Chicken Shorba
on Oct 10, 2024, Updated Jun 24, 2025
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This chicken shorba recipe feels like a hug in a bowl 🫶 Featuring a warm and flavorful broth along with tender pieces of chicken–drink it like soup or eat it with bread, it’s delicious either way!
Each year from monsoon to winters, soups make a feature on my menu at least once a week. They’re cozy, delicious, healthy, and so easy to put together. And this Chicken Shorba (or shurba as it’s also called) is being made pretty frequently along with my other favorites wonton and sweet corn soups!
This chicken shorba recipe is an insanely easy one-pot dish that comes together entirely in the pressure cooker. Don’t let that fool you though, because this murgh ka shorba soup is bursting with flavor! Drink it by spoonful or serve it naan or rice–no matter how you eat it, this chicken soup truly warms you.
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Chicken Shorba Ingredients
This chicken shorba recipe calls for simple ingredients and the cooking process is divided into two parts: making the masala paste and cooking the chicken and broth.
- To make the masala, we grind together onion, coriander and mint leaves, ginger, garlic, jeera, and peppercorn to a smooth paste. This forms the base of the soup and delivers a majority of the flavor.
- To make the soup, we start by sautéing chicken pieces in some ghee along whole spices like cinammom, bay leaf clove, and cardamom, all in the pressure cooker.
- We then add the masala we made, chopped onion, turmeric, celery sticks, salt and water, and pressure cook everything. Even though celery is optional, I love adding it for its lovely flavor and texture.
- Finish it off by squeezing some lemon juice and lots of fresh coriander.
Frequently Asked Questions
Shorba is a type of soup, but the main difference between the two is in their texture. Soup has a much thicker consistency, where as shorba is more like a flavored-broth. Also, soup is usually served as a starter, but shorba can be eaten during the main course with bread or rice.
Yess! Bottle gourd, carrots, green peas, and potatoes are some veggies that taste amazing in this shorba recipe.
Lamb or mutton and beef are other meats you can use to make this shorba. But remember different meats have different cook times, so be sure to adjust accordingly.
Yes, absolutely! There are tonnes of vegetarian shorba recipes available on the internet. Tomato shorba and lentil (dal) shorba are really popular vegetarian versions that taste delicious.
Richa’s Top Tips
- I recommend using bone-in chicken thigh pieces as they remain tender throughout the cooking process. You can swap with boneless pieces if you prefer, but I would not recommend breast pieces of this recipe.
- You can add veggies like carrots, green, peas potatoes, etc. to make this recipe even more wholesome.
Serving Ideas
- Traditionally, chicken shorba is served with naan, but you can serve it with roti, whole wheat paratha, or lachha paratha too
- You can also serve this with some steamed rice, jeera rice, or veg pilaf
- Add a simple cucumber salad, raita, pickle, and papad to make a complete meal
- Serve it with a crusty bread, boiled eggs, and grilled veggies for a wholesome, healthy meal.
Customisation Ideas
Chicken shorba is super versatile and can be easily customised to suit your preferences, based on what you have available. Here are some examples:
- Add in veggies of your choice like carrots, potatoes, green peas, bell peppers or spinach
- Mix in some red masoor dal to naturally thicken and bulk up the broth
- Stir in some cream, yogurt or coconut milk for a creamy version
Storage Tips
- Fridge – Chicken shorba stays well for up to 4 days in the fridge. Make sure to cool it completely before refrigeration and store in the coldest part of your fridge.
- Freezer – Once the chicken shorba is completely cool, divide it into individual portions and transfer to freezer-friendly bags or containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Leave about an inch of space on the top, as this soup tends to expand in the freezer.
- Reheat (fridge) – Simply reheat refrigerated chicken shorba on the stovetop or in the microwave until heated through.
- Reheat (frozen) – Allow the frozen chicken shorba to thaw out overnight in the fridge before reheating on the stovetop or in the microwave as usual.
This chicken shorba recipe is simple, wholesome, and makes for a really comforting dish on a cold winter day. If you try this recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment below and send me photos over on my IG @my_foodstory. I love seeing your recreations!
Chicken Shorba
Equipment
Ingredients
To grind:
- 1 onion, cut into quarters
- ½ cup packed coriander leaves
- 8-10 mint leaves
- ½ inch piece ginger
- 7-8 whole garlic cloves
- 1 tsp jeera
- ½ tsp whole peppercornss
To cook
- ½ kg chicken, bone-in cut into 1.5 inch pieces
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 2 cloves
- 2 cardamom
- ½ inch piece cinnamon
- 1 bayleaf
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 green chillies
- 1-2 celery sticks, cut into 2 inch pieces (optional)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- Grind together all the ingredients listed under grind with a splash of water (if required).1 onion, ½ cup packed coriander leaves, 8-10 mint leaves, ½ inch piece ginger, 7-8 whole garlic cloves, 1 tsp jeera, ½ tsp whole peppercornss
- In a pressure cooker, heat ghee and sauté cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and bayleaf for 30 seconds.1 tbsp ghee, 2 cloves, 2 cardamom, 1 bayleaf, ½ inch piece cinnamon
- Add onion and saute till the onion turns brown. Add the chicken and roast on high heat for 2-3 minutes.½ onion, ½ kg chicken
- Add the ground paste and saute for another minute. Add turmeric powder, green chillies, celery, salt and water and mix.1 tsp turmeric, 2 green chillies, 1-2 celery sticks, 3/4 tsp salt, 3 cups water
- Pressure cook for 15 minutes. In a traditional pressure cooker, cook on high pressure till the first whistle. After that, reduce the flame and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and let the pressure release naturally. To serve the shorba, squeeze some lime juice and top with fresh coriander leaves.
Nutrition
This article was researched and written by Urvi Dalal
I love it, It just healed my sore throat and cold too.
warm and comforting.
I prefer it will be better with Naan or roti
I love it easy to cook 😋
Yaaaay, Priyanka, that sounds awesome. so so glad you liked the recipe.
Made this for my sister when she was sick. She said it was “so yummy and ultra comforting!”. Her husband loved it too. So now this is a staple in both my house and my sisters house.
yaay.. that sounds fantastic, Samia. so so glad that your family liked the recipe.
One of my favourites! Have made this shorba several times already! Always delivers!!
An absolute heart warming, soul comforting kind of a recipe and so easy to make! This is gonna be my new staple to brave the cold ✨
Sounds fantastic! Thanks Akshay
Amazing ♥️ 👌
Thank you Nishi
This came out really well – perfect for a cold winter evening. I didn’t have celery at home but added a couple of carrots instead 🙂
Awesome Sneha! Thanks for your comment.
I gave this recipe a try tonight. It turned out better than I imagined! A truly wonderful dish that can lift your spirits and so easy to make! This is a great dish for a satisfying supper on a cold winter night. Eaten with toast or even paav it’s a complete dinner!
Soooo happy you liked the recipe Manmohan! thank you for leaving a comment
just made it:) Hearty and YUMMY
Sure it’s going to be made many times
Yay! thanks for trying the recipe Madhu