaping tbsp. dried
- 1 Bay Leaf
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt — plus additional to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper — or to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 cups water — plus additional as needed
- 2 1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat egg noodles — about 3 3/4 ounces
- Chopped fresh parsley
Directions
- Step 1 Heat Instant Pot by turning to saute function until it indicates hot.
- Step 2 Add butter and olive oil and let butter melt.
- Step 3 Add all vegetables and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Step 4 Add in dry white wine and scrape any brown bits off the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Step 5 Pour in the chicken stock, season with thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
- Step 6 Cook on High Pressure for 3 -4 minutes.
- Step 7 Allow pressure to release naturally, about 5 minutes, then do a quick release.
- Step 8 Add the cooked chicken.
- Step 9 Set the Instant Pot on slow cook. Stir occasionally until ready to serve.
- Step 10
