Nourishing and delicious, Chicken Noodle Soup is so simple to make, I often can’t believe it. I usually ask my older children to chop up an onion, carrots, and a few stalks of celery.
One thing that makes this soup so easy is one of my favorite time-saving food prep steps! Every few weeks, I have my sweet hubby bring home 2 to 4 rotisserie chickens 🍗🍗🍗 from Sam’s or Costco.
The kids and I have a quick “chicken pickin’” session around the table when he gets home. We take all the meat off the bones, chop it up, put it in freezer bags and freeze the yummy chicken for quick meal prep in a soup like Chicken Noodle.
Quick tip: Don’t forget to label your bags with a permanent marker, because it’s really hard to tell what exactly that frozen hunk is several weeks later. 😉
We also freeze the bones from these chickens, and pull them out to make Homemade Bone Broth in the Instant Pot, which we make at least once per week. It’s ridiculously easy and delicious as a base for so many soups, such as hearty Italian Sausage Lentil Soup and zesty Chicken Tortilla Soup.
Check out our video here of exactly how we make broth in the Instant Pot.
My favorite noodles for this soup are the Egg Spaetzle noodles found in the German food section at Aldi. They are the most delicious and budget-friendly egg noodles I’ve found and they hold up well and don’t get mushy in this soup.
When you make this soup in the Instant Pot, you simply brown the butter—don’t skip this step— on the Sauté mode, add everything else, and let it start!
When it’s time to make the Chicken Noodle Soup on a stove top, all we have to do is lightly brown some butter, which gives the soup a deep caramel flavor.
Add the aromatic veggies and give them a little sauté. Then pour in the broth, noodles, and chicken and let it simmer until the noodles are cooked through. Don’t forget to taste test for salt.
It’s so nice to be able to walk away from the pot and go for a walk or play a game with the kids or even clean up the kitchen before dinner’s ready!
Browned Butter Chicken Noodle Soup in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter Use olive oil or coconut oil for dairy-free. Ghee is also delicious.
- 1 1/2 cups onion diced (1 large onion)
- 1 1/2 cup celery diced (2-3 stalks and leaves)
- 1 1/2 cup carrots sliced (2-3 whole carrots)
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced OR 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 8 oz. egg noodles Gluten-free noodles or pasta can be substituted. Rice can also be used instead of noodles.
- 4 cups chicken cooked and diced
- 8 cups 64 oz. or 2 qts. chicken bone broth https://thecookingfamily.com/bone-broth-instant-pot/
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to [Sauté] mode. Add butter to pot, allow to melt, foam up, subside, and just begin to brown. Watch it carefully or it could burn. As soon as butter starts to turn a caramel brown, add onions, carrots, and celery. Sauté veggies for one minute, then add garlic and sauté for one more minute. (Seriously, set a timer or count.)
- Pour in one cup of the broth and scrape off any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Add egg noodles, then chicken, and pour broth over all. Submerge noodles into liquid.
- Next, press [Cancel] to turn OFF Instant Pot from sautéing.
- Check lid to make sure seal is seated well and all parts are in place.
- Place lid on pot and turn until it locks in place. You can hear a beep when it is closed properly.
- Turn Release Valve (black knob on top of machine) to [Sealing].
- Set Program by pressing [Soup] (or [Pressure Cook] or [Manual]).
- Set Pressure level to [High Pressure].
- Adjust Time by pressing the [+] or [-] buttons to desired time. NOTE: Your desired cooking time is based on your noodles. Check the instructions on the bag. Find the number of minutes. Choose the lowest number and cut that in half. Round down if this number is a half. For example, if your noodles say boil 7-9 minutes, cut the 7 in half (3.5 minutes) round down to 3 minutes. Set your pressure cooking time to just 3 minutes.
- Start your pressure cooker. For Newbies: If you have the DUO or the LUX, Pause for 10 seconds and the IP turns on automatically. To turn on the Ultra or the MAX, press Start. The Instant Pot will beep when it starts heating up. It should say ON in the display. The pot and soup are heating up and coming to pressure during this time. When it reaches pressure, the float valve (small silver or red circle on top) will sputter, and within a minute or two should pop up and stop sputtering. Next, the display should switch over to your cooking time and begin to count down. When it is finished cooking, it will beep.
- Quick Release the Pressure: With noodles and pasta, you should Quick Release to stop the cooking process so your noodles don’t get overcooked. Carefully, keeping your hand to the side and your face back, turn Release Valve (black knob) to Venting. Hot steam will immediately begin shooting out like a steam locomotive. Your dog will bark and your children will shout! When the float valve drops, your pot is no longer under pressure and it can be safely opened.Noodles and Pasta are starchy foods, and sometimes starch can come spewing out of the Steam Release Valve. Should this happen to you, quickly and carefully close the valve. You can use your hand, a wooden spoon, or a towel. But be careful to reach around the side, not over the top of the valve where the liquid and steam are spewing from. Wait about 5 minutes and try again. You may end up having to release the steam in short, controlled spurts until the starch stops coming out.
- Carefully taste for seasoning and add salt, if necessary.
Super-Simple Steel Cut Oats in the Instant Pot
Hi Holly,
I miss seeing all of you! I have made this recipe twice now, once in my pressure cooker and once on the stovetop in my dutch oven. They both turned out amazing! I won’t be making chicken noodle soup from any recipe but yours from now on! Thank you for sharing!!
Thank you, Marianne! I hope you’re doing well!