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
I 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
I am sure it will.
Jennifer Marsh says
Can great northern beans be substituted for navy beans? Can’t find navy beans at my local grocery store 🙁
URVASHI PITRE says
Those beans need a lot longer to cook so they won’t be easy to combine in this soup sadly
Tina says
Made 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
I 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
Thank you – “ll try again and let you know
Betty says
Can this be frozen?
URVASHI PITRE says
Yes it freezes very well
Valeria Dombiak Woelfel says
I 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
The 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
How long did you soak the Navy beans for?
URVASHI PITRE says
One hour in hot water
Tara Gibson says
This 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
Huge 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
So glad to hear! You should try the Italian sausage and kale soup too then. The cauliflower is well hidden in that 🙂
Paige says
I 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
Sorry 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
Do you mean dried navy beans or canned ones?
URVASHI PITRE says
dried, soaked ones.
Andi says
We 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
Yes! Perfect. 🙂