This Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker Spicy Chicken Soup is a quick-to-throw-together chicken taco soup and loaded with chicken, black beans, corn, tomatoes, and salsa. Top it with your favorite Mexican cheese, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, and a jalapeno or two. 

This Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker Spicy Chicken Soup has been one of my family’s favorite soups for a long time. The original slow cooker recipe was one of the first recipes I posted on my baking blog, Barbara Bakes. I used to have to remember to start it in the morning so it’d be ready for dinner. However, since I converted it to a pressure cooker recipe, I’ll spend 5 minutes in the kitchen and come back to a fully cooked soup in under an hour.  

This is the perfect meal for a busy night! If you like a little spice in your life, give this one a try.

Making Pressure Cooker Spicy Chicken Soup in an Instant Pot

An Instant Pot is one of the most popular brands of electric pressure cookers. They are easy to use and your Instant Pot can help you create this delicious Pressure Cooker Spicy Chicken Soup!

Cook Spicy Chicken Soup with Frozen Chicken Breasts

This can be a great dump-and-go recipe. When you’re really in a hurry, you don’t even have to defrost the chicken. Just use frozen chicken breasts and increase the cook time to 11 minutes!

(Note: When using frozen chicken breasts, it’s the thickness of the breast that matters more than the size or number of the chicken breasts. If your frozen chicken breasts are very thick, or if more than one breast is frozen together, you will need to increase the cook time even further.)

When I’m cooking with frozen chicken breasts, I’ll also skip sauteing the onions and just use dried spices. (See the Notes section in the recipe for conversions.) 

Change Up the Ingredients!

This is a really flexible recipe. Don’t be afraid to use it as a template to branch out a little. Don’t have salsa on hand? Substitute a similar amount of your favorite salsa ingredients, Rotel diced tomatoes, or add cumin or red pepper flakes another favorite flavor. (One Pressure Cooking Today reader substituted chipotle in adobo puree with great results!) If there’s a Mexican flavor you love, give it a try!  

My daughter, Jennifer, only had a small crockpot when she was first married, so she had to cut back on the chicken and the black beans to get the whole soup to fit. Even though she now has an Instant Pot that can fit all the ingredients, she prefers to still leave out the chicken and beans to get the more broth-y soup she’s used to with less chicken and beans. I’ve included her modifications in the recipe notes as well.

Freeze for Later

I love this Pressure Cooker Spicy Chicken Soup because it makes about 5 quarts of soup, so there’s almost always extra. This soup freezes and reheats really well.

I like to freeze it in individual servings, about 1 1/2 cups, in freezer Ziploc bags. Stack the bags flat on a cutting board or rimmed baking sheet before putting into the freezer. Once frozen, you can stand them up to take up less room in the freezer.

Are soups on a regular rotation at your house during the winter? Do you have a favorite soup you’d like me to make? Let me know in the comments!

Continue to Content

Pressure Cooker Spicy Chicken Soup

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 43 minutes

Print

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced*
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed*
• 2 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts**
• 1 jar (16 ounce) mild chunky salsa
• 2 cans (14.5 ounce) peeled and diced tomatoes
• 2 cans (14.5 ounce) chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 to 2 cans (16 ounce) black beans, drained*
• 1 bag (15 ounce) frozen corn
• Shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips, and jalapeno peppers, optional, for serving

Instructions

1. Select Sauté and add olive oil to the pressure cooker pot. When oil is hot, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
2. Add remaining ingredients, except beans and corn. Lock lid in place, select High Pressure and 8 minutes cook time. (It will take about 20 minutes to come to pressure because there is so much liquid.)
3. When the cook time ends, turn off pressure cooker. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then use a quick pressure release.
4. Remove chicken breasts from the pressure cooking pot and dice or shred. Return chicken to the soup and stir in black beans and corn.
5. If necessary, select Saute and bring the soup to a boil, stirring occasionally, until beans and corn are heated.
6. Serve topped with shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips, and jalapeno peppers, if desired.

Notes

*This recipe is very forgiving. If you want a true dump-and-go meal, substitute 2 tablespoons dried onion and 1 teaspoon dried minced garlic. Skip the first step and just add all the ingredients (except corn and beans) to the pressure cooking pot.

*Customize the amount of chicken and beans to your family's tastes. The chicken breasts absorb a bit of the broth as the soup cools, so if you add the full amount of chicken breasts, you'll have a thick, hearty soup. With less chicken, the broth and beans take center stage.

**You can cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts from frozen in this recipe, just adjust the cook time to 11 minutes.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  OXO Good Grips Meat Shredding Claws with Handles
• 
  The Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook: 200 Fast and Foolproof Recipes
• 
  OXO Good Grips Nylon Ladle

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 222Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 56mgSodium: 410mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 4gSugar: 3gProtein: 23g

Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.

On the lookout for Mexican flavors? Here are some other soups you need to try: 

• Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker Asopado
• Pressure Cooker Creamy Enchilada Soup
• Pork and Hominy Stew (Posole)
• Pressure Cooker White Chicken Chili
• Instant Pot Picante Chicken and Black Bean Soup
• Chicken Tomatillo Soup with Hominy

Pin It: