Food is a powerful source of healing and strength in Chinese Medicine. I bring to you, from my home kitchen, a yummy gluten free dairy free chicken soup that makes enough to feed the whole family and still have plenty for later.

In Chinese dietetics, each food item has a flavor and nature, just like herbs. And in much the same way that repeated or long term use of any herb has the potential help or to harm, it is much the same with foods. What are your daily food habits? And are they boosting your health over and over again? Or the opposite?

I chose an omnivore’s recipe for my first post because chicken is so nourishing to the qi. But I promise to follow next week with a decadent vegan soup.

I made this soup using my Instant Pot, which is super helpful when making many soups. It has the benefit of taking much less time that it would in a slow cooker, so if you are a big fan of “slow food” and phenomenally bad at meal planning too far ahead of time (like I am)- the Instant Pot will save the day! Although, the caveat is that there really are some soups that are just plain better if they have the low and slow cook time. This recipe below is not one of those. However, I have noticed that it tastes yummy as soon as it is done but super delicious the NEXT day when it has a creamier, chick-pot-pie kind of consistency.

How to make terrific soup, in 5 easy steps:

Step 1:

Chop celery, I use the whole darn bunch but you can use less if you like. Put it in the pot.

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Step 2:

Chop one onion.

No need to cry about it. There are lots more onions in this world!

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Step 3:

Put in one package of organic free-range chicken breasts.

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Step 4:

Add 1 and 1/2 cups of brown rice. Yup. Just put it in the pot uncooked. The cooking will not only thoroughly soften this healthy grain but also the cooking will release all its starches and thicken the soup without having to add wheat gluten or corn starch. The first day is good, but the second day is even better as overnight the rice absorbs even more water and makes the broth thick similar to chicken-pot-pie but without the heavy cream.

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Step 5: Add tablespoon of salt. You may have to add more later if you like a saltier soup. But wait to taste it after it is done, eh?

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Step 6:

Chop carrots, I chose 2 gigantic ones because that’s what size they came in this week. Carrots are wonderfully sweet, so add more if you like! They do tend to be mushy after pressure cooking, though.

Hey, hold on. I thought there were only 5 steps?

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Step 7:

Add 2-3 cups of frozen peas and the same amount of frozen corn. Also chop up some gorgeous red russian kale if you like a bit of the bitter, cooling flavor in your soup.

I put more than one action in this step so you would stop complaining about there being too many steps.

Add a sprig of rosemary if you have it. Rosemary in chicken soup is divine and so is a pinch of thyme. Oooh, and a dash of balsamic vinegar.

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Step 8: Add water- I just fill it to the 1/2 line inside the pot. Too much water and the broth will not be as flavorful, too little and the rice will absorb all the broth. You can definitely use chicken or vegetable broth instead of water for a richer flavor. Close lid and pressure cook for 21 minutes. I always allow it to depressurize naturally after the cooking is done (my nod to slow cooking) so it will actually take 45 minutes or an hour before your soup is really ready to stir and ladle right out of the cooking pot into the bowls of adoring dinner guests. (Or just you… for days on end… you are going to have to freeze some of this!)

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