Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup is a timeless comfort food- from sick days to cold snowy nights and every little sneeze and sniffle in between. There is nothing like making your tried and true homemade chicken soup to relieve stress, rejuvenate the soul, and bring back fond family memories.
Table Of Contents
This Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup is made using a fresh whole chicken to create a flavorful stock. Then a classic medley of onions, celery, carrots and garlic are sauteed and then pressure cooked in the chicken stock and extra bouillon for amped up flavor. Add egg noodles at the very end and you've got yourself a delicious, nutritious and hearty chicken noodle soup recipe.
Worried about the egg noodles turning to mush? Rest assured! They aren't pressure cooked, but there is no need to boil another pot of water to cook them. We dump the egg noodles into the soup right after it's done pressure cooking and let them soften in the broth for about 5 minutes. The broth is so hot and steamy that it cooks them just like this! The result is perfectly cooked noodles and a flavorful chicken soup.
You can make this same recipe using the slow cooker or the stovetop, but the pressure cooked version is even better!
More Instant Pot Soup Recipes
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup
- Instant Pot Beef Barley Soup
- Instant Pot Cabbage Soup
- Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
This Instant Pot chicken noodle soup recipe uses simple, wholesome pantry ingredients:
- Whole chicken: bones left on but the giblets removed.
- Carrots, celery, and onions: this is a French flavor based called Mirepoix and it's typically 2 parts onion to 1 part carrot and 1 part celery.
- Egg noodles: wide or extra wide or can be substituted with other noodles such as alphabets for kids.
- Chicken bouillon cubes: while much of the flavor and nutrients comes from using the broth that pressure cooking the whole chicken makes, it needs some flavor elevation from bouillon.
We're also using garlic, salt, and pepper to create the ultimate chicken soup flavor.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Remove the inner giblets from the chicken. Discard or reserve for another use. Put the whole chicken in the inner pot of the pressure cooker and cover with water to the max fill line. Close and seal the pressure cooker lid.
Step 2: Set to pressure cook on high for 23 minutes, then complete a 20 minute natural release followed by a controlled quick release of any remaining pressure. There will be a lot of frothy broth coming out of the pressure valve if pressure isn't release slowly. Please be careful, as not only could this burn you, it could cause a big mess!
💡 Tip: A whole chicken typically pressure cooks at high for 6 minutes per pound. When testing this recipe with a 6 pound chicken, 36 minutes was way too long and produced an overcooked and tough chicken. I'd recommend 4 minutes per pound. I used 23 for a 5.7 pound chicken and it was perfect.
Step 3: Transfer the chicken to a cutting board while preparing the broth. Place a mesh strainer over a large pot and line the strainer with a cheesecloth. If you don't have a cheesecloth, just using a fine mesh strainer will be fine. Pour the broth from the inner pot through the strainer and cheesecloth into a pot. Reserve this strained chicken broth for the soup broth base. We're going to add it back to the inner pot later.
Step 4: Wipe out the inner pot to remove any chicken bits. Add the extra virgin olive oil, carrots, celery, onions, and garlic. Saute on high (or normal) for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Step 5: Pour 10-12 cups of the reserved chicken broth back into the inner pot. It should be filled to the max line, but not past it. 6 quart pots will use about 10 cups broth and 8 quarts will use about 12. For 10 quart pressure cookers, feel free to add more broth. Then deglaze to release any stuck pieces of vegetables on the bottom.
Step 6: Add the chicken bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper. Stir well and seal the lid.
Step 7: Set to pressure cook on high for 7 minutes. While the soup pressure cooks, shred the cooked chicken into small pieces.
Step 8: Complete a 10 minute natural release, then a controlled quick release of remaining pressure. Remove the lid and stir good.
Step 9: Add the egg noodles. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked through.
Step 10: Add the chicken pieces. Stir, taste, and season with more salt and freshly ground pepper if desired.
Recipe FAQs
You can, but the bones in the whole chicken add a ton of nutrients and flavor to the broth so you'll be sacrificing these a bit. If you want to use chicken breasts, add a few extra bouillon cubes.
Yes, but make sure to adjust the cook time accordingly. It takes approximately double the time as using a thawed chicken. This means it should take 12 minutes per pound of whole chicken.
It's important to use a natural release when pressure cooking meats to avoid tough and dry outcomes. Additionally, food continues to cook when the pressure is dropping, meaning that recipes build in depressurizing times to their overall cook times. If you quickly release pressure when it says to naturally release, you risk undercooked meats.
Keep soup in the fridge for up to 7 days, in a covered container.
Yes, this Instant Pot chicken noodle soup is freezer friendly for up to 6 months. The noodles will become softer the longer it's frozen and may separate when defrosted and reheated. To avoid this, remove the noodles and freeze them separately.
Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 5-6 lb whole chicken giblets removed
- ½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 5 carrots chopped
- 6 celery stalks chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 10 cups chicken broth reserved from chicken
- 7 chicken bouillon cubes
- 10 ounces egg noodles
Instructions
- Remove insides from chicken. Put the chicken in the inner pot and cover with water to the fill line.
- Close and seal the pressure cooker lid. Set to pressure cook on high for 23 minutes, then complete a 20 minute natural release followed by a controlled quick release of any remaining pressure. (see notes for pressure cook times based on pounds)
- Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Place a mesh strainer over a large pot. Line the strainer with a cheesecloth. Pour the broth from the inner pot through the strainer and cheesecloth. Reserve the strained chicken broth for the soup broth base.
- Wipe out the inner pot to remove any chicken bits. Add olive oil, carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Saute on high (or normal) for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Pour 10-12 cups of the reserved broth back into the inner pot (fill to the max line, but not past it) with the vegetables and deglaze to release stuck pieces of vegetables.
- Add the bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper. Stir well.
- Close, seal the lid and set to pressure cook on high for 7 minutes. While pressure cooking, pull apart the cooked chicken into small pieces.
- Complete a 10 minute natural release, then do a controlled quick release of remaining pressure. Remove the lid, stir, and add egg noodles. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked through.
- Add the chicken pieces. Stir, taste, and season with more salt and pepper if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Enjoy!
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Vanja says
I've made this so many times and never left a review. Well I'm here to tell you finally that this is the best recipe for Chicken Noodle Soup. I add some VEGETA Seasoning for extra flavor!
Kristina says
Thank you, Vanja! I am glad you are enjoying it.