Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Chicken noodle soup is the perfect cold-weather dish, whether you have the sniffles or just need something comforting. It's warm, savory, and full of delicious chicken, vegetables, and noodles. It'll cure what ails you—even if it's just hunger.

The homemade version is so much better than the canned kind that it's not even a contest. Luckily, it's easy to make chicken noodle soup at home, especially if you have an Instant Pot. The handy appliance shrinks down the cook time while still producing a flavorful dish with minimal clean-up. (No Instant Pot? Try this stovetop version!)

We recommend adding the noodles after pressure cooking to prevent soggy, sad egg noodles. It only adds a few minutes of cook time, anyway.

The Secret to Flavorful Chicken Noodle Soup

While you could use store-bought chicken broth to make this soup, soups are always better with homemade broth. If you don't have homemade broth in your freezer, making a batch is easy and quick with an Instant Pot. Here's how:

• Combine chicken bones and/or wings, a large onion cut into quarters, two roughly chopped carrots and celery stalks, and a bay leaf in the inner pot.
• Season with salt and add water just until all of the ingredients are covered.
• Cook at high pressure for 1 hour and use a natural release. The broth can be made up to 5 days ahead and kept refrigerated, or freeze for up to 3 months.

One more secret that ensures this chicken noodle soup is full of flavor? Sautéing the vegetables and onions in butter to release their aroma and boost their flavor.

A Note On Pressure Release

Some Instant Pot models take longer to release pressure than others. If yours hasn't naturally released all of the pressure in 30 minutes, use a controlled quick release to release any remaining pressure.