Instant Pot Low-Carb Buffalo Chicken Soup with Crumbled Blue Cheese
If you’re longing for spring but the weather is still saying winter, this Instant Pot Low-Carb Buffalo Chicken Soup with Crumbled Blue Cheese can warm up your tummy! We loved this tasty soup, and it’s low-carb, Keto, low-glycemic, and gluten-free. Use the Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one!
Click to PINÂ Instant Pot Low-Carb Buffalo Chicken Soup with Crumbled Blue Cheese!
Let me start out by saying that this Instant Pot Low-Carb Buffalo Chicken Soup with Crumbled Blue Cheese is a soup for people who love the strong flavors of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and crumbled blue cheese. If you’re skeptical about either of those flavors, you’ll probably do better with one of my other Instant Pot Soups! But if you like hot spicy Buffalo Wings dipped into blue cheese, or any other variation of those Buffalo Chicken flavors, you’ll probably love this creamy soup with crumbles of blue cheese melted into the soup.
It did take me a couple of tries with Jake and Kara to come up with a version of Buffalo Chicken Soup that we thought was a winner. And then after I uploaded the photos from this final version, I wished we had ground up the thyme when we added it to the soup. (That’s what those black flecks are, and if you have a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle you can easily eliminate those, or use ground thyme if you have it!) But since we’re getting close to the time of year when it’s too hot to be posting soup recipes, I decided to tell myself that the flecks of thyme add character to the soup (and the thyme does add wonderful flavor!)
Our first tries for this soup were definitely too spicy for us, so my final advice is this: You can always add more Frank’s Red Hot Sauce to the finished soup, but you can’t take it out. The amount we ended up with for the recipe made a tasty soup that we thought was just spicy enough, but feel free to use less Frank’s Red Hot Sauce if you’re not sure how much heat you’ll want. And for fellow Buffalo Chicken fans, hope you enjoy!
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Heat olive oil in the Instant Pot on the Saute/Medium setting, add the chopped onions and celery and cook until they’re starting to soften. Add the thyme and garlic powder and cook a minute or two longer. While the veggies cook, trim the chicken and cut into lengthwise strips. Add chicken, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, and chicken stock to the Instant Pot. Lock the lid and set Instant Pot to MANUAL/HIGH PRESSURE for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, use NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE for 10 minutes, then quick release the rest of the pressure. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred apart (or cut if you prefer chunks.)
While the soup cooks, cut the cream cheese into chunks and crumble the blue cheese. After you’ve removed the chicken from the Instant Pot, add the two types of cheese to the hot soup and let it melt while you’re shredding the chicken. When cheeses have melted, whisk soup together, then add the shredded chicken back into the soup.
Serve soup hot with plenty of crumbled blue cheese and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce to add at the table for those who want more!
More Tasty Low-Carb Options for Buffalo Chicken Fans:
Baked Buffalo Chicken with Melted Blue Cheese ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Healthy Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken ~ Family Food on the Table
Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl (Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker) ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Buffalo Rotisserie Chicken Salad ~ Aggie’s Kitchen
Low-Carb Buffalo Chicken Tacos with Blue Cheese Coleslaw (Pressure Cooker or Slow Cooker) ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Instant Pot Low-Carb Buffalo Chicken Soup with Crumbled Blue Cheese
If you like the strong flavors of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and blue cheese, you’ll probably enjoy this delicious Instant Pot Low-Carb Buffalo Chicken Soup with Crumbled Blue Cheese!
Ingredients:
- 1 large onion chopped small
- 2 cups chopped celery, chopped small
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into lengthwise strips
- 1/4 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (Use more or less to taste, but remember you can always add more at the table.)
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4 oz. cream cheese, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, plus more for serving
Directions:
- Chop the onion and celery. Heat the oil in the Instant Pot, using the Saute setting with medium heat. Add the chopped onion and celery and cook until they’re starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the thyme. (If you have a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle I would grind the thyme.)
- and garlic powder and cook a minute or two longer.
- While the veggies cook, trim the chicken and cut into lengthwise strips.
- Add the chicken strips, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, and chicken stock to the Instant Pot. Lock the lid and set Instant Pot to MANUAL/HIGH PRESSURE for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, use NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE for 10 minutes, then quick release the rest of the pressure.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred apart (or cut if you prefer chunks.)
- While the soup cooks, crumble the blue cheese and cut the cream cheese into small cubes. After the pressure has released and you’ve removed the chicken to a cutting board, Add the two cheeses to the Instant Pot and let them melt while you shred the chicken apart.
- When cheeses have melted, whisk soup together, then add the shredded chicken back into the soup. (You can heat it for a minute or two using the Saute setting if needed, but it will probably still be pretty hot.)
- Serve soup hot, with extra crumbled blue cheese and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce to add at the table if desired.
Notes:
I use a 6 Quart Instant Pot for all my Instant Pot Recipes.
This recipe created by Kalyn, with help testing a few different versions from Jake and Kara!
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Buffalo Chicken Soup is a good choice for any low-glycemic or low-carb diet. It’s probably too high in fat to be officially approved for The South Beach Diet.
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Pass the extra hot sauce, please! This soup looks delicious, and I can’t wait to try it.
Thanks Lydia, hope you enjoy! The creaminess lets you make it extra spicy if you’d like!
Do you have a Crock Pot version of this recipe? Think looks delicious, however I don’t have an Instant Pot.
I haven’t ever made it in a slow cooker. I think you could adapt it, although this is only a guess since I haven’t tried it. I’d saute onions and celery in a pan and add to the slow cooker with the strips of chicken, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, and chicken stock (maybe use 1/2 cup less for slow cooker.) Cook 3-4 hours on high. Then remove chicken, add the cheese to melt, shred chicken and add back into the slow cooker. I’d love to hear how it turns out if you try it!
How well does this reheat? I wanted to make it earlier in the week.
I haven’t reheated any, but I’d wonder if the cheese would separate once it’s cooled down and reheated. Not sure though, love to hear how it works.
I made this today and certainly did not have to worry about reheating… It’s GONE!! It was great.. Didi not look like yours but it was delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it Jodi!
It reheats well. The reheated soup was just as delicious as the day I made it.
Oh good! Thanks so much for sharing that info!
Looks delish! I’m loving those soup bowls, where did you get them?
I got them in an antique store in Palm Springs, so I don’t have any idea where else you could find them. I couldn’t pass them up!
Is there anyway to substitute ranch for the blue cheese?
The blue cheese in this soup is crumbled blue cheese, so I’m not sure what ranch product would substitute for that? You could try mixing in some ranch but I’m not sure how that would taste. Maybe just leave out the blue cheese if you’re not a fan.
About how many pounds of chicken? 4 breasts can really vary. Â Thanks!
I don’t think the chicken measurement needs to be exact. I didn’t weigh the chicken but I buy the chicken breasts from Costco that come 2 in a package and they tend to be on the large size. If I had to guess I’d say about 8 ounces for each breast, although as I said, a little more or less chicken isn’t going to matter much.
Have you tried doing this with frozen chicken?
I haven’t used frozen chicken but I definitely think it will work. I might add 2-3 minutes more time cooking at high pressure (or google how long to cook frozen chicken in the Instant Pot; I haven’t really done it at all.)
I substituted sharp cheddar for the bleu cheese. It was fantastic! This soup is delcious!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Did you use the original red hot sauce or the red hot wing  buffalo sauce? Â
I used original but both will work.
My kids and I love this soup. If I double the recipe…does that affect the cook time you think? Thank you!
I wish I could answer but I haven’t ever tried doubling a recipe in the Instant Pot. Maybe try googling it. My guess is that it won’t matter but I can’t say for sure. Be sure you don’t fill it too full though, because that will definitely matter!
I’m wondering how this would be if you substituted dry ranch with the cream cheese and cut out the blue cheese. I really dislike the taste of blue cheese to much!!Â
I’m sure that would be good, even without the ranch powder. I might add some grated cheese on top of another kind you enjoy.
Can I use boneless thighs instead? Will it change the time? Thank you!!
The thighs have more fat, so I would trim them unless you don’t mind having a more high-fat soup, and I’d use 8 thighs to get the same amount of meat. Otherwise I am guessing it will work just fine!
If cooking in a 6qt, was there enough room to double the recipe? I need to make this for my office and really don’t want to bring in a second IP 🙂
I made this over a year ago so I really can’t remember well enough to say for sure, but I doubt it. The only thing I can suggest is to put the doubled ingredients in and see if they’re above the maximum fill line. Sorry I don’t have more help!