Slow Cooker OR Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Slow Cooker OR Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup with the perfect blend of flavors makes a healthy, hearty meal made in the pressure cooker or crockpot! 

Why This Recipe Works

So quick – They don’t call it an “Instant Pot” for nothing. 30 minutes including prep and cook time and you could have this delicious creamy chicken noodle soup in your bowl for dinner!

Great leftovers – A lot of time soup doesn’t reheat well but this one does! I’ll make it once and eat it all week long, in fact. It also freezes well too if you want to have it again in a month or so or on those weeknights when you’re too busy to make a meal.

Easily customizable – Hate peas? Leave them out. Want to add another veggie? Add it in. Prefer another pasta, try that too. You really could make this Instant Pot chicken noodle soup recipe your own in so many ways.

Simple ingredients –I think about the fanciest ingredient in this creamy chicken noodle soup recipe is heavy cream. You might have to go to a special section in the dairy department next to the coffee creamers to look for this. Ha!

Recipe Ingredients

Chicken breasts – Boneless, skinless breasts are key here. Easy to cut into pieces and already skinned and deboned. Any brand you like will do.

Chicken broth – Any well-known brand of store-bought, low sodium chicken broth works great in this recipe. You can always add more salt later if you like.

Minced garlic – I love to use the already minced garlic in a jar, but you can use whatever garlic you love or mince your own.

Dried oregano and rosemary –Any dried spice brands work here.

Carrots – I use large carrots and peel and chop them to bite size.

Celery – Use nice, crisp, green celery stalks in this Instant Pot chicken noodle soup recipe.

Frozen peas – Just open, measure, and pour. The peas will cook along with the soup in no time flat. No need to thaw first.

Heavy cream – This is key in this creamy chicken noodle soup recipe; it helps to make it creamy and delicious. Any brand is great.

Salt and pepper – to taste –

Onion powder – You can sub onion salt if you like but be careful to not oversalt when you’re tasting.

Egg noodles – I like the wide egg noodles but you can use any kind you like.

Flour – Any all-purpose flour will do to help thicken up this soup just a bit.

Step By Step Directions

• First, place the chicken in the Instant Pot and add to it 7 cups of chicken broth, garlic, oregano, rosemary, carrots, and celery. Then, add salt and pepper to taste, a little at a time till you like the taste.
• Cover and set your Instant Pot to pressure cook (or manual) for 15 minutes if using thawed chicken, or 25 minutes if using frozen chicken. Allow the Instant Pot to naturally release for 10 minutes, then use the quick release option to let the rest of the pressure out.
• Uncover the pot, change the setting to the “soup” setting and shred up the chicken with two forks right in the pot.
• Next, in a medium bowl whisk together the flour and the remaining 1 cup of chicken broth. Then, stir in the heavy cream and pour this mixture into the Instant Pot and stir in the peas and the noodles. 
• Once the soup is bubbling, allow it to cook for about another 5 minutes more or until the noodles are just tender. Taste the soup again and add salt and pepper as needed, then garnish the Instant Pot chicken noodle soup with fresh herbs (such as thyme or parsley) if desired, and serve. 

How to Make Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup in a Slow Cooker

No Instant Pot? No Problem. You can easily also make this soup in a slow cooker. Here’s how:

1. Place chicken in your slow cooker and add 7 cups chicken broth, garlic, oregano, rosemary, carrots, and celery. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
2. Next, add the lid and cook on high for 2 hours (for thawed chicken, 3 for frozen) or low for 6-8 hours. Uncover and set to high (if it was on low). Shred chicken with two forks.
3. Then, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour into the remaining 1 cup of chicken broth. Then, stir in the heavy cream. Pour this into the slow cooker and stir in peas and noodles. 
4. Cover and cook the creamy chicken noodle soup on high for 30 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. Taste, and add salt and pepper as needed, then garnish with fresh herbs if desired, and serve.

What Does an Instant Pot Do?

If you’re not familiar with the Instant Pot, let me tell you why I like it so much. Not only does it cook meals “instantly” (okay not really, but it cooks them pretty darn fast), but it also acts as a rice or slow cooker, a yogurt maker, a steamer, a saute pan, and more, all depending on which model you buy. So, if you are short on time or space (or both) then this gadget can help solve both problems at once.

Granted, there is a bit of a learning curve to working the Instant Pot, but once you figure it out, you’ll love the slow-cooker “set-it-and-forget-it” aspect of the appliance, but with the “slow” part taken out. So if you don’t even have time to wait four to six hours for the slow cooker (or you forgot to put all the ingredients in before you left for work), don’t worry! You can add all the same ingredients to the Instant Pot and get your meal done in a fraction of the time.

How Do You Make a Cream Sauce?

For this recipe, I didn’t make a “true” cream sauce. Those involve making a roux with butter and flour together for awhile until other liquids can be added – in this case chicken broth.

But, because this recipe is time-saving, I made a quick cream sauce by just whisking together flour with chicken broth and then adding the heavy cream. You still get the benefits of a cream sauce, but without all the work and heaviness of one you might typically find.

You can get a better idea of how I make a true cream sauce in the directions for this Easy Creamy Macaroni and Cheese.

Can I Put Frozen Chicken in the Slow Cooker or Instant Pot?

Yes! You absolutely can. I don’t always remember to thaw out the chicken, either. You just have to allow for more time for the chicken to cook if you put it in frozen. Not a lot of time – only 10 extra minutes in the Instant Pot or one extra hour in the slow cooker. Not bad, and almost reason enough to “forget” to thaw the chicken all the time!

Oh, side note: One trick I like when working with frozen chicken is that it’s much easier to cut evenly. So, let’s say you have frozen chicken, but you want to have the chicken pre-cut into cutlets or smaller pieces before it’s thawed or cooked. Try it for yourself, cutting chicken while it’s frozen is SO MUCH easier.  

Expert Tips and Tricks

• For extra creamy, rich results add four ounces of softened cream cheese. 
• This Instant Pot chicken noodle soup will keep in the fridge for 5 days or in the freezer for 5 months.
• Since you can make this soup so fast, I don’t recommend you make it ahead of time. This will give the noodles too much time to absorb more liquid and become mushy. Instead, make the soup when you’re ready to eat it.
• If you’d prefer this soup have rice in it instead of noodles, make the rice separate and add to the bowls before ladling with soup.

More Recipes Like This

If you’re loving your instant pot, you’ve gotta try Instant Pot Balsamic Pork Tenderloin, Instant Pot Parmesan Chicken and Rice with Mushrooms, Instant Pot Chicken Marsala Soup, and Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon.