Instant Pot Low Carb and Keto Chicken Soup, is a warm comforting soup filled with bits of tender chicken, vegetables, herbs, and delicious broth.
This healthy dinner is super simple and fast, making it perfect for an easy weeknight meal. Chicken soup freezes well so it also works great as a quick make-ahead, meal prep recipe.
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You'll Love Instant Pot Keto Chicken Soup
This Instant Pot chicken soup recipe is quick and simple. As you might know by now, I am all about easy recipes. You'll love the homemade taste! -Kori
Easy Soup Recipe
Other than dicing the onion, carrots, and celery this recipe is quick and easy and requires very little effort. Gotta love an easy soup recipe!
You can make your own broth if you would like, but sometimes you're in a hurry and need to use store-bought chicken stock. It's totally okay, I do it a lot.
Comfort Food
Chicken soup is total comfort food. There is just something about it that instantly makes you feel better. This recipe is designed to be easy so if you need comfort in a hurry you got it.
Truth be told several years ago I had a cold and I wanted real home cooked chicken soup - not from a can. This soup is the result and I think you'll love it! 🙂
Low Carb and Keto Instant Pot Recipe
As I have mentioned before, I am the only one on a ketogenic diet in my house and I love a recipe that everyone in my house will eat. I do not like making multiple meals so anything I can do to avoid this is a winner in my recipe book!
Variations
I love that this recipe is easily adaptable to your needs and tastes. It doesn't have to be keto or low carb. It can be low calorie and have pasta if you wish. Here are some ideas:
- Add pasta or rice (if not following a low carb or keto diet).
- Substitute zucchini spirals in place of pasta or even riced cauliflower instead of rice.
- Feel free to add more vegetables. Zucchini, squash, or a little chopped spinach or kale is nice.
- Use chicken thighs or chicken breasts depending upon the fat content you are looking for. Chicken thighs have a higher fat content than chicken breasts.
- Play around with different herb combinations, adding in your favorites to taste.
- Substitute ghee for the butter, or use a different oil such olive oil.
Ingredients and Tools
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 stalks of celery, sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 quarts of chicken stock or chicken bone broth
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1" pieces (you can also use chicken breast, but for a keto diet chicken thighs work best)
- 2 tbsp fresh dill or thyme (or, 2 tsp of dried)
- salt and pepper to taste
Tools
- pressure cooker (this is my pressure cooker and I love it!)
- chef knife
- cutting board
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
Step by Step Instructions
A super easy recipe that you can tackle on a crazy evening! Here's how to make it:
- Set your pressure cooker to medium-high (or saute setting), melt butter, and saute vegetables for 5 minutes.
- Add chicken, chicken broth, herbs, salt, and pepper to the pot.
- Lock your lid on, then set your instant pot on High pressure for 5 minutes.
- When the pressure cooking cycle is complete, do a quick release.
- Season with salt and pepper and additional herbs if desired.
You're done...serve it up! Enjoy 🙂
Common Questions
Can you freeze chicken soup?
Yes! Chicken soup can easily be frozen. After it has cooled place in an airtight and freezer proof container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in your refrigerator and reheat slowly on your stove on in a slow cooker.
How can I increase the healthy fat in this soup?
You can increase the healthy fat in this soup by adding more olive or avocado oil. You can also garnish with some avocado or even add some sour cream to the soup.
If you do add sour cream, make sure to cool the soup slightly, or mix the sour cream with some hot soup before adding. Cold sour cream added to hot soup will curdle.
How can I decrease the fat in this soup?
You can decrease the fat in this chicken soup by using less oil to saute the vegetables in. Substitute chicken breasts instead of thighs.
How do I make this a chicken noodle soup?
Add about 2 cups of dry pasta after the pressure cooking is done. Change you Instant Pot setting to saute medium-high and cook for about 6 minutes or until pasta reaches your desired tenderness.
📋 Recipe
Easy Instant Pot Chicken Soup (Low Carb and Keto)
Instant Pot Low Carb and Keto Chicken Soup, is a warm comforting soup filled with bits of tender chicken, vegetables, herbs, and delicious broth. This healthy dinner is super simple and fast, making it perfect for an easy weeknight meal. Chicken soup freezes well so it also works great as a quick make-ahead, meal prep recipe.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 stalks of celery, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 quarts chicken stock, or chicken bone broth
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts), cut into 1" cubes
- 2 tbsp fresh dill or thyme (or, 2 tsp dried)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Set your pressure cooker to medium-high (or saute setting), melt butter, and saute vegetables for 5 minutes.
- Add chicken, chicken broth, herbs, salt, and pepper to the pot.
- Lock your lid on, then set your instant pot on High pressure for 5 minutes.
- When the pressure cooking cycle is complete, do a quick release.
- Season with additional salt, pepper, or herbs to taste.
Notes
- Feel free to substitute other oils or ghee in place of butter.
- Substitute chicken breast for thighs if desired.
- Add spirals of zucchini to add "pasta".
- To make this a chicken noodle soup: add 2 cups of pasta after the soup has finished its pressure cooking cycle. Turn the pot to medium-high and cook the pasta until it reaches your preferred tenderness, approximately 6 minutes.
- Play around with different herbs. My favorites are dill, thyme, and marjoram.
- Try a small squeeze of lemon and lemon thyme with some dill. It's good!
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1/8 of the soup (approximately 1 cup)Amount Per Serving: Calories: 263Total Fat: 12.9gSaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 137.1mgSodium: 1258.9mgCarbohydrates: 5.3gNet Carbohydrates: 4.3gFiber: 1gSugar: 2.4gProtein: 30.5g
Related Recipes
Here are some related recipes you might enjoy. All are made in a pressure cooker! 🙂
- Creamy Beef Taco Soup (Instant Pot Soup Recipe)
- Keto Broccoli Cheese Soup with Beer Brats (Keto Instant Pot Recipe)
- Easy Tomato and Basil Soup (Instant Pot and Slow Cooker Soup)
- Green Enchiladas Chicken Soup (Keto Slow Cooker Mexican Soup)
- Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce
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Keto Instant Pot Chicken Soup is an easy soup recipe! This low carb & keto soup is a healthy recipe and can be customized to your taste and nutritional requirements. So easy you can whip together even if you're sick! Perfect keto recipe for beginners or the first time instant pot user! #chickensoup #instantpot #ketorecipeforbeginners #lowcarb #keto #ketosoup #healthyrecipe
Desir'ee says
Good morning. Just to clarify, the the chicken is raw going in not precooked?
seekinggoodeats says
Yes, you use raw chicken in this recipe.
Michelle says
You do not have the amount of onion listed in your ingredients list. I’m just going to go ahead and add a whole yellow onion but it’s not listed here.
seekinggoodeats says
Thank you for letting me know Michelle! The recipe is corrected now...with onion 🙂
Heather says
Ingredients don’t say onion yet instructions do
seekinggoodeats says
Thank you for letting me know Heather! The recipe is corrected now...with onion 🙂
Sue says
Cook time 45 minutes? Instructions say 4
seekinggoodeats says
Hi Sue! You'll need to set the pressure cooker for 4 minutes on High. 45 minutes is the approximate total time the soup will be cooking in the pressure cooker from the time it builds pressure, pressure cooks 4 minutes, and releases its pressure naturally.
Kim says
What if you don't have a pressure cooker, I have a crockpot though.
seekinggoodeats says
Hi Kim! Yes, you can definitely cook in the slow cooker. Add all ingredients and then raw chicken breasts or thighs. Turn on low for 6 to 8 hours until chicken is done and veggies are tender. Remove the chicken and either dice or shred it, then add back to your slow cooker! You gave me an idea to add these instructions to the post, thanks!
Charlynn says
What are the nutritional facts of this soup
seekinggoodeats says
Hello! Nutritional facts are in. Had a technical glitch 🙂
Stacy says
How would you add the zucchini noodles? Raw at the end? I would think they would cook pretty quickly considering how hot the soup is. ???
seekinggoodeats says
Hello! Yes, add raw at the end. I just let them sit in the hot soup, giving them a stir here and there and they soften pretty quickly. Love adding more veggies to the soup! 🙂
Kay Grace says
Did I miss something - I don't see indicated where the chicken is actually added? And I don't see a response to the question asked in late 2018 - is the chicken added raw? Looks like a good recipe. Thanks!
seekinggoodeats says
Hi Kay, I'm sorry sometimes spam filters will pick up legitimate comments and hide them from me. Got this one though! The chicken is raw, yes. And the recipe does say to add the chicken, broth, etc. It does have a comma, perhaps it looks like add "chicken broth", when it's actually "chicken, broth"? Hope that helps! When it's all finished do a taste and adjust the salt and pepper to your liking. Enjoy! 🙂
Christine says
If I use frozen chicken how would I adjust the time?
seekinggoodeats says
I know that you can cook chicken breasts frozen for about 10 to 15 minutes on high pressure and they come out perfect. I have not done this yet, but you could add 5 to 10 minutes to the cooking time of the chicken soup and they should cook fine. The vegetables will be really tender though, maybe too tender? Let me know how it turns out. This has been on my list of things to test for this recipe! 🙂
Terry A Ross II says
I had to halve the recipe because I have the smaller Instant Pot. I added mushrooms and broccoli because I didn't have carrots or celery. It was awesome. My Family gave it a 15 out of 10.(not a typo).
Kori says
Thank you so much!!! So happy your whole family loved the soup. Oh shoot. I wish I had 15 stars for you to rate the recipe with! LOL 🙂 I love your idea of just using what you've got on hand. I bet the mushrooms and broccoli added great flavor. -Kori