Make Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Soup from a roasted chicken carcass and leftover meat. This homemade soup recipe is easy and delicious!

You can make the world's best, most delicious chicken soup from scratch with this super easy Instant Pot recipe! This is now my go-to method for making homemade chicken soup, and my family absolutely loves it!
Normally, I would cook a roast chicken dinner or make a whole chicken in my Instant Pot just to use the leftover carcass for homemade chicken stock. But you can save time and skip that step by picking up a roasted rotisserie chicken from the store.
Not only is this a faster way to make soup from homemade bone broth, but the chicken is also perfectly seasoned. You won't get any complaints about bland broth with this soup recipe!
Ingredients for the Soup
You only need a few ingredients to make this soup in your pressure cooker:
- Rotisserie chicken carcass and 3 to 4 cups of meat
- Water
- Celery
- Garlic
- Carrots
- Onion
- Sea salt and pepper, to taste
- Orzo pasta, optional -- You can serve egg noodles instead
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Soup with Rotisserie Chicken
First, remove as much meat as you can from the chicken carcass. I like to leave a little skin on for extra flavor, but you don't have to.
If you're using a leftover rotisserie chicken carcass, just be sure to save some meat for the soup. I like to use a mix of dark and white meat -- about 3 to 4 cups is plenty.
Then, place the trivet in your Instant Pot liner, and place the carcass on the trivet. For flavor, I use a few celery leaves and 1 or two whole garlic cloves.
Next, fill the pot with 6 cups of water for the 6 quart or 8 cups for the 8 quart. You can add a little more water if you need to, but you don't want to immerse the chicken completely.
How Long to Pressure Cook
Pressure cook the chicken carcass for 60 minutes, and do a quick release. You can do a natural release if you want, but you don't need to.
Lift the trivet and carcass out of the Instant Pot. You can keep the garlic cloves if you can find them. Discard the celery leaves.
You'll want to strain the bone broth into a large mixing bowl, using a mesh strainer. Now, you'll get deep, rich looking chicken stock!
Next, you start making the actual chicken soup in the Instant Pot. Just sauté some chopped carrots, celery and onions.
Next, pour the strained chicken stock back into the pressure cooker. You can use all or some of it.
I like adding some uncooked orzo pasta before pressure cooking. You only need a little bit, otherwise it takes over and sucks up the broth if you have leftover soup.
Another option is to cook pasta in your Instant Pot separately. Then, let everyone take the amount that they want.
After pressure cooking, you stir in your chopped leftover chicken. Taste the soup before serving to see if you need any salt or pepper. You probably won't, though.
People can also add extra salt and pepper if they want. Throw in a little chopped parsley, and you're good to go!
Serve the soup with crackers, butter or bread. Homemade Beer Bread is a favorite here!
How to Store the Soup
Store leftover soup in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can freeze the soup in ziptop storage bags or freezer safe containers for longer storage. This soup freezes and reheats well.
Recipe
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Stock
- 1 rotisserie chicken carcass meat and skin removed
- 6 cups water use 8 for 8 quart
- 2 garlic cloves optional
For the Soup
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup carrots chopped, about 2 whole
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- chicken stock
- ¼ cup dried orzo pasta optional
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 4 cups cooked chicken cubed
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the trivet into the Instant Pot, and add chicken carcass, garlic cloves and celery leaves, if using. Pour in water
- Place lid on pot, set vent to sealing, and Pressure Cook for 60 minutes on high. Do a quick release, and when pin drops, carefully remove lid and lift trivet and carcass out of pot. Discard carcass. Place a mesh strainer over a large bowl, and carefully pour chicken stock into bowl.
- Hit Sauté on the Instant Pot, and sauté chopped carrots, celery and onions until slightly soft. Hit Cancel
- Pour chicken stock into Instant Pot, and add orzo pasta, if using. Add garlic powder. Place lid on pot, set vent to sealing, and Pressure Cook for 4 minutes
- When pot beeps, do a quick release. When pin drops, carefully remove lid, and stir in cooked chicken. Add sea salt and pepper to taste, if desired
Video
Notes
Nutrition information is estimated. Please do your own calculation to fit special diets.
Nutrition
More Recipes with Leftover Chicken
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Casserole
- Easy Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
- Ramen Chicken Salad
- Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti
Sean M. says
Made this soup today. It turned out very good. Can’t wait for tomorrow bowl. One thing I did different is I chopped up fresh ginger. Talk about kicking it up a notch. 😎👍
Zach says
I’ve used this recipe several times, especially after we have a roasted or smoked duck. Everything that doesn’t get eaten off the bird goes into the Instant Pot for this “Duck Noodle Soup”. Even my picky kids love it.
Thom says
I made this as per recipe, but added diced tomatoes and some elbows instead of orzo. Also added some Italian seasons. Excellent!
Nancy says
Going to try this, but it says remove all meat and skin from bones. The photo of the carcass in the pot shows it to have a lot of meat and skin on carcass. Kind of confusing. Will follow written instructions.
Dee says
It says to remove most of the meat and skin, just to let folks know not to place the whole rotisserie chicken in the Instant Pot. Since it's difficult to remove every scrap from the carcass, the photo shows how it looks with most of the chicken and skin removed.
Robert D Morey says
Great recipe....I made it today in the mid-morning and had it for lunch!
Diane says
Amazing! I added some Italian seasoning for more flavor. Normally I would add a bay leaf but this recipe did not call for it.
Dee says
You can add your favorite seasonings. The kind of rotisserie chicken you buy also affects the flavor.
Karen says
Made this soup yesterday. It was delicious. Your instructions were easy to follow. Thank you.
Dee says
I'm so glad you liked the soup, Karen. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Jim says
The best soup yet! Made this for one of the kids that was sick and the rest of the family had it too.
Dee says
Thank you so much! Hope you're all feeling better soon!
Erin | Dinners,Dishes and Dessert says
This Rotisserie Chicken Soup looks savory and easy to make!
Beth says
This looks so delicious and tasty! I can’t wait to give this a try! My family is going to love this tonight!
Allyson Zea says
This soup is so flavorful and comforting! I love making extra to freeze!
Catalina says
I really need a hearty soup like this! It looks so inviting! Yummy!