Italian Chicken Soup

It’s that time of year where everyone and their mother is coming down with some kind of cold, flu, or thing of the sort. I like to prevent anyone in my house from succumbing to these ailments by making this soup. This is a knock you on your ass Italian Chicken Soup no doubt. This dish is like straight vitamins to your immune system whether you’re starting to feel under the weather or trying to prevent it. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as my family and I do.

Chicken Pastina Soup

Ingredients

• 1 (5-pound/2.3-kg) whole rotisserie chicken, pre-cooke, shredded
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 yellow onions, 1 diced, 1 halved
• 6 carrots, peeled and cut into coins
• 5 stalks celery, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 quarts low-sodium chicken stock (I add 8 cups of water with tbsp of powdered chicken bouillon)
  2 teaspoons kosher salt
  Freshly cracked pepper
• 1 lb mild Italian sausage, ground
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped, for topping
• grated pecorino romano, grated

Prepare

1. First, pre-chop all ingredients needing to be chopped. Also, shred the whole cooked rotisserie chicken.
2. Turn on your InstantPot to the saute function and add a tablespoon of olive oil.
3. Saute the onions for four minutes then add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
4. Add in the chopped carrots and celery and stir, allow to cook for four more minutes.
5. Next, stir in the parsley, thyme onion powder, and garlic powder.
6. Deglaze the pan by pouring in the wine and scrape the bits up at the bottom.
7. Stir in the shredded chicken followed by the 2 quarts / 8 cups of chicken stock.
8. Set the InstantPot to make a soup for 25 mins.
9. In a nonstick pan, cook and break down the ground mild Italian sausage, stirring on occasion until browned.
10. Release the pressure when the InstantPot is done.
11. Finally, serve the soups in bowls and top with chopped parsley, the cooked Italian sausage crumbles, freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, salt and pepper. Enjoy!