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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A healthy take on 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 flavor and nutrition-packed 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 meal that is feel-go and packed with immune-boosting nutrients.
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 healthy 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 thisy vegetarian cilantro soup recipe.
How to Make Chicken Cilantro Soup
- Turn 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 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 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 healthy and delicious one-pot meal? We love soups year-round and here are some of our family favorites:
Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Coriander Soup
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!
Video
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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Karen says
This is an amazing soup!!!! Thank you for this recipe!
Archana says
Thank you Karen!!
Medha Rajamanur says
This classic recipe adorned our Thanksgiving dinner table. When we took a vote on which dish earned the most brownie points, it was none other than this soup. Felt so proud. Thanks to you Archana! for this amazing soup and for all the recipes I continue to try time and again. My and my families big Thanksgiving Thanks to you!!. Gobble Gobble 😉
Archana says
Hi Medha! Thank you so much for your lovely comments. Comments like these make all the time I take to perfect these recipes SO worth it!
Vinutha says
Thanks for this recipe. It was amazing. I added mint, as I had it sitting in my fridge.
Chaya says
Such a delicious soup Archana! My family loved it. Thank you!!
Archana says
Thank you Chaya! So glad your family enjoyed it.
Rashmi Gopal Rao says
Great compilation and recipes! Happy New year to you:)
Chhaya Rao says
I'm still learning the ins and outs of my new IP, and this soup was a great way to try out a few settings. The flavors are delicious and restorative for the cold-ridden family members who all enjoyed it. Thank you!
Archana says
Thank you for your lovely feedback. So happy you enjoyed the flavors.
SHital Lakhani says
OMG! I wasn't sure what to expect when I made this but figured it had to be amazing based on the reviews on your Facebook page. AND its SO good. Fragrant but not overwhelming and just the right amount of spice. Perfect for this cold day. Thanks again!
Archana says
Thank you for your lovely feedback. So happy to hear that you enjoyed the flavors.
dk says
Just made this, and it was a big hit! I added some gochujang paste to increase the spice. Will definitely make it again - thanks!
Archana says
Thank you for the feedback! Love the kick with gochujang!
Deepa says
Excellent recipe! Very flavorful. I made it vegetarian by adding Pan fried Tofu. I also ground the coriander into a paste and added some mung sprouts.
Archana says
Great! Happy to hear that your liked it and I love your addition of mung sprouts.
Anne Marie says
Do you use bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts? Or boneless breasts? Boneless would be easier and quicker but I don't want to sacrifice flavor. This soup looks delicious!
Archana says
I use boneless chicken breasts. The soup has so much flavor from ginger and green chili that you will not miss using bone-in chicken.
Anne Marie says
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I'm looking forward to making this soup for dinner later this week.
Archana says
Awesome! Let me know how you like it
Aditi Ralhan says
What a fantastic soup!!! My family absolutely loved it!! Thank you so much
Archana says
Thank you for the lovely feedback!
Rachel mck says
Would this soup freeze and reheat well?
Archana says
Yes! Add the additional veggies while reheating
Chelsea says
So great for a sick day! I only did one jalapeño to cut down the spice and threw in some mushrooms and precooked rice to add a little extra something.
Thanks for an easy to follow and yummy recipe! 🙂
Archana says
You are welcome! I was a bit sick last week and this soup really was the only thing I enjoyed.
Jennifer says
Such a comforting and nourishing meal. I didn't have a jalapeno, so I used a bell pepper (also good for my kid who doesn't like spicy food). Thanks!
Archana says
So glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for the feedback.
Iennifer says
Made it,loved it, family is wanting it in the regular "menu" rotation at home.
We are all eating low carb for weight loss so this soup is perfect for us.
Thank you for including the nutrition facts...however how much is a serving measurement?
Archana says
I am glad your family enjoyed it. Serving size is really up to you but for us it makes 6 servings
C says
This is a lovely, healthy soup, made with ingredients I almost always have on hand, especially since I'm a huge fan of ginger and cilantro. I didn't use the cornstarch because we prefer a more natural broth.
By the way, when making the broth, I kind of just tossed in chunks of ginger, jalapeno and garlic without chopping and skipped the first saute step because I was in a hurry, and it still turned out delicious and flavorful. Another winner, Archana!
Archana says
Thank you so much for your feedback! Yes you can absolutely do that and make this a dump and go recipe 🙂
R says
It’s an amazing soup . We tried and my kids wants this regularly . Being a picky eaters mom this recipe serves all my needs .
Archana says
Thank you for sharing your feedback!
KB says
The soup looks yummy!! which chicken broth do you use?
Archana says
Better than bouillon broth paste
Debra L Smith says
I just made this soup today after seeing that you had posted it on FB's Instant Pot Community. The only thing I did differently was I used coleslaw mix (which includes shredded carrot) instead of separate carrots and cabbage. Awesome!! I will forever after save my cilantro stems to put in my bone broth. Thank you for that, too!
CS says
Delicious. My entire family enjoyed it. Perfect for coped winter months!
Archana says
Thank you!