It’s wintertime, so you’re going to get a lot more soup recipes. Of course, I love soup and could probably eat it every day, even when it’s 90 degrees out. But I think everyone can agree that a bowl of steaming hot soup is best on a cold and dreary day, which we’ve had a lot of recently. That’s why I made this Buffalo Chicken Soup the other night for dinner, and it hit the spot perfectly.
This one is an Instant Pot recipe. I love my Instant Pot, as you might have gathered by the number of recipes on this site that involve it. I have owned three electric pressure cookers in my life, and the other two couldn’t hold a candle to the Instant Pot. If you’re afraid of it because you’ve heard all the horror stories about grandma’s pressure cooker exploding all over the kitchen, don’t be. It’s idiot proof. If you can operate a crock pot, you can use this. Amazon almost always has deals on certain models, so keep an eye out if you don’t have one. Once you use it, you’ll be hooked.
The first thing you need to do is cook the chicken. Trim the fat off of 2 pounds of chicken thighs and throw it in the Instant Pot with 6 cups of chicken broth and some mirepoix mix. My grocery store has a 10-ounce premade version of this in the produce section–it’s just a mixture of diced celery, carrots, and onions. If you can’t find it premade or want to make it yourself, use approximately 4 ounces each of celery and onion and two ounces of carrots. I’d highly recommend a kitchen scale for anyone watching what they eat who likes to cook, so if you don’t have one, this is the perfect time to get one. Toss the veggies in there, set the Instant Pot for poultry (15 minutes if you don’t have that setting on your pressure cooker) and close the lid. When the 15 minutes are up, set a timer for 10 minutes. Once that’s up, do a manual release of the remaining pressure and open the lid.
Remove the meat from the pot with tongs and put it in a bowl. Set the Instant Pot to saute and add 6 ounces of cubed cream cheese and 4 ounces of crumbled blue cheese. Whisk the cheeses into the broth until they melt, then stir in 1/3 cup of heavy cream and 1/2 cup of Frank’s Red Hot sauce. Make sure it’s the original hot sauce and not the Buffalo sauce, because that one has a bunch of added stuff in it. After that, whisk in 8 ounces of shredded cheddar in 6-8 handful-sized batches. Make sure each batch has melted before you add the next one, otherwise it’ll get all clumpy and gross. Finally, turn the pot off, shred the chicken and add it back into the pot, then add two teaspoons of salt and as much white pepper as you want. If you have any extra blue cheese, you can sprinkle it on the top of the bowls as a garnish. It’s ready to serve as is, but it is even better the next day. This makes a lot of soup, so it’s perfect for meal prep if you like packing a lunch!
Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Soup
Equipment
- Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken thighs trimmed of visible fat
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 10 ounces mirepoix mix see notes above
- 6 ounces cream cheese cubed
- 4 ounces blue cheese crumbles plus extra for garnish, if desired
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce
- 8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 tsp salt
- white pepper to taste
Instructions
- Put the chicken thighs, mirepoix mix, and chicken broth into the Instant Pot, close the lid, and set it for the Poultry setting, or 15 minutes on high pressure.
- When the cook time has completed, wait ten minutes and then use a manual release. Open the lid once the pressure has subsided.
- Remove the chicken and place it in a bowl.
- Set the Instant Pot to saute, and add the cream cheese and blue cheese. Whisk until they're dissolved into the broth.
- Stir in the heavy cream and Frank's Red Hot.
- Whisk in the cheddar cheese in 6-8 batches, making sure that each batch is fully melted before adding more.
- Shred the chicken and return it to the pot. Add the salt and pepper, then serve or store.
- Macros per serving: 497 calories, 2 grams net carbs, 34 grams protein, 40 grams fat.
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