Chicken broth forms the base of many other soups and stews, so it’s useful to have a few containers of broth in the freezer - especially during cold and flu season!
A pressure cooker not only cooks chicken soup in about half the time of conventional cooking, it also locks in the flavor much better than boiling the chicken in a regular soup pot does. (Need to buy a pressure cooker? See How to Choose a Pressure Cooker, a buying guide to the best features and brands.)
To make a rich, golden chicken soup in a stove top pressure cooker, just follow these three easy steps:
Step 1: Cook the Chicken
To make the best chicken soup, choose either a pack of chicken breasts with very fatty skin or a quartered whole chicken. (A 6-quart pressure cooker can easily fit 2 chickens inside – so portions of the soup or broth can be frozen for future use.)
Place the chicken in the pot and fill the pressure cooker with water to the maximum fill line. Put the lid on the pressure cooker and seal it. Heat the pot on medium-high until the pressure builds enough to make the pressure indicator jiggle or pop out (depending on the type of indicator), then turn the heat to low for 20 minutes for one chicken (or 1 package of breasts), or 30-40 minutes for 2 chickens. (Don’t worry – it’s hard to overcook it!)
Step 2: Cool the Broth and Separate the Chicken
Turn off the heat and let the cooker sit until the pressure drops enough on its own to open the pot, or run cold water on the lid to speed up the process. Once the soup has cooled enough to work with it, remove the chicken pieces with a slotted spoon or strainer.
At this point the cooked chicken can be used in another recipe – or for chicken soup with the chicken in it, as opposed to broth alone, simply separate the meat from the bones and skin and add the meat back into the broth. If any of the soup is to be frozen for future use, do it at this point before adding any vegetables, herbs or bouillon – so the soup will taste fresh even after the broth has been frozen.
Step 3: Add Herbs, Vegetables and Spices
For a fragrant and flavorful soup, add some water and vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, garlic and onions (or no veggies at all), spices such as dill and parsley, and of course salt and pepper.
It’s also fine to add a chicken bouillon cube or a tablespoon or two of chicken soup mix, but the beauty of home-cooked chicken soup is that it doesn’t require artificial flavorings and colorings, loads of sodium or MSG. Usually, fresh herbs and veggies, salt, pepper, and maybe a dash of garlic powder and onion powder will do just as nicely.
Natalie Cooper - Natalie Cooper is a freelance writer and mother of three small children, which has given her experience with not only parenting, but ...
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