Asian Noodle Soup (Instant Pot)

A couple months ago, I finally bought one of those Instant Pots that everyone is raving about. When we were doing our kitchen renovations, I was a little overzealous in purging kitchen items, and I ended up accidentally getting rid of the lid of my slow-cooker. It wasn’t a great slow-cooker anyway, so I was going to get a new one. I settled on an Instant-Pot instead because it has a slow-cooker feature on it, in addition to being a pressure-cooker, yogurt-maker, rice-maker, and sauté-er (I know that’s not a word, but you get the idea).

So far I’ve gotten a lot of use out of it. Pressure cooking can make food taste like it’s been simmering all day, in a fraction of the time. That’s why I love it for making soups, like this Asian Noodle Soup. I’ve been making this soup for a while now, but only recently adapted it for the Instant Pot. In case you don’t have an Instant Pot, I’ll share the regular directions with you, in addition to the adapted Instant Pot directions.

Two out of three Whine Critics approved of this soup. (By the way, aren’t my kids looking so grown up already??) Ayla loved it but didn’t like the shrimp. Luckily, Cole loves shrimp so he happily ate hers. Bennett wasn’t completely sold, but he did eat it. He’s not really a soup fan, and neither is Tony. Actually, it’s not that Tony dislikes soup, he just feels it’s not filling enough for dinner. That’s why I usually serve soup with a variety of finger foods, like cheese and crackers, raw veggies and dip, french bread, etc. This usually pleases the whole family, because even if they don’t like the soup, they’re sure to find something else on the table to eat.

I used the Instant Pot, but it is actually really easy to do on the stovetop as well, just let it simmer for 20 minutes or so instead of using the Instant pot. If you like your veggies more crispy that might be the way to go because the IP does make them pretty soft. But I find the broth has a lot more depth of flavour in the IP.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp cooking oil
• 1 head of Bok Choy, chopped 
• 1 small crown of broccoli, cut up
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp chili garlic sauce (optional)
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 carton (900 ml) Pho broth (or beef)
• 1 cup cooked shrimp 
• 100g dry egg noodles
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions

Instructions

1. Using sauté setting, heat oil in Instant Pot. Add Bok Choy, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, garlic and ginger. Stir and sauté for a few minutes until vegetable soften. Add soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, fish sauce and broth. Add 2 cups of water.
2. Cook on manual HIGH for 8 minutes.
3. While the soup is in the Instant Pot, boil water on stovetop and cook noodles according to package directions. Also cook your shrimp if not precooked.
4. When the Instant Pot beeps, use quick release method. Add noodles, shrimp and green onions.

Notes