0 Pressure Cook Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

I love chicken noodle soup.  My husband loves soup in my Italian bread bowls.  One night, I got a craving not just for chicken noodle soup, but a CREAMY chicken noodle soup, so I hunted the Internet for a recipe.

I was disappointed to find the majority of the recipes called for a can of creamed soup.  Sure, I have the stuff, but I wanted to make a creamed soup from scratch.  Can it be that hard?  Apparently, it's not.

This recipe is adapted from Paula Deen's Lady Chicken Noodle soup.  I simplified it and adapted it for my pressure cooker by using boneless skinless chicken and omitting the sherry and mushrooms.

The creaminess comes from using a small amount of heavy (whipping) cream and all purpose flour.  The flavor of this soup is phenomenal .... take a look ...

I LOVE using my pressure cooker to put frozen (YES FROZEN) chicken, the broth (water or sauce) to cook it completely. It only takes 9-12 minutes on HI pressure in the pressure cooker, with quick release.  I tossed some diced onion with the chicken broth to help flavor the chicken while cooking.

I took the chicken out to cool before dicing and put in the rest of the ingredients.

Veggies do not take a long time to pressure cook.  Usually 3-5 minutes, depending on the vegetable and the size.  I cut some carrots in 1/2" slices and found these dried homestyle noodles (Country Pasta brand)that take ... get this ... 20 minutes to cook on the stove.  I thought, "Why not try cooking noodles in the pressure cooker?"  I added seasonings and gave it a quick stir, making sure all the noodles were covered.  Set the pressure cooker on HI for 6 minutes with a quick release, and....

Did it work? You betcha!

These noodles were perfect!  Not mushy and not tough.  You will NOT be able to cook fresh noodles or very small noodles (orzo) in a pressure cooker.

Now, this soup is fine the way it is, but if you like it creamy, you need to add a little bit of flour to the cream and stir it in.  Oh, and some Parmesan cheese....

Don't forget to take the bay leaves out... no one wants a surprise in their soup!

The flavor of this soup is VERY good: Italian seasoning, lemon pepper, parsley, rosemary, garlic, onion and a couple of bay leaves are all you need.  A soup that would normally take 1 1/2 hours or longer to make took less than 45 minutes from start to finish in my pressure cooker.

Soup's on!
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
Adapted from Paula Deen's Lady Chicken Noodle Soup
Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

2 frozen, boneless chicken breasts

1 c. chicken broth

1 small onion, diced

½ t. Italian seasoning

¼ t. lemon pepper seasoning

1 t. dried parsley

½ t. dried rosemary

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

2 large carrots, ½” sliced

1 c. celery, sliced

1 c. dry home-style noodles
3 c. chicken broth

½ c. Parmesan cheese, grated

¾ c. heavy cream

1-2 T. flour, depending how thick you like your soup

salt & pepper to taste 

Instructions

Put chicken in pressure cooker. Pour 1 c. broth and onions on top.
Pressure cook on High for 9-12 min, depending on chicken size.
Quick release, remove chicken.

Add seasonings, garlic, bay leaves, carrots, celery and noodles. 
Add 3 cups of chicken broth. Make sure broth is covering noodles. 
Pressure cook on High for 6 minutes, with quick release.

Dice cooked chicken and return to PC.

Stir flour into heavy cream and pour in cooked soup. 
Cook on browning (or saute) setting, stirring, till bubbly.
Add Parmesan cheese, stir and serve.

Serves 4-6