Instant Pot Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup
Recipe by Amy + Jacky | PressureCookRecipes.com
How to make Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup in Instant Pot. Easy to make this nourishing feel-good meal with simple healthy ingredients. Tender juicy chicken, sweet carrots, crisp Shanghai bok choy, and smooth bouncy noodles in homemade chicken soup.
Ingredients
- 4 (roughly 2lbs or 1400g) chicken quarters
- 1 - 2 tablespoons (15ml - 30ml) vegetable oil
- 2 slices (6.5g) ginger
- 3 stalks (100g) green onions , separate the green and white parts
- 2 cloves (9g) garlic , crushed
- 1 (1.25g) star anise
- 6 cups (1.5L) cold water
- 1 teaspoon (7g) fine table salt
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) regular soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) fish sauce
- 3 (0.4g) bay leaves
- Optional: 1 teaspoon (1.8g) sichuan peppercorn, 1 teaspoon (1.7g) coriander seeds
- 1 (370g) large carrot , peeled and cut into 1” chuck
- 3 (360g) Shanghai Bok Choy , washed
- Kosher salt
Noodles
- Cooked thick noodles (i.e. Knife-cut noodles), rice noodles, or your favorite noodles (70g - 100g per person)
Garnish
- 1 stalk green onion , finely sliced
Equipment
Instructions
- Optional - Brown Chicken: Heat up Instant Pot using “Sauté More” function. Wait until Instant Pot says “HOT” (roughly 8 minutes). Pat dry chicken with a paper towel. Lightly season one side of the chicken with kosher salt. Add 1 to 2 tbsp (15ml - 30ml) vegetable oil in Instant Pot. Make sure to coat the oil well over the whole bottom of the pot. Place the seasoned side of chicken in Instant Pot. Then season the other side of the chicken with kosher salt. Brown the first side for 3.5 minutes, then brown the other side for another 2 minutes. Set the chicken aside.
- Sauté Ginger, Green Onion, Garlic: Add in ginger slices and the white parts of the green onions, then saute for 3 minutes. Add in green parts of the green onions, crushed garlic cloves, and star anise, then saute for 30 seconds.
- Deglaze Instant Pot: Pour in 1 cup (250ml) cold water. Then deglaze by scrubbing all the flavorful brown bits off the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Give it a quick mix.
- Pressure Cook Chicken Soup: Add in 1 tsp (7g) fine table salt, 1 tbsp (15ml) regular soy sauce, 1 tbsp (15ml) fish sauce, and 3 bay leaves. Add in 5 cups (1.25L) cold water, then give it a quick mix. Optional: Add in 1 tsp (1.8g) Sichuan peppercorn and 1 tsp (1.7g) coriander seeds. Add browned chicken back in Instant Pot. Layer carrot chunks on top. With Venting Knob in Venting Position, close the lid, then turn Venting Knob to Sealing Position. Pressure Cook at High Pressure for 5 minutes, then Natural Release for 15 minutes. Open the lid carefully.
- Cook Noodles: When Instant Pot's pressure cooking cycle ends and switches to the natural release stage, boil 1.5L water with 1 tsp salt on the stovetop. You can add 1 tsp oil to the water to prevent the noodles from sticking together. Once the water starts boiling, cook noodles according to your preferences. Then drain and set them aside.
- Shred Chicken & Cook Bok Choy: Transfer chicken to a large mixing bowl. You can serve chicken quarters as a whole or shred them with two forks. Remove green onions and ginger slices. Strain all spices from the soup with a meshed strainer. If you like, you can use a Fat separator to remove some of the fat from the chicken soup. Bring the soup back to a boil with "Saute High" function. Add Shanghai Bok Choy to the Instant Pot, then cook until desired texture. It'll take roughly 2 to 4 minutes depending on the texture you like.
- Season & Serve: Taste and season the soup with a few pinches of kosher salt. For reference, we added 2 extra pinches of kosher salt. Assemble the bowl by placing the cooked noodles, bok choy, carrot chunks, and chicken in large serving bowls. Pour in the hot tasty chicken broth, then garnish the chicken noodle soup with finely sliced green onions. Enjoy~
Notes
1. Chicken: Use chicken quarters for best results. But if you prefer chicken breasts, use bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts.
2. Noodles: You can use thin or thick noodles. Such as Knife-cut noodles (刀削麵), Lamian (拉麵), Thick noodles (粗麵), Ho fun (河粉), Rice vermicelli (米粉), Rice noodles (米線), Lai fun (瀨粉), or Egg noodles (油麵).
3. Regular Soy Sauce: Lee Kum Kee Soy Sauce (生抽) is one of our go-to soy sauces.
4. Fish Sauce: Fish Sauce won't make the soup taste fishy! It’s extremely umami-filled, thus enhancing the flavors. From our blind taste test, Red Boat 40N fish sauce is our favorite brand to use. Three Crabs Brand Fish Sauce is a popular alternative.
5. Sichuan Peppercorn & Coriander Seeds (Optional): They'll spice up the flavors and add another dimension to the flavor profile. It's delicious either way.
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Nutrition
Calories: 491kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 189mg | Sodium: 1415mg | Potassium: 1036mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 19912IU | Vitamin C: 52mg | Calcium: 181mg | Iron: 3mg