Tacos y Sopa de Pollo Gastado

Spent-hen Chicken Tacos and Soup, made together in an InstantPot electric pressure cooker - Diversivore.com

Tacos y Sopa de Pollo Gastado

Stewing (spent) hens have a richer, deeper flavour that more than makes up for their less-tender meat. Get 2+ meals out of one with this pressure-cooker recipe!

Course Main Dishes, Soup

Cuisine Mexican, North American

Keyword authentic, instant pot chicken soup, instant pot chicken tacos, instant pot mexican soup, meal prep, no-waste, soup, tacos

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 10

Servings people

Calories 139kcal

Ingredients

Basic Chicken & Soup

1 spent hen or rooster about 1.2 kg (see note)
3 stalks celery plus any leaves you might have
4-5 stalks parsley
3 roma tomatoes halved
3 medium carrots (~250 g) diced
1 medium onion quartered
3 cloves garlic lightly smashed and peeled
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp epazote (optional - see note)
1/4 tsp oregano preferably Mexican
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp salt plus more to taste, if necessary
1.5 L water (~6 cups)

Taco Serving (Optional)

corn tortillas
cilantro
red onion
avocado
tomatoes
pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)
cotija cheese or other firm, relatively mild cheese
lime

Soup Serving (Optional)

cooked white rice
avocado
cilantro
lime

Instructions

Chicken (Basic Recipe)

Inspect the spent/stewing hen. Odd are good that it came with the feet and head still attached. Leave these on (unless you're particularly squeamish about this). The body cavity is usually clean, but check to make sure that there isn't a package with any organ meat inside (like you'd find with turkey). If there is, you can actually include (or exclude) any parts that you might like in the soup, but remove any packaging.
Combine the chicken and all of the other basic ingredients in the Instant Pot (or other electric pressure cooker). You can tie the parsley in a little bundle to make it easier to remove, but this is optional.
Seal the lid and cook by pushing the Instant Pot soup button twice for a longer cook time, or by using a 40 minute manual setting (see note). Once the time has elapsed, allow the pressure cooker to release naturally (or, if you're pressed for time, let it stand for 10 minutes and then release manually).
Carefully remove the chicken from the pot and set it aside. Strain the rest of the soup to yield a clear broth. You can pick out the carrots or onions if you like, but I tend to discard them as they've given up most of their flavour to the soup at this point. Salt to taste, and season with pepper if you like.
Pick the meat off of the chicken and keep it for tacos, serving with the soup, or any other meal you might like.

Tacos

Toast corn tortillas in a frying pan or comal. Keep toasted tortillas in a small basket or on a plate and cover with a small hand towel.
Fill tacos with shredded chicken, avocado, onion, tomatoes, cilantro, pepitas, cotija (or any other cheese you like, or skip the cheese) and/or any other toppings you think would be good. Serve with a fresh squeeze of lime.

Soup

The clear broth can be eaten as-is (a popular option when you're fighting a cold). To dress it up a bit and make for a more substantial meal, fill individual serving bowls with about 1/3 cup cooked white rice (per person), pour the soup over this, and top with diced avocado and cilantro. Serve hot, with fresh lime wedges so that diners can add juice to taste.

Notes

Spent hens (aka stewing hens) are old laying chickens that have passed their egg-laying prime. They are something of a specialty item, but their stronger flavour is highly prized in a variety of communities. I find them most easily in Chinese grocery stores, where they're sold frozen with the head and legs still attached. They're also very affordable, and much cheaper that young roasting chickens. If you can't find spent hen, you can use regular chicken, though I would add a few extra chicken bones to the pot if you have them and replace 1 cup of water with 1 cup of stock to strengthen the flavour.

Epazote is a Mexican herb with a distinctive flavour, popularly used when preparing beans. It can be difficult to come by (especially fresh), and can be omitted. If you can find it fresh, do note that it dries easily for future use. It's also easy to grow and works well in a variety of Mexican recipes, so don't be afraid to try it out in your garden!

Serving - You'll end up with the broth and a fair bit of shredded chicken from this recipe. I've presented it here as tacos and a finished soup, but you can do any number of things with it. The chicken could easily be served over rice, in quesadillas, etc.

Cooking Settings - The soup setting on an Instant Pot is designed to cook stocks at high pressure without boiling them too intensely. If you use a larger chicken, or you find that it's not breaking down enough, you may want to use the "More" setting for higher pressure, or to try the manual cooking time instead.

Nutrition