Instant Pot

Martha Stewart's Instant Pot Vietnamese-Style Chicken Soup

by:
March 11, 2019
4
9 Ratings
Photo by Marcus Nilsson
  • Prep time 15 minutes
  • Cook time 35 minutes
  • Serves 6 to 8
Author Notes

Recipe reprinted from Martha Stewart's Pressure Cooker: 100+ Fabulous New Recipes for the Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot®. Copyright © 2018 by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Photograph copyright © 2018 by Marcus Nilsson. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. —Food52

Test Kitchen Notes

Featured in: 10 Instant Pot Chicken Recipes for Comforting Dinners All Week Long. —The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 pounds chicken wings
  • 4 ounces bacon (about 4 slices), finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh lemongrass (about 4 stalks, bottom 3 inches only)
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
  • 3 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
  • 3 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 1/4 cup fish sauce, such as nuoc nam or nam pla
  • 3 quarts water
  • 2 large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
  • 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 teaspoons coarse salt
  • 1/3 cup fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges, for serving
  • Fresh mint leaves, for garnish
  • Avocado slices, for garnish
Directions
  1. Place chicken wings on a 16-inch square of cheesecloth; tie opposite corners of cloth together to form a bundle.
  2. Heat a 6- to 8-quart stovetop pressure cooker over medium-high, or set an electric pressure cooker to sauté. Add bacon and cook until some fat is rendered, about 6 minutes. Add lemongrass, cilantro stems, ginger, and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in fish sauce, scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Stir in the water, chicken wing bundle, chicken thighs, mushrooms, and salt.
  3. Secure lid. Manually set cooker to 25 minutes and let it come to pressure. Once time is complete, turn off, quickly release pressure, then remove lid.
  4. Let chicken stand in liquid for 10 minutes. Remove chicken wing bundle. Skim any fat from surface of soup, if desired.
  5. Transfer chicken thighs to a cutting board. Remove skin from chicken thighs and pull meat from bones. Using two forks, shred chicken into pieces (discard bones and skin). Return chicken to soup. Stir in lime juice, top with mint leaves and avocado, and serve with lime wedges.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

2 Reviews

Max July 3, 2022
This is Part 2 of this review.

I am known for taking a recipe and modifying it and take it to next level.

I made this soup again a day later and changed it as follows:

- No bacon (wife did not like the taste) Used a little oil instead
- replaced chicken wings with Chicken Thighs (4 of them) and tied in a bundle
- Replaced thighs with 2 Chicken Breast with ribs
- did not chop the lemon grass, but rather smash it and added it to the liquid (3 of them)
- created a bundle with cheesecloth with the following spices (Pho spices): 4 cloves
5 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

The rest of the directions and ingredients kept the same

The soup came out FANTASTIC.

Next time, I will just add 1 Chicken Breast with ribs instead of two (two was too much chicken)

Max July 1, 2022
I consider myself able to prep things fast, but 15 minutes may be too short. 20-25 is about right. Cutting the bacon into small pieces took the longest. Maybe freezing for 10-15 minutes will help.

The soup itself comes together quickly and with the pressure cooker, a breeze.

This is No Pho by any means, and the taste is nice. This is a great soup if you are dieting as I would imagine a bowl (12-16 oz) would be less than 250 calories, very low sodium (as is), and low carbs. My next attempt will be to use Breast meat with ribs in lieu of thighs and maybe replace the wings with thighs.

I would consider this soup for a Soup Day (Lunch and Dinner), or maybe even several days during a diet week. As I write this today, I will make it my soup day.