Chicken (noodle) soup in an (electric) pressure cooker

Learning a pressure cooker, or in my case, an electric pressure cooker (brand Instant Pot) means trying out new recipes and seeing what it can do.

In the case of chicken noodle soup, the answer is a whole hell of a lot.

When I made it, I went online to see what the general suggestions, and recipe directions/ingredients are for chicken noodle soup.

The best suggestion, which I heeded, was to cook the noodles separately because of the difference in required cooking time.

Other included cubing the chicken before cooking it (for people using boneless chicken breasts or thighs) and suggestions on how much broth and water to include in the pot.

Finally, I was reminded that cooking bone-in chicken means leftovers will be a little gelatinous, from the natural binders in the chicken cartilage.

(See just the recipe here.)

Chicken noodle soup made (mostly) in an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot). Bone-in skin-on chicken legs were used, as well as green chiles (Anaheim peppers).

I didn’t see any particular instructions on what to do with chicken legs.

Chicken legs are probably the cheapest meat I can get and when I went to the store to get ingredients, they were only $1 a pound, by far the best deal in the store.

They also go on sale for $4 for a 10 lb frozen bag.

If you’re looking for a cheap chicken soup, this is it.

I put the metal steam rack in the bottom, put in two chicken legs, the cut veggies (squash, zucchini, carrots and green chiles), poured in six cups (32 ounces) of chicken broth, a little water, half a bullion cube, locked the lid and turned it to 15 minutes .

After it finished cooking, and I allowed it to “natural release” for 15 minutes, I vented the unit and extracted the first chicken leg with a gloved hand and started taking the meat off the bone and putting into a bowl. Once both chicken legs has been stripped of their meat, I threw them back in the pot and started stirring. Meanwhile, I already drained the pasta and, after realizing everything would be easier in a larger pot, I transferred everything to the pot the pasta had been in.

I added the noodles and realized it lacked salt, so, remembering a Cook’s Illustrated I read on the topic, I grabbed my trusty light soy sauce, my trustier fish sauce and seasoned the soup.

Voila!

Unfortunately, for leftovers, the pasta continued to soak up the broth. I was fine with it, but one could have added a little more.

What did I learn?

Chicken legs or (bone-in) thighs work just fine, so long as you’re willing to fish them out, strip the meat off the bones and put it back in the pot.

 

Pressure cooker chicken noodle soup

Makes 10 servings

Ingredients

2-3 chicken legs (bone in, skin

6 cups chicken stock (48 ounces)

2 cups water

1 bullion cube (optional)

1 lb carrots

1 medium onion (optional)

1 zucchini, Mexican squash, yellow squash or other squash

2-5 green chiles (Anaheim peppers) or other peppers of choice, such as bell peppers or Poblanos.

1/2 to 1 lb pound mushrooms (optional)

Other vegetables as desired, including celery and garlic

Soy sauce to taste

Fish sauce to taste

Pepper to taste

1 lb noodles

Directions

1. Cut all the vegetables into bite-sized pieces.

2. Place the steamer rack at the bottom of the (electric) pressure cooker, then place the chicken legs on top.

3. Put the vegetables in the pot, followed by the chicken stock, the bullion cube (if using) and the water.

4. (Electric) Set the pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Allow for 15 minutes of natural release, and then vent, if desired. If using a stove top pressure cooker, bring to pressure and cook for 15 minutes.

5. While the soup is cooking, in a medium pot, heat water to boiling. Salt the water, then add the noodles and cook as per directions.

6. Once the soup is vented, or the top can be opened, remove one chicken leg at a time and, being careful not to burn your fingers, with a fork, knife or both, remove the meat from the chicken bones. Cut the meat into the desired-sized pieces. Continue with the rest of the chicken legs. Add the meat back to the soup.

7. Drain the pasta and combine with the chicken soup. If desired, transfer the soup from the pressure cooker to the pasta-cooking pot.

8. Season with soy sauce and fish sauce, until soup reaches desired saltiness.

Corned beef hash (breakfast) burrito

Find the stand-alone recipe here.

Sometimes, great things come from the lowly grill at your local gas station.

That is the case with the corned beef hash burrito, originally hailing from the Triple S gas station in Española.

Uniquely New Mexican and a delicious fusion, there is nothing quite like it.

I was first introduced to this fusion by a co-worker who announced to the newsroom that he was going to get one at the gas station.

Soon, I went to discover this invention myself. I can vouch: it’s amazing.

Here in New Mexico, you will always be asked if you want red, green, or nothing. This refers to green chile and red chile. If you want both, it’s called Christmas.

This version leaves the chile choices up to you. I decided to chop up and lightly cook a green chile for the burrito. Normally I would have paired it with salsa and the secret sauce I use for grilled corn and fish tacos, but I was out of both.

There are quite a few moving parts to this recipe.

First, the corned beef hash. I used the canned kind because I haven’t made corned beef in a while. If I had, the hash is pretty easy to make. Finely dice everything (cabbage, potatoes, corned beef) and throw it in the skillet to fry up.

Either way, it fries in the skillet.

Next are the diced potatoes, which are optional.

Since I now have an InstantPot, the brand name for a type of electric pressure cooker, I cooked the potatoes the night before. First, I cooked them for five minutes, which left them a little too hard. I cooked them again for two minutes, which made them a little too soft. The next morning, I diced a few of them, then threw them in a skillet with some oil, salted liberally, and let them fry.

The electric pressure cooker makes steaming/boiling potatoes so much easier than if I had to cook them in a pot on the stove.

Meanwhile, I had a little under a pound of black beans soaking in water since the day before. The morning I wanted to make the corned beef hash, dumped the water the beans had been soaking in, put them in the electric pressure with a bullion cube and let them cook for 15 minutes on high pressure.

The black beans, after they’ve been cooked in the electric pressure cooker, and before they’re thrown in the skillet to lose any extra liquid.

Lots of people say you can just throw dry beans in the pressure cooker, it just takes more time. I prefer to soak the beans.

You might think this means the beans are done in 15 minutes. It doesn’t. It’s much closer to an hour, between the time it takes to heat the pot and bring it to pressure, as well as the time it takes to naturally release the pressure. Still, an hour without any babysitting the pot isn’t bad.

Potatoes: cooking. Beans: cooking. Corned beef hash: cooking.

The corned beef hash (front) and potatoes (back).

Next up is the green chile. Chop it up and throw it in a hot skillet for a few minutes.

In hindsight, I probably should have added some eggs, either fried and on top of the burrito, and cooked and put inside the burrito, but I didn’t think of it at the time.

When it comes to the burrito, it needs to be large enough to allow for all of the ingredients. Often, packages will state “burrito size.”

So, go make yourself a corned beef hash burrito! You will be amazed at how delicious it is.

The burrito before rolling. Left to right: Pan-fried potatoes, black beans, green chile, corned beef hash.

Find the rest of the photos here on Flickr.

 

Print Recipe

Corned beef hash breakfast burrito

A staple of New Mexican gas stations, the corned beef breakfast burrito is a wonderful fusion
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American, Fusion, New Mexican
Keyword: burrito
Servings: 2 burritos
Author: Wheeler Cowperthwaite

Ingredients

  • 1-2 eggs scrambled or fried
  • Milk if making scrambled eggs
  • 1-3 green chiles diced
  • 1 can corned beef hash or hash made from slow cooked corned beef
  • 2-4 ounces cooked black beans
  • 3 diced potatoes
  • 2 Burrito-sized tortillas
  • Red chile prepared (optional)
  • secret sauce optional

Instructions

  • Cook the beans, or buy canned beans.
  • Steam or boil potatoes until tender
  • Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Put the hash into the skillet and cook until it begins to lightly brown.
  • Either remove the corned beef hash to container and add the diced potatoes, with some oil, or heat another skillet on high, add a little oil, and toss in the diced potatoes. Shake salt over the potatoes and cook until lightly brown.
  • Cook the eggs and remove to plate or bowl when done.
  • Cook the beans in a skillet with a dab of oil, briefly, to remove excess liquid
  • Briefly heat the first tortilla in the microwave or in the skillet, until just a little warm and pliable.
  • Add the ingredients you’re using to the center of the tortilla, including the hash, potatoes, eggs, beans, chile and anything else, roll, and serve with red chile, salsa, sauce and garnish with lime slices.

Notes

See the corned beef recipe here and the secret sauce recipe here.