Since I discovered how to use a pressure cooker to make a quick chicken soup, I’ve been cooking this dish every week. Sometimes two days in a row! It is the easiest way to create a hearty soup and add plenty of vegetables to your dinner table. The greatest part about this recipe is that you can use frozen chicken without thawing it. Simply pull it out of the freezer and dump it into your pressure cooker. Add a few herbs and some water. Set the timer for 30 minutes of high pressure cooking. You’ll have a quick and rich chicken broth in no time.
After cooking the broth, you can add some vegetables (and/or noodles, if needed) and continue cooking. I have tried adding kale, asparagus, cabbage, carrot, and many others. My favorite combination is carrot, zucchini, and mushrooms. These three ingredients will add a sweet and savory flavor to the soup and make it even more delicious. I have tried cooking the vegetables with the broth at high pressure. Of course, I used root vegetables like potatoes and carrots in that case. The soup turned out good, but the vegetables were way overcooked. Now I prefer to cook the vegetables separately, after releasing the pressure. It only takes 10 minutes. In the bonus part of this recipe, you can re-purpose the boiled chicken and use it to make a main dish in 10 minutes (Woohoo!).
Of course you can serve the chicken in the soup. But I found it quite plain and not very interesting. So I usually remove the chicken from the soup, coat it with spices, and then cook it in a separate pan. The process will further render some oil from the chicken skin, to create a perfectly “fried” chicken with crispy skin. The chicken will also be properly seasoned this way, and stay tender in texture. I usually serve the chicken with some brown rice as a main dish and the chicken soup as a side. The whole process involves about 20 minutes of active cooking time, and yields a delicious and healthy two-course meal. Isn’t it wonderful?
A quick tip. After you prepare and cut the vegetables, do not throw the tough ends and rinds away. Save your mushroom stems, carrot peelings, and zucchini seeds in a gallon-sized ziplock bag, and then freeze them. When you’ve accumulated a bag full of vegetable scraps, you can make a very nice vegetable stock with them 🙂 Want to read more pressure cooker recipes? Check out the one-pot rice pilaf, braised whole lamb leg (3 ways to serve), and crispy potatoes.
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it #omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, friends!
Bonus recipe: 5-Minute Crispy chicken
4 boiled chicken thighs 1 to 2 teaspoons of any chicken rub you like (I used satay spice mix in my recipe. If you don’t have a chicken rub, some curry powder, or cumin and chili powder will do the trick as well) Sea salt to taste 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
