Here is a low-carb recipe for the restaurant-favorite Chicken Mulligatawny Soup! This South Indian soup is cooked in an Instant Pot with creamy coconut milk and warming spices that leave the taste buds longing for more.
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What is Mulligatawny?
The name Mulligatawny originates from the Tamil words "milagay" or "milagu" meaning pepper and "tanni" meaning water, which literally translates to "pepper-water". The soup is similar to "Rasam" which is a versatile spicy soup that is popular in southern India. Mulligatawny soup became very popular with the British when England occupied India and eventually made its way to many Indian restaurants in the UK as well as the US.
It wasn't until I moved to the US that I was introduced to it because most Indian restaurants have this soup on their menu. Since then I have enjoyed it many times. I have also devoured the original South Indian version of this "pepper-water" soup at my friend's home.
Love hearty Chicken Soups? Try my Instant Pot Chicken Tortellini Soup and Chicken Tortilla Soup recipes for easy weeknight meals.
I recently had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Karen Lee an accomplished holistic practitioner, and a former doctor of chiropractic medicine. Dr. Lee started cooking Paleo-friendly foods for her family years ago to help with food allergies, and they began their Ketogenic (Keto) journey to further control inflammation and weight gain. With the Instant Pot, she was able to turn family favorites that used to take hours into fast, stress-free meals. She has since published two cookbooks - Paleo Cooking with Your Air Fryer and Keto Cooking with Your Instant Pot.
I love that both these books have so many well-tested recipes that are easy and delicious. When I saw the recipe for Chicken Mulligatawny Soup in her Instant Pot book, I couldn't resist trying it out immediately as not only did it look tasty, but I also had most of the ingredients in my pantry. I love using Penzey's hot curry powder in this recipe but you can also easily substitute it with garam masala, cumin powder, and turmeric.
Traditional Chicken Mulligatawny Soup uses ingredients like lentils, potatoes, flour, rice, heavy cream, etc. to add creaminess to the soup. I love that this keto-friendly version uses cauliflower rice and coconut milk to add the same creamy texture. Spices such as black pepper, curry powder, nutmeg, and thyme that Dr. Lee uses leave our taste buds longing for more.
Variations
Here are a few variations I made to the original recipe:
- Made the recipe for 6 servings
- Added ghee instead of butter
- Used boneless, skinless thighs instead of bone-in thighs
- Reduced the cooking time to 10 minutes instead of 15 minutes since I used boneless thighs
- Substituted Curry powder with - ½ teaspoon garam masala, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- Added 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper instead of ½ teaspoon as we love our soup a bit spicy
- Used 2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
- Used 1 cup of coconut milk
How to Make Chicken Mulligatawny Soup
- Turn the Instant Pot to Saute mode and melt the ghee. Add onions and ginger and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in celery and carrots and cook for another 1 minute (photos 1 - 2).
- Add remaining ingredients except for coconut milk and cilantro. Hit "Cancel". Close the Instant Pot lid and turn the pressure valve to sealing. Set the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook/Manual(Hi) for 10 minutes followed by 10 minute natural pressure release (photos 3 - 6).
- Release the remaining pressure by turning the pressure valve to venting. After the float valve drops down open the Instant Pot. Optional step - You can shred the chicken using forks and add it back into the soup. Stir in coconut milk and cilantro (photos 7 - 8).
- Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with more cilantro and black pepper.
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Recipe
Chicken Mulligatawny Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ghee
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 tablespoon ginger grated
- 1 celery stalk chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 2 teaspoons curry powder or ½ teaspoon garam masala, ½ teaspoon ground cumin and ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups cauliflower rice or finely minced cauliflower florets
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot to Saute mode and melt ghee. Add onions and ginger and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in celery and carrots and cook for another 1 minute.
- Add remaining ingredients except for coconut milk and cilantro. Hit "Cancel". Close the Instant Pot lid and turn the pressure valve to sealing. Set the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook/Manual(Hi) for 10 minutes. See notes if using chicken breasts.
- Allow natural pressure release and open the Instant Pot.
- Take out the chicken and shred it into bite-sized pieces and add it back to the soup. Stir in coconut milk and cilantro. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with more cilantro and black pepper.
Notes
- For Bone-in chicken thighs, increase the pressure cook time to 15 minutes
- If using chicken breasts pressure cook on poultry mode for 13 minutes followed by natural pressure release. This helps keep the chicken breasts tender and shred easily
Nutrition
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Elizabeth Bergmann says
Hello Archana! Once again you have posted another amazing recipe! I cannot wait to try it but I wonder how it would be made not quite so "keto" Would I add a bit of uncooked rice and add more l;liquid to thicken it or possibly add cooked rice at the end? What about potatoes? I love all the ingredients but wanted to make it a bit thicker or creamier for my hubby.
Archana says
You an add rice and potatoes to make it thicker and creamier
Nick says
This sounds amazing. For whatever reason, I was under the impression Mulligatawny was a vegetarian thing. Obviously, I had been misled and deceived! Not being a vegetarian, this sounds MUCH better. I don't have an instapot thingie, so, I plan on just simmering for 40ish minutes at step-2. Thank you for posting.
Archana says
Yes, should work great without Instant pot too!
Karen says
This looks delicious. I'm looking forward to making it this weekend.
(ps- I think the last sentence of step 1 belongs to step 2 in your recipe)
Archana says
Thank you!! And thanks for the error too. I have fixed it. Will look forward to your feedback
Laurie says
I haven't tried this yet (but will soon!) Curious to know why the recipe calls for diced veggies but you show sliced?
Also, is there a place in your blog for menus?
Thanks!
Archana says
You can slice them. What kind of menus are you looking for?
Dawn says
This recipe looks great! Wondering if Kitchen King could be used in place of the curry powder or the garam masala?
Thanks
Archana says
yes either one will work. Add to taste.
Noelle says
Just made this today and it was delicious! Keep the yummy recipes coming!
Archana says
Thank you!
Marci Rubinoff says
Thanks for this recipe. Used 3 cups of turkey bone broth and 1 can of full fat coconut milk rather than 2 cups.
We only had 1 lb of frozen turkey so thawed it and threw it in. Delicious!!
Gauri Gopalakrishnan says
Hi Archana!
Thank you for your Ginger, coriander immunity boosting soup recipe. It’s wonderful and so loved by my husband that I make a big batch just for him which he devours for dinner about three times a week!
Could you please give me the macros for that soup? Also what is a typical serving size for all your recipes, including this one? Can you recommend another vegetable besides carrots to put in the soup? Preferably low carb. Thank you again!
Archana says
Thank you! You may want to use online tools to calculate macros. Serving size really depends from person to person and what else you are serving with the meal or this soup. Besides carrots and cabbage, you can try enoki mushrooms, or even zucchini.
Amy says
Hello, if I wanted to sub out some brown basmati or jasmine rice for the cauliflower, can I add it dry and modify the liquid/time measurements, or add it pre-cooked toward the end?
Archana says
You can add jasmine rice and pressure cook. If you are adding brown rice increase pressure cook time to 20 mins.
Geeta says
Hi Archana,
Can I use boneless chicken breast instead of boneless thighs?
If yes, do I keep for the same time for cooking?
Archana says
Yes! I have updated the recipe with timings for chicken breast. I made it last night and it was so good!
Renee says
Yum! I doubled the recipe so I wouldn’t have leftover ingredients. I used a whole qt of broth, 1 full can of lite coconut milk and a full head of cauliflower. It had lots of flavour and tasted like it simmered on the stove all day. It’s a great recipe. It satisfied my craving for Mulligatawny. Putting this in my “keeper” files! Thanks!
Jen says
Love this recipe! My whole family loves this! My favorite is bone-in chicken thighs, but it is wonderful with whatever chicken we’ve had on hand! It is wonderful over Basmati rice if you’re hoping to stretch it or bulk it up!
Archana says
Thank you Jen!
Lu says
Simply delicious! And super easy to make
Archana Mundhe says
Thank you!
Amy says
I came by this recipe as I wanted to make a soup with chicken. OH MY! It was so delicious, so flavourful!! I used chicken breast instead, followed the recipe to the T. It was quick and now I've got a yummy lunch for tomorrow thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Archana Mundhe says
Hi Amy! Thank you for the lovely feedback. I agree this is perfect makeahead recipe.