Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup - how to make a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup using a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
There is nothing better than chicken noodle soup made with homemade broth. I know, I know…making chicken broth seems like a lot of work. That's where the Instant Pot comes in; pressure cooking makes homemade broth much easier. Now, I'm not going to say it's as easy as opening a can of Campbell's - it's not - but Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup is worth the extra effort.
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If you don't have a leftover roast chicken, where do you get the get the bones to make broth? I have two quick answers. One is chicken backs. The other is what I'm using in this recipe - a grocery store rotisserie chicken. Grab one from the case at your market, and you're on the way to Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup. (More details are in my Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Broth recipe.) For other recipes that use Rotisserie Chicken broth, check out my Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Tortilla Soup, Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Risotto, or Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Wild Rice Soup.
Ingredients
Rotisserie Chicken Broth Ingredients
- A rotisserie chicken
- Onion
- Carrot
- Celery
- Bay leaf
- Fine sea salt
- Water
Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients
- Butter
- Onion
- Carrot
- Celery
- Thyme
- Fine sea salt
- Rotisserie Chicken Broth
- Breast meat from a rotisserie chicken
- Potato
- Wide egg noodles
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Parsley (optional)
See recipe card for quantities
How to make Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup
- Pressure cook the broth: Pull the breast meat off of the rotisserie chicken, chop it up into bite-sized pieces, and put it aside for later. Put the rotisserie chicken carcass, a peeled onion, scrubbed carrot, rib of celery, 2 bay leaves, and a half teaspoon of salt in the Instant Pot. Pour in 8 cups of water, then pressure cook at high pressure for 1 hour, and let the pressure come down naturally, about 30 more minutes. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer, discard the solids, and set the broth aside.
- Sauté the aromatics: Wipe out the Instant Pot liner, then melt 2 tablespoons of butter using Sauté mode. Add a chopped onion, chopped carrot, chopped rib of celery, and a teaspoon of dried or fresh thyme. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt, and sauté until the onion softens, about 5 minutes.
- Everything in the pot: Add the reserved chicken breast meat, a small diced potato, and 1 cup of wide egg noodles to the pot, then pour in the rotisserie chicken broth.
- Pressure cook for 4 minutes at High Pressure with a Quick Release.
- Stir in 1 ½ teaspoons of fine sea salt and ¾ teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Enjoy!
How big are rotisserie chickens?
I did some quick research on rotisserie chickens - checking the weight at my local stores - and they varied. Most were about 2 pounds, but Costco's famous rotisserie chickens were closer to 4 pounds. That's OK - one bird will give you enough bones and meat to make this soup, no matter the size.
Tips and Tricks
Save the breast meat for the soup before you start cooking. Pressure cooking the pulls the flavor out of the bones and meat into the broth, leaving the remains spent and dull. That's why I reserve the chicken breasts, saving them for the soup.
(I will eat a little of the leftover meat from the broth, as a chef's treat, but it's not something I want to serve to people.)
Don't over-noodle the soup! One cup of egg noodles isn't going to seem like much, but they expand and suck up a remarkable amount of broth. Don't add more noodles or you'll end up with a noodle stew, not soup.
What to serve with Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup
Soup and salad are the obvious choice, with rolls or a loaf of crusty bread. Or, I go back to my childhood and serve chicken noodle soup with saltine crackers.
Print
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
Description
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup - how to make a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup using a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
Ingredients
Rotisserie Chicken Broth
- 1 (2- to 4-pound) rotisserie chicken, breast meat removed and saved for later
- Juices from the rotisserie chicken container
- 1 onion, peeled and halved
- 1 carrot, scrubbed and cut in half (or 4oz baby carrots)
- 1 celery rib, cut in half
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 8 cups water
Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced ½ inch thick
- 1 celery rib, sliced ½ inch thick
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 8 cups of Rotisserie Chicken Broth (from above)
- 4 ounces baby red potatoes, quartered
- 1 cup wide or extra-wide egg noodles
- Breast meat from the rotisserie chicken, shredded
- 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- ¾ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- Minced parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Pressure cook the broth for 60 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release: Cut the chicken breast meat off of the rotisserie chicken and set aside for later. Add the rotisserie chicken carcass, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves, and salt to the pressure cooker pot, then add the 8 cups of water. (It should just cover the rotisserie chicken - it's OK if the knobs of the drumsticks are poking up.) Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 60 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric PC (Manual or Pressure Cook mode in an Instant Pot) or 50 minutes in a stovetop PC. Let the pressure come down naturally - about 30 minutes. (It takes a long time for all that water to cool off. If you're in a hurry, let the pressure come down for at least 20 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.) Scoop the chicken carcass and vegetables out of the pot with a slotted spoon and discard; they've given their all to the broth. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer, and set aside for later.
- Sauté the aromatics: Wipe out the pressure cooker pot liner, then put it back in the pressure cooker base. Add the butter and melt over sauté mode (medium heat for a stovetop PC). Add the onion, celery, and carrot, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of salt and the dried thyme. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften and turn translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Everything in the pot: Add the shredded chicken breast meat, potatoes, and the egg noodles. Pour the rotisserie chicken broth into the pot, and give everything a stir.
- Pressure cook the soup for 4 minutes with a Quick Release: Lock the lid, and pressure cook for 4 minutes on high pressure. (Use the same timing for Instant Pot, electric PCs, and stovetop PCs). Quick release the pressure. (If the steam that is released starts to sputter and spit out starch, shut the valve and let the pressure come down naturally for 5 minutes before trying the quick release again.)
- Season the soup: Stir in 1½ teaspoons of fine sea salt and the fresh ground black pepper. Serve, sprinkling each bowl with a little parsley. Enjoy!
Notes
You can make the entire batch of broth ahead of time if you need a quick weeknight recipe. Finish step 1, then freeze the broth in 2 cup containers. When you're ready for soup, grab 8 cups of broth from the freezer, and continue with step 2.
You can make this recipe from rotisserie chicken leftovers. Save the bones and any remaining meat from 2 rotisserie chickens. Pick the meat from the bones - you want about 2 cups of shredded chicken - and use the bones and any clinging meat to make the broth.
Tools
6-quart or larger pressure cooker. I love my 6 quart Instant Potelectric pressure cooker.
Slotted Spoonand Fine Mesh Strainerfor straining the broth.
A second inner pot for your pressure cooker makes straining the broth easy - pour from one pot to the other.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Category: Sunday Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
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Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup of soup
- Calories: 180
- Sugar: 5.7 g
- Sodium: 887.7 mg
- Fat: 5.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 19.4 g
- Protein: 12.6 g
- Cholesterol: 34 mg
How to Make Ahead
If you want a weeknight soup, make the broth ahead of time. Refrigerate the broth and diced chicken breast for a few days, or freeze it for a few months. Then, continue with the "sauté the aromatics" step, and the soup will be done in no time.
If you have leftovers, they freeze beautifully. I freeze them in 2-cup containers for up to six months.
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Looking for a different Instant Pot soup? Try my Instant Pot Minestrone Soup. For other Instant Pot chicken recipes, check out Pressure Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wings and Pressure Cooker Chicken Legs with Herb Rub, and Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese.
Here is my Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes index.
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Angela L says
I added more carrots and celery for personal preference, and instead of cooking the noodles with it… I made ramen noodles on the side and then added them later. 10/10 the best thing I’ve ever had. I made it again 4 days later.
Mike Vrobel says
Sounds fantastic! Thank you.
Susan says
Thank you for this easy and delicious soup.
I was getting over a cold and hubby was just coming down with one (hmm, funny how that happens!) when I found your recipe. It has helped us recover.
Your instructions are clear and easy to follow.
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome! I’m glad it worked for you when you needed it.
Jan W says
Every now and then I get the rotisserie chickens from Costco for dinner, and I hate to just throw away the carcass, so I'm glad I discovered this recipe a couple of years or so ago; it's so good! I follow the recipe exactly as written (I might add a little extra noodles and potatoes sometimes) and it's very easy and very delicious. When making the broth, I put everything in a soup sock and tie it shut, so when it's done I just take the sock out and toss it and there's no need to strain the liquid. If I don't have enough meat to put in it to make soup right away, I freeze the broth until I have what I need on hand to make the soup. This last time I made it, I had some chicken from the carcass, but not enough, so I thew in some cooked turkey breast meat that I had on hand.
I did notice that the recipe above says to add the chicken before cooking the soup, but if you print the recipe out, it says to add the chicken after you cook the soup. I don't think it really matters which way you do it, though. I've made this a number of times now and I'm pretty sure I've done it both ways.
Thanks for this great recipe, Mike!
Mike Vrobel says
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Angela says
Thanks for this recipe! Needed something quick that I could make today with a leftover rotisserie chicken and rice from last nights dinner. Trying this today!
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome, enjoy it!
Mikey says
Great soup. Easy and delicious! Thank you!!
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome!
Diane Clement says
I found this recipe a few weeks ago and I have already made this soup 3 times!!! I love making the chicken broth in the Instantpot. Delicious!! This is now my go to recipe for chicken noodle soup. Thank you!
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome! I’m glad you like it.
Lillian says
My son found your recipe and made the broth first, which we now call The Golden liquid. Then he made the chicken noodle soup recipe and it was so delicious that I made it today.. it is so easy and so awesome. Thank you so much.
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome! I’m glad he (and you) are enjoying it.
Aaron Friedman says
I love this technique. I'm using it today and adapting Kenji's 30 minute pressure cooker Pho Ga recipe to it. I'm really excited.
Mike Vrobel says
Great idea!
Shirley Bennin says
I haven’t made the soup yet, but I noticed in #2 & #6 that you say to add the chicken. Which is it? Do you add the chicken then cook for 4 minutes, or do you add the chicken when the soup is done? I want to make this tomorrow, so if you see this comment please clarify!
Mike Vrobel says
Sorry, forgot to update the header when I updated the steps. Fixed!
Jane Johnson says
Thi soup. is absolutely an awesome chicken soup with great depth of flavor. So good.
Mike Vrobel says
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
luke says
Great recipe, super easy, super delicious. i've made at least a dozen times if not more and everyone that has it loves it.
Mike Vrobel says
Thanks! I'm glad you like it.
Debra says
This broth sounds amazing! Has anyone used it to make gravy?
Mike Vrobel says
Yes - use 4 cups of it instead of the turkey broth in this recipe: https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/pressure-cooker-giblet-gravy/
Scott says
Amazing recipe!, I added a fresh garlic clove to the broth and a small can of diced tomatoes to the soup. Turned out to be the best soup I've ever made!
Mike Vrobel says
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Michelle H says
Just made this soup. Perfect! What flavor! I even used a "day old" rotisserie chicken from Walmart, and it was just fantastic. I've had an electric, digital pressure cooker for years, but I don't think I've read in any recipe to let the cooker sit for a length of time AFTER the initial cook as part of the process. So I've never learned to appreciate that option (letting ingredients continue to cook in the pot) as part of the recipe. I believe that makes a HUGE difference, especially when preparing the broth. My broth was definitely bone broth consistency. Thank you for sharing your technique. I will be making it again and again.
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome!