It’s soup season. Or at least it would normally be soup season, if it weren’t for the fact that we haven’t gone below 80 degrees in weeks. Yesterday it hit 87. It’s almost October and the lowest daytime high in the 10-day forecast is 79. It’s supposed to be in the high 80s again by this weekend. But it’s like a timer goes off in my body every late September. I want soup for lunch and none of y’all can stop me. Plus, everyone I know is getting a head cold right now, and I figure this can either fry the germs out of my sinuses or help clear them out if I catch one.
Every summer we have a garden, and every summer the only thing we end up with a ton of is jalapeños. My husband is the jalapeño whisperer. We’ve probably gotten at least 40 so far, and more are still growing out there. I can’t let them go bad, so I’m making a lot of jalapeño-based recipes. This one only uses two fresh jalapeños for garnish, but that’s two less in my fridge now. I used canned jalapeños for the contents of the soup, because it saves time and doesn’t really compromise on flavor. Plus, I have extra cans from when I sent my husband to the store for canned green chiles and he came back with jalapeños. Oops.
The base of this soup is a pound of chicken breasts and four cups of chicken broth. Those 32-ounce cartons of broth are perfect for this, because you can just dump one into your Instant Pot without having to measure anything. Toss in your chicken breasts along with it. You can do it directly from frozen if you want, just add five minutes to the cook time. I did it this way and it worked fine. To that, add your drained 4-ounce can of diced jalapeños, and a teaspoon each of salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and cumin. Then put the lid on your Instant Pot, and set for pressure cook on high for 15 minutes if using fresh chicken, and 20 minutes if using frozen. After the cook time is complete, let it release naturally for 10 minutes, then manually release the rest of the way. During that ten minutes, fry up three slices of bacon and mince two fresh jalapeños. Make sure to wear food-safe gloves!
Open the lid again and remove the chicken, letting it cool on a plate. Set the pot to saute and whisk in an entire 8-ounce brick of cream cheese that’s been cut or torn into chunks. When the cream cheese has mostly broken down, pour in a half cup of heavy cream and whisk some more, then add a cup of shredded pepper jack and a cup of shredded sharp cheddar, working in 1/4 cup increments. Make sure each handful of cheese has fully melted into the soup before you add more, otherwise you might get clumps. Once you’ve added all the cheese, turn off the Instant Pot. Shred the chicken with forks and stir it into the pot. Pour the soup into bowls or meal prep containers, and garnish each one with crumbled bacon and minced jalapeños.
Instant Pot Jalapeño Popper Chicken Soup
A creamy, cheesy, spicy keto soup made in the Instant Pot, perfect for a fall afternoon.
Add the chicken, broth, drained jalapeños, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and cumin to the Instant Pot. If using fresh chicken, set the Instant Pot to cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. If using frozen, set it for 20 minutes. Once the cook time has completed, allow it to naturally release for 10 minutes, then use the quick release method to finish venting.
Open the Instant Pot, remove the chicken, then set it to saute. Whisk in the cream cheese cubes and continue whisking constantly until it's mostly broken up. Add the heavy cream and continue whisking, then add the pepper jack and cheddar in 1/4 cup increments, making sure that each handful is fully melted before adding more. Once the cheese is melted, turn off the Instant Pot. Shred the chicken with forks and stir it into the pot.
Pour the soup into six bowls or meal prep containers, and garnish with the minced jalapeños and crumbled bacon.
Macros per serving: 450 calories, 5 grams net carbs, 30 grams protein, 34 grams fat.
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It was a balmy 94 degrees outside when I made my meal plan for the week, so of course I decided that what I was currently craving was potato soup. I’m…kinda weird. The second most obvious issue here is, of course, that potato soup isn’t […]
Back in the pre-keto days, I used to make a wonderful Texas chili recipe. No tomatoes, no beans, no onions, no nothing other than spices, meat, and beef broth. It won my ex-husband’s workplace chili cookoff, although people said that I cheated by using tenderloin, as if tenderloin would be anything but a dry mess when used in any sort of stew-type preparation. You need the fat from chuck in here. The version I have pictured, we accidentally got “lean” stew meat, and it wasn’t anywhere near as good.
The problem is that my old recipe’s thickener was flour. You’d toss the meat cubes with a few tablespoons of flour before browning it, and that was just enough of a thickener to not make it a soupy broth. For the keto version, I skip the flour and use a bit of xanthan gum at the end. I always tell people to use xanthan gum sparingly and in batches, because if you go too far with it, you end up with slime. Not tasty noms by any stretch. But a little bit gives the chili the slightly thicker mouthfeel that the flour used to, without the added carbs. Plus, if you do gluten-free keto, as I do, you’re getting rid of the gluten too.
I’ve made this recipe in a Dutch Oven several times, but that all changed when I got my Instant Pot. This is a life-altering piece of kitchen equipment. Beef stews that used to take 3-4 hours of stovetop cooking now take 1/3 of the time, and end up tasting just as good. I have had 3 different electric pressure cookers in my lifetime. One was a Cuisinart that I got from Costco, one was a cheap knock-off of the Instant Pot, and then I got a deal on an 8-quart name-brand Instant Pot on Amazon. My old knock-off would always get the valve knocked out of place or the seal loosened, and it would result in the pot not coming up to pressure. The manufacturing alone on the Instant Pot is a good reason to splurge for the real thing. The lid is solid, the valve stays where you want it to, almost every part is dishwasher safe, and it’s foolproof to use. This is not your grandma’s pressure cooker. You’re not going to blow up your kitchen with this, trust me. So if you’re afraid, don’t worry. The instructions are crystal-clear and it’s almost impossible to screw up.
Start off with 3 pounds of chuck stew beef. If you want, get a chuck roast and cut it yourself, but I personally would rather spend the extra dollar or so to not have to do that. Heat your Instant Pot to saute, add 2 tablespoons of avocado oil, and brown the stew beef in batches, sprinkling each with salt and pepper to taste as soon as it gets in the pot. Be careful to not overload the pan. Overloading the pan leads to no good browning, and no good browning leads to no good flavor. Nobody wants that.
Remove each batch of beef to a medium bowl when it’s finished browning. While you’re waiting for the beef to finish, mix together 3 tablespoons of chili powder with 2 teaspoons of cumin, a tablespoon of dried Mexican oregano, a half teaspoon of salt, and black pepper to taste. For the chili powder, I prefer to use a mixture of different types of chiles instead of the standard “chili powder” you find in the grocery store. I like ancho with a bit of chipotle. Don’t use more than 1 tablespoon of chipotle in the mix unless you REALLY like heat. If you prefer mild, use the regular chili powder. It tastes fine no matter what you do.
Once the beef is browned, add a rounded tablespoon of minced garlic to the Instant Pot and cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute. Return the beef and any accumulated juices to the pot, and toss in the spice mixture.
Turn the beef to coat it and let the spices toast for a minute or two, then add 4 cups of beef broth. Stir to loosen the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, then seal the lid and use the Meat/Stew setting to pressure cook. Use the natural release when it’s finished. That should make your meat almost fall-apart tender.
When the pot can be opened, remove the lid and hit the Saute setting again. Bring the chili to a simmer and sprinkle over xanthan gum, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, until it reaches the desired thickness. This isn’t meant to be TOO thick, so around 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon should do it. Taste for seasoning one more time and adjust as needed. Serve with cheese, sour cream, sliced avocado, minced onion, or any other topping you think would be delicious.
Turn your Instant Pot to saute and add 2 tablespoons of avocado oil. Put the beef in the pot in batches, being careful not to crowd it too much, and sprinkle each batch with a total of 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. As each batch finishes browning, remove it from the pot and place into a medium bowl.
While the meat browns, mix together the chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cumin, oregano, and pepper in a small bowl or ramekin. Set aside.
When all the meat is finished browning, add the garlic to the pot and saute for about a minute. Toss in the meat, any accumulated juices from the bowl, and coat with the spices. Toast the beef in the spices for about two minutes, then add the beef broth, making sure to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Seal the Instant Pot and set for the Meat/Stew setting, allowing for natural release.
When the pot can be safely opened, remove the lid and set for Saute again. Once the chili begins to simmer, whisk in the xanthan gum, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, until it's as thick as you want it.
Macros per serving: 429 calories, 2 grams net carbs, 33 grams protein, 31 grams fat.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Any embedded link to a product earns me a portion of the purchase price if you click and buy it.
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