Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup. The ultimate feel-good food. Easy to make from scratch with chicken, egg noodles, and fresh vegetables in chicken broth.

A simple humble comfort food we crave, especially on winter days, sick days, or post-feast days.

We first published this Chicken Noodle Soup Instant Pot Recipe on Nov 2, 2016.

With the insights we’ve gained over the years, it’s time to finetune and streamline the process of making this pressure cooker chicken noodle soup!

Our goal is to find the sweet balance of being easy to make, healthy, filling, and delicious.

We designed this recipe to yield a flavorful, well-balanced, light broth that’s comforting yet tasty. Made sure the broth is not too thin or thick, not bland, or lacks depth of flavors. 

Chicken Noodle Soup Instant Pot Experiment

We wanted to find the easiest way to make Instant Pot chicken noodle soup without compromising the flavors and textures.

So we did different pressure cooker chicken noodle soup experiments with wide egg noodles and pasta:

1. Pressure cook wide egg noodles with chicken soup
2. Pressure cook pasta (La Molisana Mafalda Corta N.77) with chicken soup
3. Cook wide egg noodles separately (after pressure cooking)

Experiment Findings: Wide egg noodles became too soft when pressure cooked with the chicken soup. But the La Molisana Mafalda Corta N.77 pasta held up quite well.

Amy + Jacky’s Noodles Recommendations:

Best to cook wide egg noodles or pasta after pressure cooking the chicken soup.

• If you don’t mind very soft noodles, you can pressure cook wide egg noodles with the chicken soup to save time.
• As an alternative to save time and effort, you can use La Molisana Mafalda Corta N.77 pasta or thicker types of pasta instead of wide egg noodles. You can pressure cook them with the chicken soup, and they’ll come out tender and not mushy.

How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Prepare Ingredients for making chicken noodle soup in Instant Pot:

Chicken. Best to use bone-in chicken breasts or thighs for more flavor. But you can make this Instant Pot chicken noodle soup with boneless chicken breasts or thighs.

Wide Egg Noodles or Pasta. You can use wide egg noodles or your choice of pasta to make pressure cooker chicken noodle soup. 

• Pasta: If you want to pressure cook pasta with chicken soup, try to use thicker types of pasta noodles because they’ll hold up better under pressure.

Cremini Mushrooms. We developed and tested this chicken noodle soup Instant Pot recipe with cremini and white button mushrooms. We prefer cremini because they’re more flavorful and mature than white button mushrooms. But you’re welcome to use white button mushrooms. It’ll still be tasty!

Unsalted Chicken Stock & Unsalted Butter. We develop recipes with unsalted ingredients so we can better control the flavors. If you’re substituting with salted ingredients, keep in mind the sodium level can vary a lot between different brands. Adjust accordingly.

• For best results, use our homemade Instant Pot Chicken Stock for a boost in flavor. But you can use store-bought chicken stock if you like.

Tools for Chicken Noodle Soup Instant Pot Recipe

• Instant Pot Pressure Cooker (6qt)
• Wooden Spoon
• Pyrex Measuring Cups

Sauté Mushrooms in Instant Pot

First, heat up Instant Pot by using “Sauté More” function. Wait until Instant Pot says “HOT”.

Amy + Jacky’s Tip! Make sure the Instant Pot is as hot as it can be to induce Maillard reaction.

Add 1 to 2 tbsp (15ml – 30ml) olive oil or unsalted butter in Instant Pot. Make sure to coat the oil well over the whole bottom of the pot.

Add sliced cremini mushrooms in Instant Pot.

Season with a pinch of kosher salt and ground black pepper.

Then stir to evenly coat the mushrooms with olive oil. Sauté for 5 minutes.

Sauté Onions & Garlic

Add diced onions in Instant Pot, then saute for 3 minutes.

Add 2 bay leaves and minced garlic in Instant Pot, then saute for another minute.

Deglaze Instant Pot

Pour 1 cup (250ml) unsalted chicken stock and 1 tsp (7g) sea salt in Instant Pot.

Then deglaze by scrubbing all the flavorful brown bits off the bottom with a wooden spoon.

Give it a quick mix.

Pressure Cook Chicken Noodle Soup in Instant Pot

Add chopped carrots and celery in Instant Pot. 

Noodles or Pasta (see experiment recommendations): If you’re pressure cooking the noodles or pasta with the chicken soup, add 6oz – 8oz wide egg noodles or pasta in Instant Pot now.

Add the remaining 5 cups (1250ml) unsalted chicken stock in Instant Pot.

Then make sure all the noodles are fully submerged in the cooking liquid.

Layer chicken breasts or thighs on top.

With Venting Knob in Venting Position, close the lid, then turn Venting Knob to Sealing Position.

Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup Cook Time: Pressure cook chicken noodle soup at High Pressure for 1 minute, then Natural Release for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, carefully release the remaining pressure by using the gradual release. See the next step for instructions.

Gradual Slow Release

Turn the Venting Knob just a bit to allow the steam to release very slowly. You can use a wooden spoon to hold the Venting Knob in position for the Gradual Release.

Once the Floating Pin drops, carefully open the lid.

Shred Chicken Breasts

Transfer the chicken to a large mixing bowl.

Shred the chicken with two forks.

Noodles: If you didn’t cook noodles or pasta in Step 4, bring the chicken soup back to a boil with the “Saute High” function.

Add noodles in Instant Pot, then cook until desired texture. It’ll take roughly 4 to 11 minutes depending on the type of noodles or pasta you’re using. 

Season & Serve Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Add shredded chicken back to the Instant Pot.

Taste and season the chicken noodle soup with a few pinches of kosher salt and ground black pepper.

You can also brighten the pressure cooker chicken noodle soup with roughly 1 tbsp (15ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste.

Garnish Instant Pot chicken noodle soup with Italian parsley and serve.

Watch Recipe Video:

What to Serve with Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup is the feel-good comfort food when you need a pick-me-up hug.

You can serve this chicken noodle soup Instant Pot recipe with Instant Pot Bread, baguette, sourdough, garlic bread, biscuits, cornbread, or Saltine crackers.

You can also enjoy it with light salads, vegetables, and potato side dishes like Instant Pot Potato Salad, Instant Pot Roasted Potatoes, Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes, Instant Pot Baked Potatoes, Instant Pot Green Beans, Instant Pot Beets, Instant Pot Cabbage, or Instant Pot Broccoli.

Enjoy Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup!

Other Instant Pot Chicken Soup

• Instant Pot Chicken Soup
• Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings
• Instant Pot Chicken Pho (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)
• Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup