Chicken and Corn Soup with Spinach
Try this Chicken and Corn Soup With Spinach recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Chicken and Corn Soup With Spinach recipe, or contribute your own.
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 4 cups of chicken stock
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
- 2 medium chicken breasts thinly sliced
- 3 scallions/spring onions white and pale green parts
- 1 large white potato peeled and diced into small cubes ( about 8-9 oz/250-300 g)
- small knob of ginger grated (about 1-2 tablespoons of grated ginger)
- 4 cobs of fresh corn (or 3 cups of frozen corn kerne
- 2 tablespoons tamari sauce or light soy sauce
- 2 large cloves of garlic diced
- 1/3 teaspoon white pepper (black is also fine but white is more
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder or corn starch
- 3-4 handfuls of baby spinach leaves
- handful of fresh cilantro/coriander leaves
- Carbohydrate 18.064051666999 g
- Cholesterol 30.29 mg
- Fat 4.65984333333425 g
- Fiber 2.24041675497095 g
- Protein 12.899550000462 g
- Saturated Fat 1.51655083333361 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (207g)
- Sodium 444.769834038152 mg
- Sugar 15.823634912028 g
- Trans Fat 0.411250833333515 g
- Calories 166 calories
Step-by-step
- Press the Sauté key on the Instant Pot (it should say Normal, 30 mins). Add coconut oil, chicken, spring onion, ginger and potato to the pot and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring a few times.
- Using a knife, shave or cut away the corn kernels from the cobs, you should have about 3 full cups of corn kernels.
- Add 1 cup of corn kernels to a blender of a food processor together with 1 cup of chicken stock. Process until smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds.
- After 5 minutes, press Keep Warm/Cancel key on the Instant Pot. Add all of the corn, including the creamy corn mixture, plus the remaining chicken stock and the rest of the ingredients to the pot and stir through (EXCEPT for the ingredients that you will use to finish off the soup). Place and lock the lid, make sure the steam releasing handle is pointing to Sealing. Press Poultry (or Manual, High Pressure, 15 minutes). After 3 beeps the pressure cooker will start going.
- Once the timer goes off, allow the pressure to release for 5 minutes and then use the quick release method before opening the lid.
- Press Sauté key again. Add the spinach to the soup and mix through.
- In a small cup, whisk together the eggs and slowly pour the mixture into the soup while stirring it at the same time, creating thin threads of cooked egg. Stir through for 15-20 seconds and turn the pot off.
- At this stage, dissolve and whisk arrowroot in a few tablespoons of water or soup liquid and stir into the soup, to thicken. You can do this in a small bowl or a cup.
- Finally, stir in the lime juice and taste for salt. Add more salt or soy sauce, if needed. Serve with fresh cilantro/coriander leaves and the remaining spring onions on top.
A raw ingredient list fails to show how starches behave under heat. Shaving fresh corn cobs releases natural sugars and thick starches directly into the pot, bypassing the need for heavy cream while creating a velvety body. Blending a portion of those kernels with chicken stock breaks down the cell walls, releasing interior starches that emulsify naturally with the liquid fats.
Aromatic components like ginger and garlic undergo rapid chemical changes during the initial five-minute sauté. Lipids in the coconut or olive oil carry fat-soluble flavor compounds from the scallions across the palate, ensuring the broth tastes savory rather than flat. Fish sauce and tamari introduce glutamates, which bond with the natural amino acids in the chicken breast to amplify baseline sapidity without relying on excess sodium.
Timing dictates the textural contrast of the final bowl. Adding baby spinach and beaten eggs at the very end prevents overcooking; residual heat wilts the greens to a bright emerald while coagulation sets the eggs into delicate ribbons within fifteen seconds. Dissolving the arrowroot powder in cool liquid before stirring prevents lumpy starch pockets from forming in the hot broth.
Balancing acidity requires late addition. Stirring in fresh lime juice after pressure cooking protects volatile citrus oils from degrading under prolonged heat, keeping the sharp top notes intact. Adjusting final salinity with soy sauce rather than dry salt maintains umami depth right before ladling bowls for the table.
