gluten-free eats

This is basically a half order of my Greek Chicken, Lemon, and Rice Soup only in the Instant Pot and without the lemon. It makes a fast and delicious chicken soup with not a lot of work.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
1/2 yellow onion, diced (~1/2 cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced (~2 tablespoons)
1 bone-in, skin-on chicken breast (~2 lbs, if it's small, you can use two)
8 cups chicken broth
3 stalks celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
3/4 cup uncooked long grain white rice (I use jasmine)
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Time: Prep about 30 minutes, split. Total lid-down time ~45 minutes.

Tools: 6 quart (or larger) Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker.

Instructions:

1. Add the garlic and onion to the pot and season it with a little salt and pepper. Optional: Using the sauté function on low or medium, sauté the garlic and onion in a little olive oil until translucent. I do this, but I don't know how much difference it makes and can easily be skipped if you're not feeling it.

2. Place your chicken breast in there. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on it. I leave the skin on for MAXIMUM FLAVOR. You can remove it, but I find with this soup that if you remove the skin, it doesn't have as much chicken power as the version made on the stove because none of the water evaporates during the cooking process.

3. Pour in 8 cups of chicken broth. This usually puts me just at the 1/2 line in the pot.

4. Secure the lid and set that thing for pressure cooking, on high, for 20 minutes.

5. When it's done, quick release the pressure, crack it open, grab the chicken breast with some tongs and put it on a plate.

6. Throw the rice, chopped celery, carrots, and parsley into the pot and set it to medium sauté. Add a pinch or two of kosher salt for the veg. That'll bubble away while you pick the chicken. The rice and veg should cook for about 15 minutes, which is as long as it takes me to pick one (huge) chicken breast. If you think it might take you longer, you can hold off on adding the rice and veg until you're mostly done with the chicken.

7. Remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Using two forks, pull the chicken off the bone and into nice bite-sized shreds. Throw the chicken shreds back into the pot as you work. Once you're done, discard the bones, and pour any chicken juices on your plate back into your soup.

8. After 15 minutes, test a rice and a veg for doneness, and taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve hot! Though, since it's coming out of a pressure cooker it will be hot as the sun, so you may want to wait a bit.

Serves 4-5 adults.

Store leftovers in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze in a sealed container. The rice will soak up all the broth as it sits, turning it into chicken soup pudding, so you'll need to add more broth before reheating.

Notes: I like breasts for this because it's easy to get at the meat, but you can use any chicken pieces you like. America's Test Kitchen says you can shove an entire 4 pound chicken in there: Discard the giblets, put the chicken breast-up in 6 cups of water (or broth), and then just keep on with this recipe. Same 20 minutes on high. Pick the meat off the chicken. Double the veg, up that rice to a full cup, and after it's done pressure cooking, add an additional 2 cups of water (or broth) to the broth.

Variations: If you want the lemony Greek version, you can zest, then juice, one lemon and throw that in at the very end before service.

Questions? Ask 'em!