This recipe for a low carb Poblano Chicken Soup is bursting with flavor, without being spicy.
Poblano Chicken Soup | Pressure Cooker & Low Carb
You know those white chicken chili recipes? I always look at those and wonder if you can still call it chile when it has no chilis in it. What’s white chili anyway? I don’t know. What I do know is they look very interesting.
But they also have a lot of white beans in them and I wanted to keep it somewhat lower carb. The other thing I noticed is that they all used canned beans. I don’t want to use canned beans, because I have an Instant Pot that makes great beans.
What I had to do was find a way to cook beans and chicken together without leaving one raw and the other overcooked, and use something other than the beans to provide a creaminess to the soup.
So I used small white beans called Navy beans because once soaked, they cook within 10 minutes. But I also added riced/diced cauliflower to add creaminess. I finished it with cream cheese, to add a little good fat, but also a creamy finish to the soup.
The result is a robust chicken soup that’s not spicy but is quite flavorful from all the vegetables and chicken. At about 8 gms net carbs per serving, and 23 gms of protein, it makes an easy low-carb meal.
Looking for more great low carb soup recipes? Check out my Low Carb Cream Of Mushroom Soup! It’s a deliciously creamy soup that’s easy to make and keto friendly!
Another great low carb soup option is my Instant Pot Spicy Cauliflower Soup. It’s very tasty, low carb and perfect for any day of the week!
Note: if you want to lower carb counts even more in the Poblano Chicken Soup, omit the beans, double the cauliflower, and cut back the water by about 1/2 cup. That will give you a soup with about 5 gms of net carbs but it will be less robust. Since it only saves you about 3 gms of carbs, I’m not sure the trade-off is worth it, but it depends on what else you’re eating that day 🙂
The steps for this Low Carb Poblano Chicken Recipe are:
- Put chicken, soaked beans, spices, and water and cook at high pressure for 16 mins, 10 mins NPR
- Remove and shred chicken
- Purée sauce using an immersion blender
- Add cream cheese
- Add back chicken.
Or you could do it as I show you in this video, where I just puréed everything together to make a smoother, thicker soup.
HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT CHICKEN POBLANO SOUP |LOW CARB CHICKEN POBLANO SOUP
This low carb Poblano Chicken Soup makes a creamy, hearty meal that cooks in under 30 minutes in your pressure cooker or instant pot!
- 1/2 cup navy beans soaked for an hour in hot water
- 1 cup onion diced
- 3 poblano peppers chopped
- 5 cloves Garlic
- 1 cup cauliflower diced
- 1.5 pounds chicken breast, large chunks
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 teaspoon Ground Coriander
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1-2 teaspoons Salt
- 2.5 cups water
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- Put everything except the cream cheese into your Instant Pot, and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes. Allow it to release pressure naturally for ten minutes, and the release all remaining pressure.
- Turn your pot onto Sauté, and when the broth is hot and bubbling, put in the cream cheese cut into chunks. Use a whisk to blend in the cream cheese if needed.
- Shred the chicken and put back into the pot, until heated through.
You can also purée the vegetables and chicken together, to get a thicker, more robust soup as I show you in the video.
Note: if you want to lower carb counts even more, omit the beans, double the cauliflower, and cut back the water by about 1/2 cup. That will give you a soup with about 5 gms of net carbs but it will be less robust. Since it only saves you about 3 gms of carbs, I'm not sure the tradeoff is worth it but it depends on what else you're eating that day 🙂
I am not a registered dietician or nutritionist. Nutritional information is provided a courtesy, and can vary depending on the exact ingredients you use.
Don’t forget to check out my Instant Pot Fast & Easy Cookbook!
This book is full of all kinds of boldly flavored and internationally-themed recipes—Mexican, Thai, Moroccan, and more—with Instant Pot Fast & Easy, fully authorized by Instant Pot. Just like you have come to expect, my recipes will work perfectly every time, and of course taste great too. And because these are Instant Pot recipes, dishes like Japanese Chicken Curry, Chinese Steamed Ribs, and Mexican Pulled Pork are ready in a fraction of the time they would take using traditional cooking methods. As with all of my recipes, the focus is on whole foods instead of artificial convenience ingredients, so the recipes are delicious, easy, and healthful too.
LindaP says
March 30, 2018 at 12:11 pmI don’t have an insta-pot but have put it into my crock pot with the hope it turns out okay. Has anyone tried this recipe in their crockpot? and did it turn out alright?
URVASHI PITRE says
March 30, 2018 at 12:53 pmI am sure it will.
Jennifer Marsh says
March 3, 2018 at 11:48 pmCan great northern beans be substituted for navy beans? Can’t find navy beans at my local grocery store 🙁
URVASHI PITRE says
March 4, 2018 at 4:44 pmThose beans need a lot longer to cook so they won’t be easy to combine in this soup sadly
Tina says
February 11, 2018 at 4:43 pmMade it today.
Everything turned very well with the exception of last step. After mixing cream cheese , soup had the tiny white milk droplets. though it didn’t effect the taste but still want to know if I did something wrong or its how its supposed to be.
URVASHI PITRE says
February 11, 2018 at 5:10 pmI think it may just be a matter of mixing more or reheating Gently to melt the cream cheese which was the white droplets you saw.
Tina says
February 13, 2018 at 11:11 amThank you – “ll try again and let you know
Betty says
February 10, 2018 at 5:04 pmCan this be frozen?
URVASHI PITRE says
February 10, 2018 at 5:06 pmYes it freezes very well
Valeria Dombiak Woelfel says
February 5, 2018 at 5:39 pmI was worried of heat so I made it with 1 1/2 poblano and roasted it before hand . Both my kids loved it and they are very picky eaters who hate vegetables(no taste of cauliflower). I , myself, would have liked a bit more heat, which probably would have been perfect with the right amount of peppers the recipe calls for. The texture was awesome so creamy. It is all in all a definite keeper in our house.
Michelle Noll says
February 2, 2018 at 4:43 pmThe BEST Chicken Poblano Soup recipe I’ve ever had! Thank you Urvashi Pitre!
This is my current favorite go-to soup! I recently purchased an Instant Pot. I live in the Midwest and have been craving soups. They’re so comforting in this cold weather.
My husband and I typically eat low-carb so I was looking for some new inspirations and came across this recipe. I made some slight modifications to keep it super low-carb and add a bit more heat.
Modifications:
Omitted beans. Doubled cauliflower.
Used low-sodium chicken stock instead of water.
Added (2) whole Serrano Peppers (with seeds) for added heat. (I like it hot.)
Used 8 oz Cream Cheese instead of 2 oz (To cut some of the heat. It was REALLY spicy.) LOL
Didn’t have an immersion blender so I used my food processor which worked perfectly!
Used shredded chicken I had already made and added it back into instant pot after pureeing soup ingredients.
My husband is already asking me to make it again AND make a double-batch so we have more leftovers.
Thank you! Thank you!
Megan says
January 20, 2018 at 1:29 pmHow long did you soak the Navy beans for?
URVASHI PITRE says
January 20, 2018 at 5:27 pmOne hour in hot water
Tara Gibson says
January 17, 2018 at 7:22 pmThis was delicious and I will definitely be making it again. I have a family of five, and everyone finished their bowls. Some like it spicy, so a little cayenne was sprinkled on top of theirs. Thank you for such a great recipe!
Kati says
January 16, 2018 at 8:14 pmHuge fan of all your recipes and this is another home run!! I made the lower carb version and nixed the beans & doubled the cauliflower. It was still very hearty and filling. I was worried it might be too cauliflowery tasting (which my husband is not a huge fan of) but could not really taste it at all over the spices and peppers. Hubby even had a second helping! Unbelievably delicious! Thank you!!
URVASHI PITRE says
January 16, 2018 at 8:16 pmSo glad to hear! You should try the Italian sausage and kale soup too then. The cauliflower is well hidden in that 🙂
Paige says
January 15, 2018 at 7:50 pmI was really bummed after I made this. It made my house smell so good but when I tasted it, it was very blah. I had to add chili powder to it to give it a little more flavor.
URVASHI PITRE says
January 15, 2018 at 7:57 pmSorry to hear that. As I mentioned in the recipe, the taste of this soup is influenced by the heat and the quality of the poblano peppers. If you had peppers that were bland, your soup too would be bland. In that case, adding chili powder, cayenne, or some other kind of heat as you did, would be the way to go.
ANM says
January 15, 2018 at 1:33 pmDo you mean dried navy beans or canned ones?
URVASHI PITRE says
January 15, 2018 at 4:35 pmdried, soaked ones.
Andi says
January 9, 2018 at 10:31 pmWe made this tonight and my husband and I both loved it. It came out just so flavourful and the chicken practically shredded itself. My husband told me to make sure I save the recipe so we can make it again. 🙂 Thanks again for your help with my questions and thanks for the delicious recipe.
URVASHI PITRE says
January 9, 2018 at 10:35 pmYes! Perfect. 🙂
Andi says
January 8, 2018 at 5:34 pmHi and thanks for the recipe. I’m hoping to try it out tomorrow but I’m hoping you can clarify something first. Is it really only 2.5 cups of water that are added for the total liquid? People are commenting that it feeds the whole family and the recipe indicates it makes 8 servings….I feel like these will be very small servings with only 2.5 c liquid added. Are we meant to add some of the bean water as well? Thanks for your help.
URVASHI PITRE says
January 8, 2018 at 6:56 pmHi there. The meat and vegetables release a lot of water. It makes a ton of soup. I just did a Facebook live show where I cooked it.
Andi says
January 8, 2018 at 10:08 pmThank you so much for confirming, much appreciated! We will be trying this tomorrow and are looking forward to it. Will let you know how it works out. We just got an Instant Pot for Christmas and have been loving it so far but definitely don’t have a lot of experience to draw from at this point. Appreciate the help! 🙂
URVASHI PITRE says
January 8, 2018 at 10:18 pmOf course! If I don’t respond here and you need help tap my FB group. It’s full of foodies who are super competent and very nice. They’ll help as well
Tory says
January 3, 2018 at 6:36 pmMade exactly as shown and it was delicious.
LIsa Christian says
January 2, 2018 at 11:44 amThis sounds amazing. I guess my only question is. What is considered a serving size. Example: 1 1/2 cups etc. I did not see that anywhere. I do like that you can adjust the servings from more to less. Will definitely be trying it.
Lisa Christian says
January 2, 2018 at 11:42 amThis really sounds amazing. I guess the only question I have is. What is considered a serving. Ex. 1 1/2 cups? I did not see on the recipe where if references what a serving is. I love that you can adjust it to make more than or less than. Thank you
URVASHI PITRE says
January 2, 2018 at 11:53 amIt has been a while since I made this. I typically eyeball the recipe and split it into the serving sizes, that’s probably not that helpful!
Lisa Christian says
January 2, 2018 at 12:17 pmThank you for the reply. I will probably portion it out 1 1/2 cups. Can not wait to try it out. Never made a soup using cauliflower in it. I always struggle with how to use this vegetable. Now I have a way to use it and the family will probably not even know it is in there. Will definitely give it a rating after I make it.
Karen Higginbotham says
December 19, 2017 at 12:08 amThis was so good! The only thing I added was a teaspoon of chili powder and it had just the right amount of kick to it! My picky son asked for seconds and told me it was the best soup ever! I froze the leftovers and took it to work for lunch and it was just as good…I was the envy of all my coworkers!
URVASHI PITRE says
December 19, 2017 at 12:09 amOh that is so good to hear!
Carol says
December 15, 2017 at 7:40 pmHi Urvashi, I made this soup for myself and my husband and we both LOVE it!! Thank you! I was wondering, can I double this recipe in my 6qt Instant Pot? The ingredients come up to the Max Line in my liner when doubled, but I’m new to IP cooking and am not sure if that is a safe amount of ingredients to pressure cook. If it is okay, do I use the same amount of time to cook? Thank you for everything, so far, your soup is our favorite thing to cook in our IP 🙂 Mine does not look as pretty as your pictures, but it tastes amazing.
URVASHI PITRE says
December 15, 2017 at 7:53 pmHi there. I wouldn’t do it if it is up to the max line because of the beans in this recipe which do foam and swell. For
Ingredients that do that, you’re better off only filling to the half way mark. I’m glad you both enjoyed it 🙂
Sarah says
December 15, 2017 at 11:20 amWill this fit in the 3qt Instant Pot Mini? Or would the ratios need adjusted? Thanks!
URVASHI PITRE says
December 15, 2017 at 1:39 pmIt will fit 🙂
Shaidah Karim says
December 6, 2017 at 11:34 pmAfter all the good reviews, I am quite disappointed with this soup. It was very bland. I even used an extra Pablano, and broth instead of water. Should I have added all the Pablano seeds? Or maybe my Pablanos were duds☹️… I used thighs and they came out of the IP super tender, I had trouble removing them as they kept falling apart! Maybe it will be better tomorrow for lunch.
URVASHI PITRE says
December 7, 2017 at 7:08 amYou know this recipe is an interesting one. Some people say it’s super spicy, some people say it’s just right, and others say it’s very bland. What I’ve come to realize is that it’s entirely up to the Poblanos. They vary so much in heat and flavor that they impact the recipe heavily. What I need to do is come up with some way to amp up the flavor if the Poblanos fail you.
shaidah says
December 18, 2017 at 12:44 pmA pinch of habanero helped kick it up. Were the pablano seeds supposed to be added to the soup? The recipe is unclear on that and I don’t know if their seeds are spicy. Thanks for the hard work you do developing recipes.
URVASHI PITRE says
December 18, 2017 at 3:29 pmI may need to specify. I always use seeds too so it doesn’t occur to me to say. Oops ????
URVASHI PITRE says
December 7, 2017 at 7:11 amI’m just thinking about how to amp it Ip a bit and I’m wondering if a mixing in diced pickled jalapeños will help spice it? Or put a little salsa or Rotel in it to rescue this batch?
Sarah says
November 2, 2017 at 6:40 pmMy family loves this! I add some True Lime to it with the other spices, and a few tortilla chips on the top as a garnish.
URVASHI PITRE says
November 2, 2017 at 6:41 pmI love the True lime addition!
Carrie says
October 24, 2017 at 5:45 pmThis is one of the best tasting soups I’ve ever made. My family loved it and all went back for seconds. My only regret was not doubling the recipe!
URVASHI PITRE says
October 24, 2017 at 6:13 pmAww that’s so nice to hear! I’m glad you liked it.
John B says
October 23, 2017 at 7:27 pmHello Urvashi,
Thank you so much for the recipe! It was delicious!! Have you ever replaced the cauliflower with potatoes? If so, how much potato would you use? Cauliflower is little expensive where I am.
Thank you!
John
URVASHI PITRE says
October 23, 2017 at 11:37 pmI haven’t but I think it would be just fine actually. I’d definitely try it
John B says
November 2, 2017 at 8:27 pmIt came out great with potato! Thanks again!
URVASHI PITRE says
November 2, 2017 at 8:28 pmSo glad to hear!
Joy Siddiqi says
August 27, 2017 at 6:41 pmThis is the second time I’ve made it. I’m not so much low carb, so this time I used the same amount of chicken, but doubled all the other ingredients. Twice as much soup, just not so much meat. It tasted great!
URVASHI PITRE says
August 27, 2017 at 6:45 pmNice! May as well make it to suit your own diet and tastes. I’m glad you enjoyed it
Annie says
August 24, 2017 at 9:04 amGreat recipe! I tried it last night. We like spicy food so we added 1 more poblano, 1 tablespoon of salt total, 1 Serrano with seeds and two Thai peppers, only 1 ounce of cream cheese and more beans/water to compensate for extra beans. Thank you!! Will be making this again.
URVASHI PITRE says
August 24, 2017 at 11:08 amYay! So glad to hear. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Kandy says
June 6, 2017 at 11:25 amI have not been able to find ground coriander. Is there a substitute?
URVASHI PITRE says
June 6, 2017 at 11:28 amI usually buy coriander seeds and grind them. But just leave it out if you can’t find it. There’s a lot of other flavor in this soup.
Charlotte says
October 3, 2017 at 10:42 amWalmart Indian food section.
Kim Jackson says
May 29, 2017 at 8:13 pmDoes this freeze well?
URVASHI PITRE says
May 29, 2017 at 8:28 pmI think it does but the chicken may shred once it gets reheated if you overdo it.
Candy Jackson says
May 27, 2017 at 12:28 amI’m excited your Mexican cookbook is available now. I’ve been on the edge of my seat! I’m sure it will be just as wonderful as the recent Indian cookbook. Thanks for all that you do to make us better cooks and healthier in the process.
URVASHI PITRE says
May 27, 2017 at 12:39 amThank you! I do hope you enjoy it.
Candy Jackson says
May 26, 2017 at 9:49 pmSo good!!! Thanks Urvashi!! I made this tonight and it was delish. I adapted it a little by using chicken stock instead of water (trust her on the amount of liquid – 2.5 cups even though it may seem like not enough in the IP). Also, I double the poblanos, roasted and seeded them, plopped them in whole, and fished them out with the chicken before immersion blending (didn’t want green soup). I added the shredding chicken and chopped poblanos after blending.
URVASHI PITRE says
May 26, 2017 at 10:18 pmOh that sounds so good! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I just put the Mexican cookbook up for safe that has this and other recipes in it.
Jennifer says
August 25, 2017 at 10:51 amI looked for the Mexican cookbook on this site and on Amazon and didn’t see it. Where can it be purchased? Thanks!
URVASHI PITRE says
August 25, 2017 at 11:04 amhi there! it’s here, under the downloads section: http://twosleevers.com/shop/
Jennifer says
August 25, 2017 at 12:34 pmThanks! I just ordered it!
URVASHI PITRE says
August 25, 2017 at 12:35 pmwoo hoo! Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.
Debra says
May 26, 2017 at 6:19 amAre the poblanos roasted and peeled?
URVASHI PITRE says
May 26, 2017 at 6:20 amDebra, they are not. What I do is use the pressure cooker to char them by putting them down in the flat layer and letting them burn a little bit. I find that this gives it the smoky flavor and one step, and once they’re cooked you can’t even feel the peel. I think it would be great if you had time to roast them, but for all of the Mexican recipes that I created with them I didn’t actually peel them, but just use this technique instead.
Kandy Kappler says
June 8, 2017 at 2:13 pmCurious about the roasting/charring of the peppers. Do you do this with the chopped up peppers or do you cut them lengthwise, remove seeds and then char in the bottom of the Instant Pot? I have never done this before and am wanting to get the flavor profile correct for the soup. Thank you.
URVASHI PITRE says
June 8, 2017 at 9:25 pmI can’t tell if my reply posted or not, my site got hacked up earlier today. So cut the peppers lengthwise, and then char those long lengths of peppers. I hope that makes sense.
Amber says
May 22, 2017 at 5:53 amLooks delicious! Do leftovers keep well or will the caifliflower get mushy?
URVASHI PITRE says
May 22, 2017 at 7:27 amIt keeps really well (I just checked it). Since the cauliflower is blended, there’s nothing to get mushy really. In fact it seems thicker and richer today.
Kandy says
May 21, 2017 at 5:16 pmLooks like a great recipe! What do you consider a serving amount? Diabetic/insulin user is my reason for asking. I am enjoying checking out all of your recipes!
URVASHI PITRE says
May 21, 2017 at 6:22 pmSo the whole thing was a little more than 8-10 cups so at least 1.5 cups with liquid.