Shortcut Instant Pot Chicken Chile Verde Soup comes together with simple pantry ingredients, and may be assembled as freezer packs for easy freezer Instant Pot weeknight dinners. No pre-cooking, and packed full of delicious tomatillo, jalapeno, lime and garlic flavors!
It’s the fifth recipe in our Instant Pot series, and I hope you’re not getting sick of the word ‘Instant Pot’.
This will be the last one for a few weeks. Ben keeps trying to put it away in the closet but I keep digging it back out! I am definitely hooked.
Today’s Instant Pot chicken chile verde soup is another freezer-pack friendly recipe…since it is a no pre-cook recipe, you just toss your ingredients into the bag, squeeze as much air out as possible, and freeze for up to 3 months.
When you’re ready to serve? Thaw, then dump into the pot and you are going to have a delicious, healthy dinner on your table in 30 or so minutes.
How easy is this chicken chile verde soup to prepare?
When it comes to freezer slow cooker recipes, no cook is the way to go…so I naturally wanted to apply the same strategy to my first freezer Instant Pot recipe.
Our shortcut involves using jarred tomatillo salsa versus roasting our own up. Even with this shortcut, this soup is PACKED with delicious tomatillo, jalapeno and garlic flavors.
In addition, we use canned corn, green chiles, and black beans. I almost always have these items in my pantry, so this soup is a breeze to throw together on the fly!
The Instant Pot makes this chicken chile verde soup so so easy to prepare. Simply dump the ingredients in the pot and set it for 10 minutes high pressure.
Since the Instant Pot will take 20-30 minutes to come to pressure, this soup will be ready in 30-40 minutes, however the best thing about it is how hands off it is!
Once the timer beeps, you will release the pressure, stir in some cornmeal (this brings out some more corn flavors and also thickens the soup slightly), and stir in a squeeze of lime juice.
Serve with a dollop of yogurt, fresh cilantro, and some avocado…although not pictured, it’s awesome in this Instant Pot chicken chile verde soup! We also loved tortilla chips (because who doesn’t?) and shredded cheese.
Tips for perfect Instant Pot chicken chile verde soup
- I have the 6 quart Instant Pot
, but you could also prep this soup on the stove top (simmer for 20-30 minutes) or slow cooker (low for 4-6 hours)
- You can assemble all the ingredients ahead and freeze as a freezer Instant Pot meal, or cook it up and freeze the cooked chicken chile verde soup for up to 3 months
- Make sure you get tomatillo salsa and not ‘green salsa’ that has a jalapeno base (made that mistake for myself!)
- Looking for more Instant Pot chicken recipes? Check out these 7 Instant Pot Chicken Breast Recipes, this Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Stew and this Spicy Instant Pot Thai Chicken Curry!
- Looking for more soup recipes? Try this Healthy Broccoli Cheese Soup, this Butternut Squash Soup Recipe or this Healthier Beef Barley Soup
Shortcut Instant Pot Chicken Chile Verde Soup
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts roughly 1.5 lbs
- 1 can of black beans 540mL/ 19 oz cannellini drained and rinsed
- 1 can green chiles 127 mL/ 4.3 oz
- 1 can of corn kernels 340mL/ 11.5 oz , drained
- 1 onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cup salsa verde *
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups chicken stock
After cooking
- 3 tablespoons cornmeal
- juice of 1 lime
To serve
- yogurt
- cilantro
- tortilla chips
- shredded cheese
Instructions
- In the base of a 6 quart Instant Pot, combine all ingredients.
- Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Release pressure immediately (10 minutes natural pressure release is fine, too).
- Remove the chicken breasts and shred with two forks.
- Stir in the cornmeal and lime juice.
- Serve with yogurt, cilantro, tortilla chips and/or shredded cheese.
To prepare freezer packs:
- Combine all ingredients except for the stock, cornmeal and lime juice in a large gallon-sized freezer-bag.
- Remove as much air as possible and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Thaw completely before cooking using the directions above.
Amber
This was amazing! My kids and husband loved it! I skipped the corn meal since I didn’t have any and it was still amazing. We added Mexican cheese, fresh chunks of avocado, cilantro and some cilantro lime sour cream. We will definitely make this again.
Denise
Woohoo! So happy to hear your family enjoyed, Amber! Thank you for reporting back 🙂
Lisa
Hi!!! I don’t have cornmeal, what can I sub instead? Looks yummy!!!
Denise
Hi Lisa! You can just leave it out. Although I saw that Ina Garten crumbles tortilla chips into her pozole, so maybe that would work for you?
Jessica
I guess I’m confused on if you cook it all at once or just the individually prepped bags one at a time.
Denise
Hi Jessica, sorry for the confusion, you can either cook it right away or assemble ahead and freeze as a freezer pack. You can find directions in the recipe card.
Jessica
Hi. I am a single person and was wondering if you would recommend cutting the recipe in half? I never know how that affects the instant pot instructions.
Denise
Hi Jessica! I believe it would be fine to cut this recipe in half, as there is sufficient volume to bring the pot to pressure.
Lawrence
Hello,
I want to make this recipe for next week’s meal prep. Would this make enough for 5 days or should I double the recipe?
Thank you
Denise
Hi Lawrence, sorry looks like my recipe card serving size info was deleted. It serves 8! However I don’t recommend storing chicken in the fridge for more than 4 days. You could freeze the 5th portion and pull it out the day before? Hope you enjoy!
Tracy
This soup is delicious! Quick and easy with lots of flavor. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Denise
Hi Tracy! I’m so happy you enjoyed. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Elise
I am looking for a recipe you recently had on your website but now I can’t find it anywhere!! When I click on the link, it says “the page is no longer available”. It was in a post titled “19 healthy slow cooker soups” or something like that. It was a spicy chicken soup, made in a slow cooker, and it had avocado, green chilies, cilantro, etc. Where can I find this recipe?? I love it, but never got a chance to write it down! Thanks.
Denise
Hi Elise! I think you’re talking about this round up: https://sweetpeasandsaffron.com/slow-cooker-soups-and-stews/. Are you talking about this soup? https://slowcookergourmet.net/slow-cooker-spicy-chicken-soup/
Elise
Yes!! Thank you so much! I love it!
KCJules
It’s a cold snowy day in Kansas City. Perfect Soup Day! And my husband made the soup and cooked in the Instant Pot. Delicious! Thanks for letting us know to freeze the meal ahead of time. So helpful for busy schedules.
Denise
You are very welcome! It is cold here too, so so so ready for spring weather!
Zulakha
My family loved this! We did it the old fashion way, on the stove!
Denise
Awesome! So happy your family enjoyed it, Zulakha! Thanks so much for reporting back 🙂
Kim
This soup is delicious! Only change I made is to make a slurry with some of the soup liquid and arrowroot powder to thinken. I tried using the cornmeal and it just clumped together like a dumpling, so I pulled it out and made the slurry. Other than that, it was Amazing!
Denise
So glad you liked it Kim!
sera
I just printed this. It sounds delicious!
Denise
I hope you enjoy it, Sera!
Grace
My husband and I both loved this recipe and will add it to our list of favorites. I thought there was too much broth, but my husband thought it was just right. Either way, we both agreed that the soup was very tasty. Loved the green chili taste and appreciated Denise’s note to make sure to use a tomatillo based salsa rather than jalapeno based because it’s the tomatillo taste that really came through.
Denise
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Grace! Thanks so much for your review 🙂
Dee
Many thanks Denise for still including the slow cooker method. Can’t wait to try this!
Denise
No problem, Dee! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Barbara Berry
Can I use a regular pressure cooker for Instant Pot recipes? Thank you!
Denise
Hi Barbara, that should be fine! I don’t have any experience with other pressure cookers but they should be pretty equivalent for this recipe 🙂