This Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup is one of the BEST chicken and rice soups and one of the easiest to make! With only 5 minutes of active preparation time and nearly hands-off cooking, making chicken and rice soup in your Instant Pot is a huge (and delicious) time saver.
"This soup earned five stars for sure, and was so easy in the instant pot."
Table Of Contents
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup is a comforting and nourishing meal that combines tender pieces of chicken, fluffy white rice, and a medley of vegetables, aromatics and flavorful spices. Much like chicken noodle, this hearty soup is a classic comfort food that takes less than 30 minutes to come together in your pressure cooker. You can also make chicken and rice soup in your slow cooker.
Chicken rice soup is both soothing and invigorating, a balance of flavors that promises comfort with every spoonful. The rich flavorful broth, the succulent chicken, the comforting rice, and the array of vegetables create a symphony of tastes and textures.
It's a great dinner soup not just on cool evenings, but during the warmer days of spring of summer. With the right blend of spices and ingredients, Instant Pot soups never fail to please all year long. Just try this ever popular pressure cooker beef barley soup, classic vegetable soup and spring minestrone. You will not be disappointed!
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Ingredients
To make chicken and rice soup in your pressure cooker you need:
- Rotisserie chicken: this seasoned, already cooked chicken makes this recipe so easy and so flavorful. Rather a store bought chicken, make one in your slow cooker!
- White rice: parboiled, uncooked white rice is what we're using.
- Chicken broth: or water and chicken bouillon seasoning
- Carrots
- Celery
- Garlic
- Onion: sweet onion, yellow onion or white onion.
- Scallions: also called green onions
- Fresh parsley and rosemary: you can use dried, but use three times less than the fresh amounts.
- Dried thyme: if using fresh, use three times more.
- Saffron: we're only using ⅛ teaspoon of saffron, as using too much can cause a strong or bitter taste. When used sparingly, saffron has a unique and complex flavor profile that's slightly sweet, slightly bitter and a bit floral.
- Salt and black pepper
Step-By-Step Instructions
*This recipe will work in a 6, 8 or 10 quart pressure cooker. It yields six 2 cup servings of soup.
STEP 1: Set the Instant Pot to saute on high for 3 minutes. Add extra virgin olive oil, the chopped celery, chopped carrots and diced sweet onion. Saute, stirring often. Add the minced garlic cloves during the last minute.
STEP 2: Turn off saute and pour in the chicken broth. Deglaze the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to scrape any stuck bits of food from the bottom.
STEP 3: Add the uncooked white rice, fresh parsley, fresh rosemary, dried thyme, salt, black pepper and saffron. Stir, close and seal the lid.
STEP 4: Set to pressure cook/manual on high for 4 minutes. Complete a natural pressure release for 15 minutes when done, then release any remaining pressure with a quick release.
STEP 5: Remove the lid and transfer the inner pot to another heat proof surface to avoid overcooking the rice. Stir in the rotisserie chicken and scallions. Stir, taste and season with additional salt and pepper if desired. For a bright, zesty twist add a squeeze of lemon juice to serving bowls.
How To Store
Store Instant Pot chicken and rice soup in the fridge for up to 5 days for optimal quality. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop. To freeze, place the soup in freezer safe storage bags and thaw in the fridge overnight.
What To Serve With Chicken and Rice Soup
- Make a delicious bread for dipping into the warm broth. Toasted garlic bread, Italian bread, cheese bread and herb bread are some of my favorites. Tomato basil bread also is fantastic with soup.
- A simple salad, such as garden salads, cobb salads and Caesar salads.
- As a side, chicken and rice soup pairs well with Instant Pot pasta dishes such as fettuccine alfredo, shrimp alfredo, acorn squash pasta, pumpkin pasta, chicken lo mein, and spaghetti and meat sauce.
- As a side for main meat dishes, it goes well with lamb roast, venison roast, stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbage rolls, slow cooker beef and broccoli and slow cooker meatloaf and potatoes.
- Serve as a main dish with a simple vegetable or pasta side dish, such as roasted parmesan asparagus, air fried baby potatoes, bacon-wrapped asparagus, and bacon-wrapped scallops.
- Spruce up lighter meals, like air fried salmon and broccoli, chicken teriyaki and veggies or air fryer kielbasa, peppers and onions.
Tips from the Chef
- You'll need extra broth. Built into the recipe is about 2 cups of broth that the rice is going to absorb. While 12 cups of broth seems like a lot, it's not! As the soup sits, the rice will continue to absorb broth, so you'll need to add more. I make this soup with the full 12 cups of broth, then if I don't serve it for a few hours, I usually need to add about 2 cups more broth right before serving. If it's stored in the fridge for a few days, the rice is going to absorb even more broth.
- If you're sensitive to salt start out with about half the salt called for and season with more to taste once it's done pressure cooking.
- Add other vegetables. Chicken and rice soup is very versatile so feel free to add other vegetables to the base recipe. Peas, green beans, corn, spinach and kale are all great additions.
FAQs
Yes. Use 1 pound of uncooked skinless boneless chicken breasts diced into small pieces. Add to the pot when sauteeing the vegetables to give it a good browning. Then follow the recipe as instructed. Do not cook the chicken breasts whole, as there won't be enough pressure cook time for whole chicken breasts to cook to a safe internal temperature. Keep in mind, you will lose some of the flavor if not using a seasoned rotisserie chicken.
Yes, cooked rice or leftover rice works just as well in this recipe when used correctly. Add it to the soup after the soup is done pressure cooking. You'll need 1-2 cups of cooked rice depending on how hearty you'd like the soup.
Yes, however the pressure cooking time may change based on the type of rice used as may the amount of broth the rice will absorb. Basmati rice takes the same amount of time and the same amount of liquid as parboiled white rice. Brown rice uses the same amount of liquid but will take 15 minutes to cook and wild rice blend takes 20 minutes to cook.
Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 4 stalks celery chopped
- 2 large carrots chopped
- ½ cup sweet onion
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 12 cups chicken broth
- 1 ½ cup parboiled white rice uncooked
- 3 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon saffron
- 3 cups rotisserie chicken shredded and diced
- 3 scallions sliced
Instructions
- Set the pressure cooker to saute for 3 minutes. Add the extra virgin olive oil, carrots, celery, sweet onion and garlic. Stir frequently while sauteing.
- Turn off saute and add the chicken broth, parboiled white rice and all seasonings. Close and seal the lid. Set to pressure cook on high for 4 minutes.
- Allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, then quickly release remaining pressure. Remove the lid, add rotisserie chicken and scallions. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
Sangeetha
Made this Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup and it's a total keeper! So hearty and flavorful, and the best part is how easy it is to make. Perfect for those cozy nights in! 🍲😋
Sangeetha
Just made this Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup and it's a total keeper! So hearty and flavorful, and the best part is how easy it is to make. Perfect for those cozy nights in! 🍲😋
Claire
We're so glad we're finally nearing soup season again, and instant pots are one of my favorite quick soup tools. Can't wait to give your chicken and rice recipe a try!