This Instant Pot chicken and rice soup and is full of so much flavor, can be prepped and made in under 30 minutes and is super thick and creamy. You will love it as a weeknight meal or for any time you want something warm and comforting. It's gluten free, dairy free, and nut free.
Why is Instant Pot chicken and rice soup so good?
- It's a 30 minute meal. You can prep it and have it cooked all in under 30 minutes!
- The texture is spot on. It's creamy, thick, and almost like a porridge. So warm and comforting.
- It lasts all week in the refrigerator... a perfect addition to meal prep.
- It's extremely nourishing and filling due to the rice inside.
- You can get creative with veggie add-ins if you'd like. Feel free to add: celery, mushrooms, kale or spinach (at the end), etc.
I particularly love how it's an all inclusive meal. I sometimes feel like soup just isn't enough, and I'll end up eating some rice on the side or topping it off with extra protein.
With this chicken and rice soup though, you will not feel that way at all.
What other soups can I make that are perfect for easy, weeknight meals?
Soup season is seriously the best. I've had my butternut squash soup on repeat at our house lately.
It's made with fresh, roasted butternut squash, nourishing broth, and all of my favorite fall spices. The marriage is seriously delightful, y'all.
Have you had a chance to try my roasted cauliflower soup yet, by the way?
I updated the rest and have improved it ten fold by incorporating the best fresh herbs and blending the soup with fresh lemon juice and nutmeg after it's done cooking.
They are both delicious, but if you are looking for something heartier and more filling, I would try out this Instant Pot chicken and rice soup instead.
How to make Instant Pot chicken and rice soup
Press the "sauté" setting on your Instant Pot and let it heat up for 2 minutes. Add oil and let it heat for another minute. Meanwhile, season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Add onions, shallot, and carrots. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add minced garlic and sauté for another minute. Add chicken and sauté for 2 minutes. When the chicken starts to turn white, add bay leaf, thyme sprigs, and spices. Cook until chicken is almost cooked. Press "cancel/off" button.
Add rice and stir well. Add liquids and stir. Close lid, set valve to "sealing" position. Press "manual" or "pressure cook" button and make sure it is set to "high pressure." Set timer to 4 minutes.
When the timer is done, let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Switch the valve to "venting" position to release the remaining pressure and steam.
Open the lid carefully and give everything a nice stir. Add fresh lemon juice and taste for additional salt and pepper. The soup will need both. Serve with chopped parsley.
To serve, spoon out the chicken and rice soup into a bowl. Top with fresh parsley.
Variations of this soup
- Feel free to top it off or mix in your favorite fresh herbs. Other ideas are: rosemary, thyme, extra parsley, etc.
- You can swap out the chicken broth for bone broth... extra nutrients are always a win!
- Add extra broth and water if you'd like it to be a thinner consistency
- Cook with cauliflower rice instead of white rice!
- You can use basmati rice, jasmine rice, or brown rice too!
- You can use skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs.
Use rotisserie chicken instead to make this soup even faster!
If you aren't into buying raw chicken or simply have access to Rotisserie chicken in your refrigerator already, feel free to use that instead.
You will add it in with the fresh herbs and immediately add your liquids before closing the lid to cook it.
I prefer chicken chunks in this dish, but if you use Rotisserie chicken, it will be more of a shredded consistency.
If you prefer to use boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of thigh meat that is just fine too! If you do, just do a 1:1 replacement in the recipe for the breast meat.
Save Leftovers and Reheat Later
Save any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
To reheat, just put in the microwave for 60-90 seconds (depending on size of reheated portion). You can also reheat on the stove top in a medium saucepan on medium to medium-high heat.
More Instant Pot soup recipes like this:
Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla-less Soup
Creamy, Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or ghee
- ½ small yellow onion diced
- 1 shallot diced
- 4 carrots peeled and diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 ½ pounds chicken thighs boneless & skinless
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 bay leaf
- 4-5 fresh thyme sprigs
- ¾ teaspoon Italian seasoning or dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 5 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups filtered water
- ½ lemon juiced
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Press the "sauté" setting on your Instant Pot and let it heat up for 2 minutes. Add oil and let it heat for another minute. Meanwhile, cut the chicken into 1 ½ - 2" chunks and season with salt and pepper.
- Add onions, shallot, and carrots. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add minced garlic and sauté for another minute. Add chicken and sauté for 2 minutes. When the chicken starts to turn white, add bay leaf, thyme sprigs, and spices. Cook until chicken is almost cooked. Press "cancel/off" button.
- Add rice and stir well. Add liquids and stir. Close lid, set valve to "sealing" position. Press "manual" or "pressure cook" button and make sure it is set to "high pressure." Set timer to 4 minutes.
- When the timer is done, let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Switch the valve to "venting" position to release the remaining pressure and steam.
- Open the lid carefully and give everything a nice stir. Add fresh lemon juice and taste for additional salt and pepper. The soup will need both. Serve with chopped parsley.
Notes
- You can swap out the chicken broth for bone broth... extra nutrients are always a win.
- Add extra broth and water if you'd like it to be a thinner consistency.
- You can use chicken breasts instead of thighs.
Erin says
I make this recipe about once every two months and my husband and three boys devour it every single time. I love the thicker consistency! The only thing I do differently is add celery (I just really like celery!) and deglaze with white wine when the chicken is almost ready for the next step of rice and stock. Thank you so much for this recipe! It’s absolutely delicious, and my boys thank you! 🙂
Mical says
Tried it LOVED by family
Thank you
Paula says
Have made this twice now, once with sauted chicken cubes and then with cooked diced chicken at a lesser time of pressure cooking. Each turned out awesome! Our son liked it so much when he was here that he had me email him the recipe! I like that I can also 'play' around with, such as adding cubed yams.
Sandra says
My friend and I made this and it was delicious! I'd like to make it again, for my parents this time, but they don't care for chicken thighs. Should I adjust anything if I replace the chicken thighs with boneless skinless chicken breasts? Also, I'd like to add celery because they love celery. Can you recommend what amount would be best? Thanks so much!
Hi Sandra! It's okay to replace chicken thighs with chicken breast. I do it all the time. It's just that some people prefer one over the other. If you do replace, no need for any other changes. As for the celery, I'd go with just one stalk - two at most.
Ted Weldon says
Made this today and used brown rice, 6 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock, diced slightly frozen chicken breasts (easier to dive when partially frozen), and added celery. Just threw everything in the pot without sautéing and pressure cooked 15 min with 5 min natural release. Turned out great
Kristen says
I can’t have rice. How would you suggest cooking it if you used cauliflower rice instead?
Zoolander says
This was delicious. We added celery and mushrooms too. I think we'll try a little less rice next time. This will be my go to chicken soup recipe.
Yes, the amount of rice I included makes it thick like a porridge. YAY!
Tim Johnson says
Well it’s more of a casserole or pour-age , but tasty.
Amanda says
Can the water be left out if I want a thicker soup?
You can try, but it turns out very thick like a porridge this way already!
Tara says
This was delicious and so easy! Thanks for a great recipe that I will be sure to make again and again.
Bianca says
Absolutely delicious! I added just a little bit of sage and WOW!!! I did run into the issue of it being too soupy at first- I let it sit for about 30 min and it was the correct consistency. Absolutely delicious!
Ken says
Can the recipe be cut in half?
Hi, yes most likely!
Ana says
I followed the recipe almost exact except I used about 1 tsp of fresh rosemary instead of dried and added 1 tsp of lemon balm from my garden. I also used homemade bone broth. I Squeezed the remaining lemon half in after it was done cooking and added plenty of salt and pepper. Thank you for the amazing recipe! Loved this soup. It was thick and creamy and porridgey and delicious
Heck yeah, this makes me so happy. It's my favorite soup!
Emily says
Came out perfectly as described (thickly, creamy and porridge-y). I’m Filipino so it totally reminds me of a traditional family dish (arroz caldo). So good! This is the first time I’ve ever used an instant pot and it still came out just as described - yay! Kid approved so I’ll be making this on the reg 🙂
YAYYYY that makes me so happy. I don't know why another person's was liquid-y... it's always super thick and porridge-like for me, too. SO happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Madi says
I followed the instructions to a tee and mine came out with wayyy more broth and not creamy at all even after draining broth. I did 5 cups of chicken broth & 1.5 cups of water exactly. Tastes okay though. Just a little disappointed.
This is so strange, and I'm really sorry this happened... I haven't received this kind of feedback before. I am trying to figure out the why. You added 1 cup of long grain white rice? And the Instant Pot properly came to pressure and the chicken was cooked through, etc.?
Margaret says
mine came out the same. very brothy
Lisa says
Mine came out too brothy and soupy the first time I made it, but I realized I was using a 1 cup measurement with a rice cup, not a standard 1 cup. I made it again using the regular 1 cup like you would use for flour and it was perfection! Creamy, porridge like, hearty and delicious!
Learn from my mistake and you won't regret it!
Oh my gosh this is genius. I never thought of this.
Regina says
Sooo delicious and warming! Great soup for anytime, but especially when someone is sick!
It's my favorite when we're under the weather, too! 🙂
Alicia says
I used my 10 quart instant pot and doubled the recipe. It turned out amazing!! So much easier than I thought it would be. Nice and creamy and not brothy at all which was perfect. I did 7 minutes at high pressure and natural release 15 minutes and it worked great too! Love love this recipe, will absolutely make again.
Britt says
If I need to double the recipe, will that double the cook time at the end? Instead of 4 minutes, it would be 8 minutes?
Mmmm, good question... will it all fit in your Instant Pot??? Do you have a huge one? I wouldn't double the time... maybe add 2 minutes.
Blair says
Can this recipe be frozen after cooking or should the rice be omitted and cooked separately like in the stuffed pepper soup recipe?
Thanks!
I'd probably omit the rice, yes exactly.
Jen K says
This soup is so delicious! This is our third time making it in the last month- perfectly cozy and thick!
You've gotta try the chicken and cauliflower gnocchi soup next! 🙂
Courtney says
Can I sub brown rice for white? I have brown basmati
Yes, but the cook time will be a bit different. You'll need more liquid and a longer cooking time for brown rice... can you do some googling so it is cooked properly? I want it to turn out perfectly for you!
Kristen Chamberlain says
Is it 693 calories per serving or for the entire amount?
Sorry about that, my serving sizes are definitely way off. It's more like 6 servings-- so about 460 calories per serving.
Melissa Dreifuss says
This soup is so nourishing delicious. A family favorite!
Heather says
this is so good! i really like thats its more thick like porridge. very comforting and i love the lemon. i used herbs de provenceand some extra dried lavender . its the secret ingredients i add when I make chicken soup.
Oh my gosh, lavender- that's genius. I need to try this!!!!
Alex says
THIS SOUP IS 🤤. I make this at least once a week because it is so easy, SO delicious and makes a big batch to last a couple of days. It’s lemony and rich and delicious and is even good cold.
IT'S SO GOOD COLD RIGHT?!
Andreea says
Delicious! Already made it twice since you posted.also I don’t have an IP so I made it on stove right after your instructions. Perfect for week nights and for these cold chicago winter.
Abbey says
So comforting and warming!
Kassandra R says
So delicious and perfect for the cold weather!!!
Chocoviv says
This looks so good.
Thank you so much!