Instant Pot Healthy Golden Chicken Soup

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Ginger, Garlic, and Turmeric are taking the plain jane chicken soup you've always known up a few thousand notches.  Comforting, healing, Golden Chicken Soup, made so easy in the Instant Pot.

Oh this soup.  If a soup could sing, this soup would serenade you to “Everything's gonna be all right.”  Remember that song?  If you've never had a good cry to that song you're really missing out.  

I have a Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup and a Short Cut Chicken Noodle Soup already on the blog, but the addition of herbs, spices, and couscous has me asking, “who even eats plain ol' chicken noodle soup anymore?”  Oh, right, everyone and their dog.

Well if you like/love/tolerate/hate the classic chicken noodle, hold on to your hat, cause this soup is gonna become your new best friend.

I saw this recipe on Ambitious Kitchen last year and was instantly intrigued with the color and the use of couscous.  I'd had a package of Whole Wheat Couscous sitting in my pantry for a long time and I knew I had to try this recipe.

With a few tweaks to make it Instant Pot friendly, this heavenly smelling soup was on my table in no time with perfectly cooked couscous, chicken, and vegetables all in the same pot – this is not always an easy task in the pressure cooking world!

WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS QUICK AND EASY CHICKEN SOUP

• It's like chicken noodle soup on steroids – ginger, garlic, and turmeric give it a little somethin' extra special and the couscous is a joyful chewy substitute for the typical egg noodle
• Fresh pop of lemon to liven up all the flavors
• One pot – quick meal cooking at its finest
• Best soup ever to serve someone who needs hugs and healing

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHICKEN SOUP IN THE INSTANT POT

1. Saute onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and ginger until softened and fragrant
2. Add herbs and spices, stir for a minute to awaken the flavors, add chicken, couscous, and broth; stir
3. Pressure cook for 7 minutes, natural pressure release for 5 minutes, done!
4. Shred or dice chicken.  Add chicken and peas to the pot to heat through
5. Smell those healing vapors, mmmm
6. Serve, eat, smile

In all seriousness, sometimes life is hard, sometimes you have a family member or neighbor that is struggling, and sometimes you have no clue what you could possibly do to make things any better.

Speaking from my own past hardships, sometimes the worst day isn't so bad after a hug, a cry, and a bowl full of chicken soup from someone who genuinely cares.

Food, friends, and family in any shape or form is what makes life rich and often times is just the thing to keep ya goin' when you just can't bear the thoughts of facing the world.

Now go warm your soul with this golden healing soup!  You'll be so glad you did.

VARIATIONS

• I used Whole Wheat Couscous, but you can substitute pearl or Israeli couscous
• I suspect regular pasta would be overcooked with this timing.  If you want the traditional egg noodle instead of couscous, cook it on the stove top while the soup cooks, then add it to the soup right before serving
• Make it vegetarian by adding more veggies, omitting the chicken and broth, and using vegetable broth in it's place
• Give it a kick!  Add a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes along with the other spices

EXTRA TIDBITS

WHAT IS COUSCOUS?  IS COUSCOUS PASTA?

Couscous is indeed a small pasta made of wheat or barley and is a very versatile ingredient.  There are a few different varieties and each will vary in cook time.  Moroccan couscous is the quickest cooking.  Pearl (AKA Israeli couscous) like used in this recipe needs a longer cook time to get it to its ideal chewy texture.  It's great in salads, pasta dishes, soups, etc.

DOES CHICKEN SOUP HELP A COLD

Short answer, nope, sorry, chicken soup doesn't actually heal a cold.  Long answer: Chicken soup is full of vitamins and minerals with all the chicken, veggies, and herbs that give your body some ammo to fight those miserable viruses.  In addition, it is warm, comforting, and temporarily helps relieve congestion and a sore throat.  Sadly, the key word here is temporary.  But in the end, whether it cures our colds or not, it sure makes being sick more tolerable, so eat up!

DOES TURMERIC HELP A COLD

Turmeric is a popular spice nowadays and is boasted as having some Incredible Health Benefits, one of which is boosting immunity.  Again, no, probably not a miracle cure, but I believe when you feed your body nutritious foods, it will ultimately be in a better fighting state when all those sick germs come callin'.  Plus, it's always great to have another reason to eat more turmeric spiced foods like Magic Sunshine Soup and my new love Red Lentil Soup

MORE EASY HEALTHY SOUP RECIPES

• Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup
• Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
• Instant Pot Soul Soothing Chicken Coconut Cabbage Soup 

TOOLS/INGREDIENTS USED TO MAKE INSTANT POT HEALTHY CHICKEN SOUP

• Instant Pot
• Whole Wheat Couscous

Instant Pot Healthy Golden Chicken Soup

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

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

• Author: Marci
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 7 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings 1x
• Category: Soup
• Method: Pressure Cooker
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 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

Keywords: instant pot recipe, chicken soup, healthy soup

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