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By Jenifer Restuccio a recent ASU Nutrition Student

This chicken soup recipe is a go-to for cold winter nights. Why do I say that?

• It’s easy.
• It’s quick.
• You probably have most of the ingredients already.
• It’s the ultimate comfort food.

Normally, making chicken soup requires standing over a hot stove for a few hours, stirring periodically making sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. The Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi make classics like chicken soup so much easier and faster to make.

Most of you might have heard of the Instant pot already. It’s the most famous electric pressure cooker that cooks food under high pressure, reducing the cooking time drastically.

The Ninja Foodi is also a pressure cooker like the Instant Pot, except it can do more. The Foodi can also air fry food! My fiancé got me the Foodi for my birthday this past summer and it has changed my life.

If you haven’t tried using a pressure cooker or an air fryer, I highly recommend trying the Ninja Foodi because  its 2-in-1!

This recipe was originally supposed to come out as a soup, but some might call it a stew because it’s hearty, chunky, and there’s not much broth left after the rice soaks it all up during cooking.

Either way, it is delicious and will warm you up on a cold winter day!

Preparation time: 14 minutes

Cooking time: 6 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Serving size: 6 generous portions

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon light olive oil

1 pound boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

6 carrots, chopped

2 onions, chopped

5 stalks celery

6 cups chicken broth or stock

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons parsley

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup basmati rice

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Turn on your pressure cooker and hit the “sauté” button, choose medium heat. While the cooker is heating up, cut your chicken into 1/2-inch pieces. Add the oil and sauté the chicken until it is browned, about 5 minutes.
2. While the chicken is cooking, chop up your veggies however you like them. I like them on the bigger side for a chunkier texture.
3. In a separate bowl, rinse the rice at least 3 times under running water, or until the water runs clear. Set aside.
4. Cancel the sauté function and add the chopped carrots, celery, onion, broth, rinsed rice, bay leaf, salt, pepper, parsley, and lemon juice. Give it a good stir to make sure there are no bits of chicken stuck to the bottom.
5. Put the pressure cooker lid on and lock it into place. Make sure the pressure cooker vent is set to “SEAL” not “VENT”.
6. Cook at high pressure for 7 minutes.
7. Once done cooking, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes then hit quick release. Once pressure is done releasing open the lid carefully, away from you.
8. Remove the bay leaf from the soup.
9. Let the soup cool down for about 5 minutes before eating (it’s hot!).
10. Taste the soup and add more salt or pepper, to your liking.
11. Enjoy!

Alterations:

• To make this soup vegetarian, you could omit the chicken and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
• If you don’t have light olive oil, any vegetable oil will work just fine.

For more awesome recipes be sure to check out the Fill Your Plate recipe section