Chicken and Root Vegetable Soup

This Instant Pot chicken and root vegetable soup (whole30) is perfect for meal prepping. Just make a big ole pot of it and you have dinner for the next 3 days! Before I bought my instant pot I made this soup on the stove top and it took hours to first cook the chicken then add to the root veggies. Sometimes depending on what root veggies I was using, I would have to boil some (like cassava) before adding others. My instant pot has simplified my soup making so much! It is still pretty cold in Denver and on a cold, overcast day a hot bowl of soup is just calling my name. It's just comforting to know that I can have hearty, delicious and healthy soup in about 20 minutes.

Prepping the Instant Pot Chicken and Root Vegetable Soup

For this instant pot chicken and root vegetables soup I like to sauté the onions, whole garlic and diced pumpkin in a bit of olive oil first. This step gives the dish a depth of flavor that isn't there if you just dump everything into the pot and add water. Once the onions and whole cloves of garlic become soft and a bit translucent, I add in the pumpkin. I buy my pumpkin  frozen from Walmart. Click here to see what the packaging looks like. I steam it in the microwave per the instructions on the packaging first and then I add it to the instant pot. If you live in a place where you can't find pumpkin fresh or frozen you may substitute the pumpkin in this recipe with a cup of diced butternut squash.

Cooking the Instant Pot Chicken and Root Vegetable Soup

The next couple of steps are pretty easy. Once you've sautéed the onion, garlic and pumpkin for a few minutes add a whole chicken (cut down the breast) breast side down then pile on the root veggies and additional seasoning add 6 to 8 cups of water (depends on the size of your instant pot) and pressure cook for using the poultry setting. It is that simple.

Using the instant pot makes this a quick no hassle dish. It cooks in 15 minutes and the chicken is fall off the bone tender. After releasing the steam, just give it a good stir to mix up the veggies and if you like you can use a fork to shred up the chicken but the chicken is usually tender enough that using your wooden spoon to loosen it up works just as well.

What makes this recipe Whole30

A lot of Caribbean soup recipes call for the use of chicken bouillon cubes which often has sugar and mono sodium glutamate in the ingredients list which are both not allowed on whole30. By eliminating those ingredients and not adding corn or other non-compliant ingredients this dish is transformed into a tasty whole30 one pot complete meal. For more insight into my whole30 journey check out my recent post about The Whole30 and me. Please follow me on instagram to see what I'm eating for my March Caribbean Whole30. Caribbean food is healthy food!

The Printable Recipe:

Printable Recipe Card

Instant Pot Chicken and Root Vegetable Soup (Whole30)

Althea Brown

This quick and easy one pot dish brings together a whole chicken and delicious root vegetables in a flavorful pumpkin broth

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Whole30

Cuisine Caribbean

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 whole chicken about 5 -6 lbs
• 1 lb of cassava peeled and cut into large pieces
• 2 white sweet potatoes peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 cup of diced pumpkin may use butternut squash
• 2 large carrots peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 yam peeled and cut into quarters
• 2 large russet potatoes peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 yellow onion diced
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 wiri wiri peppers or 1 habanero pepper whole skip if you don't like spice
• 1 ½ teaspoons of iodized sea salt or salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon of ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 6-8 cups of water
• 1 tablespoon of parley flakes or fresh parsley
• Some fresh parsley to garnish

Instructions

 

• Remove liver, gizzards and neck from chicken (if included)
• Then split down the center of the breast using kitchen shears or a knife and set aside
• Next set your instant pot to sauté and when hot add the oil
• Followed by the onion and whole garlic and sauté until soft and slightly translucent (about 3 minutes)
• Next add the pumpkin and cook for an additional 2-4 minutes
• Then push the cancel button to take the instant pot out of the sauté mode
• Next add the fresh thyme then place the chicken breast side down into the pot
• Then add all the root vegetables followed by garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, parsley flakes and peppers (if using)
• Next add water, seal and pressure cook using the poultry setting on the instant pot
• Release the steam and serve hot

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!