Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe is a hands-off method to cook this classic comfort food. Tender chicken, veggies and egg noodles are cooked in a flavorful broth in fraction of the time.
We keeps soups on regular rotation here! Instant Pot chicken rice soup and Instant Pot chicken tortilla soup are just a few of our favorites.
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Instant Pot chicken noodle soup is the chicken soup recipe you don’t have to babysit. Full of juicy chicken pieces, tender noodles and flavorful clear broth. Sign me up!
I have adapted my grandma’s recipe first to the stovetop chicken noodle soup, then I made her chicken noodle soup in crock pot and now I made it in Instant Pot.
Pressure cooking is a hands off method to make chicken noodle soup from scratch. It involves a few steps but all of them are “dump and go”. It’s ready in 1.5 hours, but tastes like it simmered all day!
I just love Instant Pot recipes!
Ingredients You Will Need
To make Instant Pot chicken noodle soup recipe, you will need just a few simple ingredients.
- Chicken: Any type of chicken works. If using boneless skinless chicken breasts, be sure to use chicken broth with them. When using dark meat like chicken thighs, I like to remove their skin and you can add water then because broth will come out flavorful.
- Chicken broth: Low sodium chicken broth or chicken stock. You can use store-bought or homemade chicken broth or Instant Pot chicken broth.
- Fresh vegetables: Onion for aromatic taste and carrots for sweetness. While celery is a common chicken soup ingredient, I found that it added a peculiar strong taste and turned out mushy when added to delicate Instant Pot chicken noodle soup.
- Pasta: White pasta, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat egg noodle, gluten-free egg noodles or regular egg noodles work.
- Simple spices: Dried oregano, garlic powder, peppercorns, and bay leaves add rich flavor.
- Salt and pepper: Just a small amount to season and taste. Adjust sodium accordingly if your chicken broth is not low sodium.
- Fresh herbs: Dill or parsley, for garnish.
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Here is a quick step by step overview in photos how to make chicken noodle soup in Instant Pot. There is a full recipe card below.
- Cook chicken with spices. To the bottom of Instant Pot, add chicken, carrots, whole peeled onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and chicken broth to make flavorful base. Turn pressure valve to Sealing position, cook on High Pressure for 30 minutes and then do Quick Pressure Release.
- Strain the broth. With a small mesh strainer remove and discard onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, foam and any floating pieces. Do it gently without disturbing broth too much. Chicken broth will be clear as things settle.
- Separate chicken into pieces. At this point chicken is so cooked, you can easily break it into pieces with a long utensil right inside the Instant Pot. No need to remove the chicken. If your chicken has bones, remove large pieces. If using chicken breasts, remove on a plate and shred with 2 forks.
- Add seasonings and noodles. Add salt, oregano, basil, garlic powder and uncooked noodles. Stir everything, close the lid, turn on Keep Warm and let pasta “cook” to al dente for 10-15 minutes.
Variations
This Instant Pot chicken noodle soup recipe is very forgiving. Here are a few tips to make it your own based on what you have on hand.
- Whole chicken: My favorite meat to use when making chicken noodle soup. I remove half or all skin and trim the fat. And if I have time, first I make one batch of Instant Pot chicken broth. Then I dilute half of the broth with water, add it back to Instant Pot with chicken and cook again for soup. The other half of broth I dilute with water too, cool and freeze. I just find it produces a very concentrated broth.
- Frozen vegetables: Add peas and corn to bulk up the chicken soup after cooking.
- Root vegetables: Some readers have added parsnip with the carrots for a different twist. You may also like this chicken noodle with vegetable soup recipe.
- Seasonings: Use Italian seasoning instead of oregano, add dried thyme or minced fresh thyme, if you wish.
- Pop of heat: Add a pinch of red pepper flakes.
- Squirt of lemon juice: At the end brightens overall flavor of the soup.
- Other noodles: While egg noodles are preferred for Instapot chicken noodle soup, any pasta like macaroni, ditalini, rotini will work. Just note that some noodles will cook faster than others!
Tips for Best Results
Here are my top tips for the best chicken noodle soup recipe made in Instant Pot ever!
- Onion: Keep the onion whole and don’t trim off “the hairy end”. It will be easy to discard. Treat half of large onion the same way. The onion is just meant to add flavor, leave the skin on if you would like the broth to have a golden hue.
- No celery: Adding celery almost ruined this soup for me, personally. Its flavor was way too strong and texture mushy.
- Add pasta later: Do not add noodles with chicken.
- Speed up coming to pressure: If you add boiling water in the beginning, your pressure cooker will take less time to come to pressure.
- Fresh herbs: Add fresh herbs to the pot right before serving. Otherwise, they will “cook”.
Serving Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
While I love to keep it simple and serve soup with a loaf of whole grain bread or almond flour bread, here are some other topping ideas:
- Crackers: Oyster crackers, saltine crackers, whole grain crackers or even gluten free crackers.
- Croutons: Add delicious crunch and taste.
- Parmesan: Always a lovely addition to topping off any soup.
- Hot sauce: Love things with heat? Add a dash of hot sauce on top!
And if you are feeding hungry teenagers, here are some additional sides for Instant Pot chicken noodle soup:
- Soup and sandwich: Grilled cheese or healthy tuna melt.
- Soup and salad: Spinach salad or lemon kale salad.
- Soup and appetizers: Healthy spinach artichoke dip.
How to Store, Freeze and Reheat
Storing: Instant Pot chicken noodle soup leftovers will last in the fridge for a few days but keep in mind with each day noodles “swell up”. Therefore, 2 days is maximum recommended storage time.
But good thing is, pasta soups like this one and chicken noodle vegetable soup is gone fast in our house. If it’s not the case for you, I recommend to cook pasta separately and add before serving to the bowls.
Freezing: If you plan on freezing soup, do not add pasta. Set aside the amount of soup you plan on freezing before you add pasta. Either cook noodles separately and add to each bowl, or scoop out pasta before freezing.
Reheating: Always reheat only the amount you will eat at that time. Do not heat entire pot multiple times, it spoils the food. Simmer desired amount on low for 5 minutes or so.
FAQs
No, I don’t recommend that. This soup has only been tested using the specific timing on Manual or High Pressure.
Yes and no. If you plan on enjoying chicken noodle soup within two days, just add noodles to Instant Pot and enjoy! If you are planning to freeze soup or keep longer than a few days, cook noodles separately.
Yes, just make sure chicken pieces are separated. Instant Pot will take longer to come to pressure. For whole chicken, you may want to do Natural Release or add another 10 minutes for Quick Release.
At the end add grated garlic clove, a pat of butter or a dash of Worcestershire sauce. For most flavorful chicken noodle soup made in the Instant Pot, be sure to use dark meat like chicken thighs.
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes
- Instant Pot chicken wild rice soup
- Instant Pot Thai chicken soup
- Instant Pot chicken breast
- Instant Pot whole chicken
- Frozen chicken in Instant Pot
- Instant Pot white chicken lasagna soup
You may also like to browse through these 52 favorite soup recipes!
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Ingredients
6 Quart Instant Pot
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 small onion peeled and whole
- 2 large carrots peeled and chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 peppercorns
- 10 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt more to taste
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 8 oz egg noodles
- 1/2 small bunch fresh parsley or dill finely chopped
8 Quart Instant Pot
- 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 small onion peeled and whole
- 3 large carrots peeled and chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- 5 peppercorns
- 15 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt more to taste
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 12 oz egg noodles
- 1 small bunch fresh parsley or dill finely chopped
Instructions
- In Instant Pot, place chicken, onion, carrots, bay leaves, peppercorns and chicken broth.
- Close the lid, set pressure vent to Sealing and press Pressure Cook on High or Manual for: whole chicken and bone-in pieces – 30 minutes, chicken breasts – 10 minutes.
- After, wait for 10 minutes and do Quick Release by turning pressure valve to Venting position, which takes 3-4 minutes.
- Open the lid and using a mesh strainer discard any foam, onion, bay leaves and peppercorns.
- At this point chicken is so cooked, you can easily break it into pieces with a long utensil right inside the pot, remove bones. If using chicken breasts, remove on a plate and shred with 2 forks.
- Add oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper and egg noodles. Stir, close the lid, turn on Keep Warm and let noodles “cook” for 10 minutes.
- Open, add fresh parsley or dill and serve hot. That was easy dinner in one pot.
Video
Notes
- Store: Chicken soup will last in the fridge for a few days but keep in mind with each day noodles “swell up”. Therefore, 2 days is pushing it for me. Reheat in microwave or stove top only amount you plan on eating.
- Freeze: If you plan on freezing soup, do not add pasta. Either cook noodles separately and add to each bowl, or scoop out pasta before freezing.
- If using whole chicken: I recommend using small whole chicken with fat trimmed and skin removed. Drumsticks, thighs or legs would be great too.
- Whole onion: Keep onion whole and don’t trim off “the hairy end”. It will be easy to discard. Treat half of large onion the same way.
- Don’t go over 2/3 full: If your inner pot doesn’t have 2/3 full marking, it is very important to fill the pot only 2/3 full when pressure cooking.
Being a mom of two boys who love my “soupchik” this is a perfect recipe! They love the soup and so do I! I am a big fan of your recipes! Thank you!
You are very welcome! My boys and me love soup too! Saves the day many days.
Delicious ? and so easy to make. I haven’t been disappointed yet with any of Olena’s recipes.
Haha, that’s so awesome to hear and “no pressure, Olena”.:)
Absolutely amazing recipe. I love it when I just want to put something in the pot to cook for dinner and have a meal about an hour and a half later. Probably one of the easiest meals I’ve ever made, and it’s absolutely delicious! Thank you so much! 🙂
You are welcome! I love instant pot and this soup for that too. Throw chicken and water with spices and walk away. So easy.
Does the cooking time change if you are using a frozen whole chicken? Thanks!
Great question. I am in the process of updating this recipe with that type of questions. If you are planning on doing natural release then cook time is the same. But for quick release I would add 10 mins extra just in case. Usually with frozen food in instant pot it just takes longer time to build up pressure but cooking time is the same. But just in case throw in extra few minutes. Also you can use boiling water to speed up pressure build up. Enjoy!
Thank you for the recipe! I love your blog and use recipes often. How long do you put Catelli Smart type pasta to cook for? Not sure if that is considered whole wheat or not.
Hi Natasha. Sorry this is so late. I was away on vacation. Just looked it up and it’s still white pasta with extra fiber from oats. Isn’t Catelli smart in marketing lol. Anyways, I would do 15 minutes for it.
And thank you and so happy you enjoy my recipes!:)
Olena, this soup sounds excellent! One question: instead of garlic powder, do you think I can use fresh garlic and if yes, chopped or whole (like the onion) and how much for 6 qt Instant Pot? Thanks!
Garlic doesn’t cook well in a soup in Instant Pot for some reason. Add 1-2 minced or grated garlic cloves at the end.
Thanks so much, Olena, I am making it today :)… Will let you know! 🙂
I did make the soup just now! It was perfect on a cold day here in Texas. And I used garlic powder like you suggested instead of fresh garlic, and the combination of all herbs and spices was perfect! The only thing I added was some turmeric powder, as I love that spice… So all in all, it’s a perfect recipe for a hearty chicken soup without much labor at all! Thank you very much! 🙂
you are very welcome.:) xoxo
Just one more comment, Olena: you were so right about NOT letting the pasta in the soup cook at pressure, but just on “Keep Warm” – this way it was perfect, not overcooked. Great point!… (I used whole wheat elbow macaroni…)
Yay! I might not know it all but I know about cooking pasta in IP.:)
Made it for my kids and they loved it. Perfect for our freezing MN days. Thanks, Olena!
The instant pot is tricky isn’t????? It’s definitely a new challenge that’s for sure! I hadn’t tried the past route yet so thanks for trying it out and giving tips!
Well, I wouldn’t say it’s THAT challenging (I mean I am a mother of 2 boys, I have been through challenges haha), it just needs experimenting with.
I just wanted to chime in and say THANK YOU for this recipe. I’ve been following you for years now, have never commented on any of your posts, but I’ve made plenty of your delicious recipes. I really appreciated the thought, research, and care that went into the creation of this recipe. I just got an Instant Pot for Christmas and (like many of my friends who ALSO received Instant Pots) I’m pretty stumped as to how to use it – this recipe is what I’m sharing with all my similarly clueless friends who have no idea where to start.
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain the “whys” and “whats” for all us confused Instant Pot owners!! Stay warm and I look forward to more of your recipes for the IP!
You are very welcome! So nice to hear! IP can be intimidating and requires experimenting for sure. So far, a few recipes I have tried from a book that came with it, my times were different.
I am curious why did you use it as a pressure cooker rather than slow cook function? I also bought one on that sale and was thinking of being able to brown right in it and then slow cook. I have some recipes that make sense to pressure cook, especially beans and slow cooking grains like farro but chicken soup? So curious why you felt to use it as pressure cooker thanks!! I so enjoy your blog
Hi Jillaurie. Because specifically yesterday I needed chicken noodle soup for lunch ready in less than an hour without standing above it, removing foam and checking on it while it cooks on the stove. I went on to do 100 other things and huge amount of soup was ready without me. That’s convenience of Instant Pot – you can leave it. You can totally slow cook it if you have 8-10 hours and have it for dinner, no problem – just know IP original inner pot doesn’t really brown. I have slow cooker recipe too. Or stovetop. Anything works depending on your schedule. I will be making recipes in IP only that make sense to pressure cook.
Glad you are enjoying my recipes!:)