Bright and spicy ginger and aromatic cilantro stand out in this Indian twist on traditional chicken soup. Filled with just-cooked fresh, crunchy cabbage and carrots, this Instant Pot Chicken Cilantro Soup is perfect for lunch or a light dinner. Look to the variations for a vegan option, and add whichever veggies you like.
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Indo-Chinese Favorite
A delicacy from Indo-Chinese restaurants, Chicken Cilantro Soup has complementing flavors from lemon, ginger, and chilies, crunchy vegetables, and soft cooked chicken making it a flavorful and satisfying meal.
This recipe combines my mom's chicken soup and the lemon coriander soup from the Indo-Chinese restaurants I have enjoyed for years. It uses mom's chicken soup loaded with ginger, garlic, and cilantro as a base, to which I add more vegetables and chicken to make it a one-pot, feel-good meal.
NOTE: Fresh cilantro in India is called coriander, this recipe does not use coriander seeds
I love the convenience of making this in the Instant Pot pressure cooker. It perfectly cooks the Chicken breasts that can be shredded in minutes and makes a flavor-packed broth at the same time.
This is a versatile recipe that can easily be adjusted to individual preferences. It can be made entirely plant-based too, with this vegetarian cilantro soup recipe.
How to Make Chicken Cilantro Soup
- Turn the Instant Pot to Saute(more) mode and heat oil. Add garlic, green chilies, ginger, and cilantro stems. Mix well.
- Add chicken breasts, black peppercorn, salt, water, and broth. Give a quick stir and close the Instant Pot with the pressure valve to sealing.
- Pressure cook for 10 minutes followed by Natural Pressure Release. Open the Instant Pot and take the chicken breasts out.
- Take a large bowl and strain the broth. Squeeze out any juices by gently pressing the stems in the strainer. Discard the stems from the strainer. Reserve the broth.
- Shred the chicken with a fork and keep it aside.
- Rinse and dry the Instant Pot insert. Put the insert back and set the Instant Pot to sauté mode.
- Add the remaining oil, cabbage, carrots, and remaining ginger. Mix well.
- Add shredded chicken, reserved broth, and cornstarch water. Mix well and bring the soup to a gentle boil
- Turn Instant Pot off. Add fresh ground pepper, lemon juice, and chopped cilantro. Mix well and enjoy hot
Serving
Serve this delicious soup as a light gluten-free meal for lunch or dinner. Pair it with Hakka Noodles or Kimchi Fried Rice for a hearty meal.
Storing
Any leftover soup can be refrigerated for 2 to 3 days.
Meal Prepping
This soup is a good meal prep recipe. Simply pressure cook, shred the chicken and strain the broth. Add shredded chicken to the broth and refrigerate. When ready to serve, saute ginger, cabbage, and carrots for that perfect crunchy bite.
Variations
- Skip the chicken all together and follow the remaining recipe to make a perfect vegan soup. Just replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth
- Adjust the thickening, corn starch, or arrowroot powder, to the textures you prefer. I enjoy the soupy texture, so for me, 3 tablespoons of cornstarch works well. You can adjust it from 3-6 tablespoons to get a thicker consistency
- Add more or less green chilies and fresh ginger to take the spice level up or down
- Go ahead and double up on cilantro if you have extra
More Instant Pot Soup Recipes
Did you enjoy this delicious one-pot meal? We love soups year-round and here are some of our family favorites:
Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Coriander Soup
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil divided
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 3 green chillies sliced or 1 to 2 jalapenos
- 2 tablespoons grated ginger divided
- 1 cup cilantro stems roughly chopped
- 1 pound chicken breasts
- 12 black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth we used better than bouillon
- 1 cup cabbage thinly sliced
- 1 cup carrots julienned
- 3 tablespoons corn starch or arrowroot powder mixed in 1 cup of water
- ¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper optional
- ½ cup cilantro chopped
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to Saute(more) mode and heat half of the oil. Add garlic, green chilies, half of the ginger and cilantro stems. Mix well.
- Add chicken breasts, black peppercorn, salt, water and broth. Give a quick stir and close Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing.
- Pressure cook for 10 minutes followed by Natural Pressure Release.
- Open Instant Pot and take the chicken breasts out. Shred the chicken with a fork and keep aside.
- Take a large bowl and strain the broth. Squeeze out any juices by gently pressing the stems in the strainer. Discard the stems from the strainer. Reserve the broth.
- Rinse and dry the Instant Pot insert. Put the insert back and set the Instant Pot to sauté mode. Add the remaining oil, cabbage, carrots, and remaining ginger. Mix well.
- Add shredded chicken, reserved broth, and corn starch water.
- Mix well and bring the soup to a gentle boil. Turn Instant Pot off. Add fresh ground pepper, lemon juice, and chopped cilantro. Enjoy hot!
Notes
- Skip the chicken all together and follow the remaining recipe to make a perfect vegan soup. Just replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth. If you can find enoki mushrooms, they add a great crunch too. Stir them in the end along with the carrots and cabbage
- Here is my vegan lemon coriander soup with tofu
- Adjust the corn starch or arrowroot powder, to the textures you prefer.
- Adjust green chilies and fresh ginger to take the spice level up or down.
- Go ahead and double up on cilantro if you have extra.
Nutrition
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Precious says
Hello, thanks for this recipe. What if I do not have a pressure cooker? How do I adjust the recipe with a normal pot?
Archana Mundhe says
Hi, Cook the soup in a pot until the chicken is cooked tender and be shredded easily.