Sit down, rest yourself a moment, and settle in with a bowl of healthy Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup. It won’t demand much from you—just a quick 15 minutes of ingredient prep—and you’ll be rewarded with soul-soothing spoonfuls of nourishing healthy goodness.
This easy Instant Pot chicken noodle soup is a recipe to revitalize your spirits.
- If you’re feeling run down, it will give you comfort and respite.
- If you are feeling optimistic, it will keep your momentum strong.
- And if you’re somewhere in between, it will tip the scale in your favor.
Its breezy 15-minute prep time means we can spend less time cooking and more time doing the things we love (like eating chicken noodle soup with a side of No Knead Focaccia).
Let this healthy Instant Pot chicken noodle soup with egg noodles be there at the end of your day.
5 Star Review
“This is the absolute best chicken soup recipe! My kids loved it!”
— Megan —
This soup is a full-on classic, just like my original Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup and Crock Pot Chicken and Rice Soup recipes.
It’s clean, cozy, and the kind of thing to eat when you want your dinner to give you a hug.
- Thyme and bay leaves make this soup stand out above other run-of-the-mill chicken noodle soup recipes you may have tried, as does the method of pressure cooking.
- Plus, just like my top-rated Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup, this soup tastes wonderful leftover and is freezer-friendly.
Make it once, and enjoy having a healthy, soul-soothing meal on hand whenever you need it.
How to Make The BEST Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
The Instant Pot (here is the model I own), makes this soup especially weeknight-friendly (like this Instant Pot French Onion Soup and these Instant Pot Beef and Noodles).
Every element of it, from the veggies to the chicken to the noodles, cooks in a pressure cooker from start to finish.
If you want to make a chicken noodle soup from scratch the quick and easy way, you’ve come to the right place!
The Ingredients
- Chicken. I elected to make this Instant Pot chicken noodle soup with chicken breast. You can make Instant Pot chicken noodle soup with thighs if you prefer.
- Mirepoix. The trinity of chicken noodle soup goodness! Onions, carrots, and celery are an essential soup trio, and they bring Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and antioxidants to the party.
- Seasonings. A combination of pepper, salt, dried oregano, fresh thyme, and bay leaf. The perfect way to add flavor to chicken noodle soup. Make sure you use fresh thyme here (fresh herbs make a difference!).
- Chicken Broth. The liquid base for our soup. I always reach for a low-sodium option to keep things on the healthy side.
TIP!
If you elect to use boneless chicken for this recipe, I suggest using chicken stock or a high-quality bone broth instead of broth. Stock or bone broth will provide the soup with at least some of the added flavor and nutrients lost by not cooking with bone-in chicken. But I’ll repeat: I wholly recommend using bone-in chicken.
- Egg Noodles. The chicken noodle soup classic. I used whole wheat egg noodles for a nutritional boost of fiber and iron.
The Directions
- Remove the skin from the chicken.
- Sauté the veggies in the Instant Pot.
TIP!
I like to use a mix of butter and olive oil, though you can use all of one or all of the other if you prefer.
- Add the remaining ingredients and place the chicken pieces on top.
- Close and pressure cook Instant Pot chicken noodle soup for 10 minutes on high (manual). Then let the pressure release naturally from the valve for 10 minutes.
- Remove and shred the chicken with two forks.
- Use the sauté function to simmer (not boil) the noodles until al dente.
- Stir in the chicken and herbs. ENJOY!
Recipe Variations
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup with Spinach. At the end of cooking, stir in 4 ounces (about 4 or so big handfuls) of chopped baby spinach leaves until wilted.
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup with Lemon. Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into your soup at the very end of cooking for a bright pop of flavor. You’ll also love this Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup.
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup with Potatoes. Omit the noodles at the end and instead add 2-3, peeled and cubed, russet potatoes to the Instant Pot with the chicken and veggies before cooking. (It’s like an Instant Pot version of my favorite Chicken Stew.)
- Gluten Free Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup. Swap the egg noodles for gluten free noodles. Since gluten free noodles cook quickly and can become gummy, it is better to cook gluten free egg noodles before adding them to soup. Prepare them separately, then stir them into the whole pot (or even individual servings) at the end.
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup with Cooked Chicken
You can make this Instant Pot chicken noodle soup with rotisserie chicken that you already have on hand, or you can use your own pre-cooked shredded chicken. Your broth won’t be as flavorful, but it’s a speedy choice.
- To Use Rotisserie Chicken. Omit the bone-in chicken from the recipe, then stir the cooked, shredded chicken into the soup at the very end.
- To Prepare Shredded Chicken in Advance. Great for stirring into soup or for any other recipe. See my guides for How to Cook Shredded Chicken (stovetop), Instant Pot Chicken (this is a great way to make Instant Pot chicken noodle soup with frozen chicken), Baked Chicken Breast, or Crock Pot Shredded Chicken.
Storage Tips
- To Store. Place cooked and cooled soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- To Reheat. Rewarm soup gently in a medium saucepan on the stove over medium-low heat until hot. You can also reheat the chicken soup in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave.
- To Freeze. Freeze soup in an airtight, freezer-safe storage container for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Meal Plan Tip
Chop your mirepoix ingredients up to 1 day in advance, and store in an airtight storage container in the refrigerator.
What to Serve with Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Recommended Tools to Make this Recipe
- Instant Pot. Perfect for this Instant Pot chicken noodle soup recipe and any of my other Healthy Instant Pot recipes.
- Ladle. Ideal for serving the soup and transferring it to storage containers.
- Chef’s Knife. A nice, sharp knife makes prepping ingredients easy.
The Best Instant Pot
The Instant Pot is the perfect tool for speeding up many of your favorite recipes. This one is easy to use and works well for this soup!
No matter how you’re feeling right now, a bowl of this wholesome, heart-warming chicken noodle soup is here for you.
I hope it’s just the healthy dinner/hug-in-a-bowl you’re craving.
Frequently Asked Questions
The only reason this recipe calls for chicken with the skin on is that most bone-in chicken comes with the skin on. If you’re able to find bone-in chicken without the skin, feel free to use it (and save yourself the trouble of removing it). I do not recommend leaving the skin on the chicken, as it won’t crisp and will make the soup greasy.
Yes! It’s perfectly safe to put raw chicken in an Instant Pot.
Yes. Even though pressure cookers, like the Instant Pot, cook foods quickly, the high temperatures and pressure they cook with means they can easily overcook recipes, including soups. Overcooking is frequently why your Instant Pot chicken breast is rubbery. Every model of pressure cooker is a little different so it can take some time to get the total time just right with your unit. Practice makes perfect!
The soup setting is simply a predetermined amount of time and pressure your pressure cooker manufacturer decided is right for soup—how would they know what recipe you are making?! I don’t recommend using the soup setting for this reason. For the best outcome, follow the instructions and cook times listed in the recipe below.
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or thighs, or a mix
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 pound carrots peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices
- 3 medium stalks celery cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt plus additional to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 cups water plus additional as needed
- 2 1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat egg noodles about 3 3/4 ounces
- Chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Carefully remove the skin from the chicken. If your chicken breasts are very large (more than 1 pound each), use a very sharp knife to carefully slice them in half crosswise through the bone. Set aside.
- Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté setting. Add the olive oil and butter.
- Once the butter is melted, add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion softens and becomes translucent.
- Stir in the salt, pepper, and oregano. Place the thyme and bay leaf on top. Pour in the chicken broth and 3 cups water. Gently add the chicken pieces.
- Close and seal the Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure (manual) for 10 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then immediately vent to release any remaining pressure. Carefully open the lid.
- Remove the chicken and transfer it to a cutting board. Pick out the thyme stems and bay leaf and discard. Turn the Instant Pot to saute (you will need to press “cancel” first).
- Add the noodles. Let cook, uncovered, until noodles are al dente, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- While the noodles cook, shred the chicken and discard the bones.
- Once the noodles are done, turn off the Instant Pot. Stir in the parsley and shredded chicken. If you’d like a more brothy, thinner soup, stir in additional water until your desired consistency is reached. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Enjoy hot with an extra sprinkle of fresh parsley.
Video
Notes
- TO STORE: Place cooked and cooled soup in an airtight storage container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- TO REHEAT: Rewarm soup gently in a medium saucepan on the stove over medium-low heat until hot. You can also reheat the chicken soup in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave.
- TO FREEZE: Freeze soup in an airtight, freezer-safe storage container for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Nutrition
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One of my favorite cooking methods for busy weeknights, don’t miss these other healthy Instant Pot recipes:
This was absolutely delicious!
I used boneless skinless thighs. I sprinkled dried thyme instead of fresh ones. And since Australia doesn’t really have egg noodles that are spirals. I used trivelle spiral pasta instead. Wonderful recipe thanks :)
I’m so happy that you enjoyed it, Giang! Thank you for sharing this kind review!
Quick, easy and healthy soup, made it several times and you just can’t go wrong with it. Love it!
I’m so happy that you’ve enjoyed it, Heni! Thank you for sharing this kind review!
Winner! I first made this recipe for a family that was dealing with someone in the hospital as one of the meals they could grab and heat quickly when they got home. Also with picky teenagers, it was a good choice. Easy, excellent tasting, and makes a lot. Highly recommend! I use frozen carrots and boneless chicken when I’m in a rush. I would love to see a post/be able to search on recipes to make and bring to others in similar circumstances, I.e. friends in need (new baby at home, someone is sick, etc.), if it doesn’t already exist. Feels good to give healthy food, thank you for the recipe Erin!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed it, Anne! Thank you for sharing this kind review!
Loved this recipe! Super quick and easy :)
I’m so happy that you enjoyed it, Leila! Thank you for sharing this kind review!
This is my go to
Chicken soup recipe. However today I have frozen bone In chicken breast, not thawed yet. How many extra minutes should I add?
Hi Jennifer! I recommend checking out my Instant Pot Chicken post for tips on the timing with frozen, bone-in chicken. I hope this helps!
I made this soup with leg quarters because we love dark meat. I also used BETTER THAN BOUILLON for the broth and substituted 2 cloves of minced garlic for the oregano and thyme. It was absolutely delicious! The only question I have is how do you keep the Instant Pot from squirting the soup out when you do a quick release after a natural 10 minute release?
Hi Connie, I have not had any problems with my instant pot squirting out soup. Each instant pot is different but I think you would need to refer to your manual to troubleshoot it. Hope you enjoy the soup!
Genuine question, why do you specifically call out to use “skin on” chicken pieces and then the literal first step is to remove the skin…? Am I missing something?
Hi Viv, I try to be specific as I can with certain ingredients so readers know what to look for when they are grocery shopping. Hope this helps!
Can you use regular egg noodles? Just curious the difference that it might cause.
Hi Jenn! Yes you can use regular egg noodles. I use whole wheat egg noodles for a nutritional boost. Hope you enjoy it!
Whole wheat noodles have disappeared off the shelves, where are you finding them these days?
Hi Robbie, I’m not having a problem finding them. You can search Target, Trader Joe’s or even online for them. Hope this helps!
Delicious – just made it. Suggestion – if you don’t like your veggies too mushy I’d suggest removing them when you remove the chicken so that they don’t cook further with the pasta. I will try that next time. I also added some dry rosemary, garlic powder and Better than Bouillion chicken paste at the end to taste.
Hi Vivi! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
This was soooooooo delicious!! My entire family loved it, this is absolutely our new fave soup recipe!
Hi Megan! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Outstanding and easy to do. I doubled batch so could give some to sick friends and freeze some as well.
Hi Diane! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
This is the first recipe I’ve made from your site. Chicken soup is simple enough but often lacking flavor. This was delicious and I’m very particular. I used thigh and did add 1/4t of sage, thyme and 1t better than bouillon. Would be fantastic with or without those changes. Super impressed!
Hi Barb! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
This is the absolute best chicken soup recipe! My kids loved it!
Hi Megan! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
This was absolutely delicious!!! I used boneless skinless thighs and it was absolutely delicious! I’ve never used oregano in my soup but it is so good!!!! Will definitely make this again!
Hi Diane! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Soup is delicious, could someone please let me know how many cups a serving is? Serves 6 but how big is each serving?
Hi Margaret! Glad you enjoyed the soup! I haven’t measured out the servings before so I wouldn’t be able to advise on how much each is. I’d just suggest next time you make it, measure it out using cups. Hope this helps!
This has become my go-to recipe for chicken noodle soup. I have two minor alterations. When I remove the chicken to shred it, I also remove the bay leaf and then use my immersion blender to puree the carrots / celery / onions, etc. You end up with a very yellow, rich delicious broth. The other slight change is that I cook my noodles separately, so I can freeze them separately. The first night we put some noodles in the bowl and ladle the soup over. I freeze the little bags of noodles in portion sizes, so I can just throw them in the soup I’m reheating.
Hi Emily! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
I love this recipe and keep coming back to it! So easy and filing and so much less of a hassle !
Hi Jessica! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
This soup was wonderful! I made it as directed on the recipe and only needed to add a bit more salt for our taste. It was perfect.
Hi Becca! So glad to hear you enjoyed it! Thank you for your kind review!
I plan to make this over the weekend. What’s the cook time on the instant pot if I go with the bone in, skin on thighs option?
Hi Amanda! The cook time would remain the same. Hope you enjoy it!