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 one-dish meal is perfect for lunch or a light dinner. Look to the variations for a vegan option, and add whichever veggies you like.
A delicacy from Indo-Chinese restaurants, Chicken Cilantro Soup has complimenting flavors from lemon, ginger and chilies, crunchy vegetables, and soft cooked chicken making it a flavor and nutrition-packed meal.
This recipe is a combination of my mom’s chicken soup and the lemon coriander soup from the Indo-Chinese restaurants that 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.
I have made this soup in many variations and is a very versatile recipe that can easily be adjusted to individual preferences. Check out the detailed notes below to adjust spice level, texture or to make this a completely vegetarian soup!
Variations for the chicken cilantro soup:
- 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 tablespoon 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
How to make Chicken Cilantro Soup in the Instant Pot:
- Turn Instant Pot to Saute(more) mode and heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add garlic, green chilies, 1 tablespoon ginger, and cilantro stems. Mix well.
- Add chicken breasts, black peppercorn, salt, 2 cups of water, and 2 cups of broth. Give a quick stir and close Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing.
- Set Instant Pot on Manual(Hi) for 10 minutes followed by Natural Pressure Release. Open 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 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. Mix well and enjoy hot
Did you enjoy this healthy and delicious one-pot meal? We love soups year-round and here are some of our family favorites:
- Low carb chicken mulligatawny soup
- EASY chicken tortellini soup
- Creamy Tomato Bisque
- Mexican chicken tortilla soup
- Vegetarian Coconut Curry Noodle Soup
- Instant Pot French Onion Soup
- Quick and comforting Lasagna Soup
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Chicken Coriander Soup – Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon oil divided
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 3 to 6 green chillies sliced (1 to 3 jalapeño)
- 2 tablespoon grated ginger divided
- 1 cup cilantro stems roughly chopped
- 1 pound chicken breasts
- 12 black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cup low sodium chicken broth we used better than bouillon
- 1 cup cabbage thinly sliced
- 1 cup carrots julienned
- 3 tablespoon corn starch or arrowroot powder mixed in 1 cup of water
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper optional
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to Saute(more) mode and heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add garlic, green chilies, 1 tablespoon ginger and cilantro stems. Mix well.
- Add chicken breasts, black peppercorn, salt, 2 cups of water and 2 cups of broth. Give a quick stir and close Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing.
- Set Instant Pot on Manual(Hi) 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 mushroom, they add a great crunch too. Stir them in the end along with the carrots and cabbage
- Add small cubed extra firm tofu in the end for added proteins. You can also add baked 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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Cheryl Fulbright says
Wow, This soup was awesome! So glad I tried it.
T shah says
Do you think this would work if I added the chicken in separately? Trying to make some for the vegetarian folks in the family without the chicken but still want to have the chicken for non vegetarians.
Archana says
yes! I do it many times when I make this recipe with tofu.
Niharika says
I just tried it. It came out fantastic
Archana says
Thank you!
Anindita says
Loved it! Awesome flavor.
Christy Henderson says
Can it be frozen and cooked later?
Archana says
yes you can use frozen chicken for this recipe. IF its easier you can also freeze ginger, jalapeño & cilantro.
Preeti says
If I don’t have chicken broth, can I use plain water? I don’t want to use Maggi cubes. I plan on using chicken with bone.
Thanks
Archana says
Hi Preeti! Yes you can use plain water, you may need to adjust salt to taste.
Preeti Kokkatt says
Thanks Archana, trying it today.
Pamela Berbos says
I am so excited to have come across this recipe!
I have made it several times and love it exactly as it is written. So very flavorful! Thank you ….it is a 5 star recipe in my book!
Kay Grace says
Did I miss something? Where is the coriander?
Archana says
There are no coriander seeds in this. In India we call cilantro as coriander. So the soup made with cilantro leaves and stems
Lisa Swedo says
I love this soup and have recommended it to many friends! Making it again today! Thank you so much, Archana!!
Purvi Modi Monga says
Loved this recipe. Super easy and everyone enjoyed it
Archana says
Thank you!
Gauri Gopalakrishnan says
Delicious soup! For those that want more of a gingery flavour, use small, organic ginger- they’re more flavorful.
SHERENE JOSEPH says
Fantastic Soup Archana! Perfect for a cool Fall Friday evening!
Manal says
I made this today for my sis who is recovering from a surgery. Everyone loved it SO much! It will be astappe for happy/healthy days as well as sick days ❤️
Vidhi says
Hi
My IP does not have manual option… what can I do instead? Very tempted to make this
Archana says
It is same as the “Pressure Cook” option on newer Instant Pots
Saniya says
This is a very flavorful soup recepie! Love it!
Mansi Vacher says
Simply amazing ! Goodbye to restaurant lemon coriander soup for my family ! Thank you for sharing it
Ananya says
I’ve tried this soup many times and love it so much. The best soothing soup for the winter months. Absolutely delicious!
Ragini says
Made this soup and it was fantastic! My 10yr old even loved it! Thank you!!
S.K. says
This is just one of many recipes I’ve tried from your website and cookbook- and it did not fail. In fact it surpassed my expectations. The soup was SO flavorful and it really hit the spot on a cold wintry day. I’m definitely going to make this vegetarian next time, for family members who don’t eat meat but I was really surprised at how much flavor the chicken soaked up. This will be a go to in the fall/winter for me!!
Gabby says
Wow! I almost changed a few things from this recipe underestimating it’s flavor. I am SO HAPPY I did not! I want to eat this morning, noon, and night. I ended up adding possibly 2-3 more cups of water and additional Better Than Boullion to taste (I like broth). Even still, it did not dilute the spice from the oils of the jalapeño and other spices/ingredients. I also added some lemon grass when sautéing the cabbage and carrots. GREAT RECIPE! Side note: I will never trash cilantro stems again.