THIS INSTANT POT RECIPE IS WORTH THE PRICE OF THE POT
Let’s face it. The Instant Pot takes up a lot of geography—especially in our New York City Kitchen with its no-bigger-than-a-bread-box pantry. But if there’s one thing that makes an Instant Pot worth buying, it’s Soup. Drop-dead soup. And so, left with half a roast chicken, I set about to make this American Classic in my Instant Pot. But I was darned if it was going to taste like Campbell’s. No, I wanted a richer soup, creamier, if you will, without adding cream. And I wanted it loaded with 
vegetables and not as an afterthought as they are in its canned incarnations. When Campbell’s first introduced it in 1934, the soup was called “Noodles with Chicken”. Noodles quickly took a back seat to the chicken. (Read why below.) They did in my recipe too—mostly because I discovered the egg noodles on hand were all of about 2 cups. The traditional vegetables – onions, celery, and carrots—were augmented with baby spinach. And as to the broth, this is no consommé. It has a luscious flavorful sensual quality achieved by using Vegan Buttery Spread, which may be the key to the whole recipe. The results were sublime.
CAMPBELL’S SOUPS LAY CLAIM TO THE INVENTION OF CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP.
That is poppy cock. Chicken soup has been with us for 7,000 to 10,000 years since chickens were domesticated in Southeast Asia. You don’t think someone added noodles to theirs? Campbell’s introduced the familiar red can in 1934 when their Head Chef, Ernest Lacoutiere, ‘invented’ their recipe for Noodles and Chicken Soup. It was called that until a very popular radio host inverted its ingredients and by 1938 Campbell’s capitulated to the error. The soup is still wildly popular. It ranks #1 in their lineup…followed by Tomato, Chicken Rice, Cream of Mushroom, and Bean with Bacon. When it was first introduced, a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle cost 10 to 12 cents. Andy Warhol was an unknown 34-year-old artist when, in 1962, he opened a show of his paintings in Los Angeles. Each of the 32 
paintings featured a different flavor of Campbell’s Soup. The Soup cans didn’t sell. So his gallerist, a man named Irving Blum, bought the entire collection paying Warhol $1,000 for all 32 paintings, paid over 10 months. In 1996, the Museum of Modern Art in New York bought the 32 paintings from Irving Blum as a combination gift and sale valued upwards of $15 million. Here is today’s recipe] and a couple of other wonderful soups to try.
Best Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
A simply fantastic version of the American Classic--only this one is loaded with vegetables in a deeply flavorful creamy-rich broth that makes this an out of this world soup'
Ingredients
- 8 tbsp. TJ.s Vegan Buttery Spread or Unsalted Butter, divided
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, sliced
- 2 celery stalks, halved lengthwise and then diced
- 5 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 2 cups (or more) of cooked, diced chicken (We used leftover Roast Chicken)
- 8 cups of Chicken Stock or for a richer chicken flavor 6 cups of Chicken Stock and 2 cups of Chicken Bone Broth
- 2 cups of dry Egg Noodles
- 2 to 3 cups of baby spinach leaves
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to Taste
Directions
- Step 1 Plug in the Instant Pot and push the Saute Button. The screen on the front will read ON and the bottom of the stainless steel pot will heat up.
- Step 2 Melt 3 tbsp. Vegan Spread or Butter in the Instant Pot, Once melted add the onions, carrots, celery, and a big pinch of salt. Cook until the vegetables have softened and turned the onions have become more translucent about 5 minutes.
- Step 3 Add the garlic, thyme, oregano, and basil. Cook for 1 minute.
- Step 4 Add the 8 cups of Chicken Stock or the 6 cups of stock and the 2 cups of bone broth, the 2 cups of chicken and the egg noodles. Turn off the saute function. Put the lid on the Instant Pot, and turn the vent valve to closed. Push the Soup Button on the Instant Pot. Use the manual buttons (the+/- buttons) to bring the time down to 4 minutes. It will turn on automatically once it comes to pressure.
- Step 5 The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to come up to pressure and then it will count down the 4 minutes. When the 4 minutes is up, quickly release your valve (use a dishtowel or oven mitt to turn off the valve. It will take a couple of minutes to release all the pressure from the Instant Pot.
- Step 6 After the pressure is released, take the lid off and stir in the additional Vegan Buttery spread or butter one tablespoon at a time. Then stir in the baby spinach. After it has wilted, taste the soup adding more salt and pepper per taste. The soup is hot enough to wilt the spinach without any additional heat.
- Step 7 Serve warm with crusty French bread.
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