A big bowl of homemade Chicken and Rice Soup is just what you need to hit the spot when it is cold outside.
This easy homemade chicken soup recipe is full of chunks of chicken, rice, and fresh vegetables in a delicious broth.
Need to get dinner on the table in a hurry? Instant Pot soup recipes are so fast to make. This soup recipe is done in about 30 minutes, will feed the whole family and the leftovers freeze well.
Prep the vegetables ahead of time and you can save more time.
Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup is a perfect meal to serve when it is cold outside or your feeling under the weather.
Chicken soup is a comfort food that will satisfy your hunger and warm you up at the same time.
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Ingredients
Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup is made with a few basic wholesome ingredients that make a delicious soup.
You can make a plethora of homemade soup recipes when you start with a few ingredients like fresh carrots, celery, onion, and garlic.
- Butter: for sautéing the vegetables.
- Chicken: skinless boneless white or dark meat chicken.
- Soup vegetables: fresh carrots, celery, onion and garlic.
- Soup herbs and spices: salt, pepper, thyme, parsley and bay leaves.
- Soup broth: store bought or homemade chicken broth.
- Rice: Instant rice. (my secret ingredient)
The herbs and spices are one of the most important ingredients used when making homemade soup. They add all of the delicious flavors to homemade soup.
Dried or fresh herbs can be used to season the broth of homemade chicken and rice soup.
Let' make soup!
Instant Pot Soup recipes are some of the easiest recipes to make.
Classic soup ingredients cook in the pressure cooker in less than 30 minutes. And 15 minutes of that time is cooking the instant rice in the broth after the chicken has cooked.
Turn the sauté setting on and melt the butter. Add the onion, carrots, celery and minced garlic to the pot.
Sauté the vegetables until the onion is translucent. Add the salt, pepper, and parsley flakes. Toss with a large spoon to combine. Turn the sauté setting off.
If using dried thyme you can add it in the previous step with the vegetables.
Place the boneless chicken on top of the vegetables and add the fresh thyme bundle and dried bay leaves.
Pour 6 cups of the chicken broth over the ingredients.
Twist the lid on the pressure cooker and lock in place. Turn the valve to the sealing position. Press the manual button and set the cooking time for 7 minutes.
When the timer goes off letting you know it is finished pressure cooking allow the steam to release naturally (NPR) for 10 to 15 minutes. Carefully open the lid away from your face. Place the lid down on a towel near by.
Remove the bundle of thyme and discard. Use tongs to pick the chicken up and place it in a bowl. Shred or cube the chicken as soon as it is cool enough to handle. Pour the shredded chicken and any broth from the bowl back into the Instant Pot.
Add the instant rice and stir with a large spoon. Twist the lid back on, turn the valve to the sealed position to trap the heat in. Allow the rice to absorb the hot broth and cook.
Do not turn the Instant Pot back on! The heat from inside the pot will cook the instant rice.
After 5 or 10 minutes uncover and check the rice. If it is tender the soup is done.
If the rice is still hard add the remaining two cups of chicken broth, recover and wait another 5 to 10 minutes for the rice to finish cooking.
Serve the Chicken and Rice Soup when the rice is tender.
Recipe FAQ's
I use Instant rice in my soup recipes to prevent it from getting soggy or mushy. Because instant rice is cooked rice that has been dehydrated is does not absorb as much liquids as other types of rice. It absorbs just enough to become tender but not soggy.
Making chicken soup with herbs like, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves will add a delicious flavor to the soup.
Recipe Expert Tips
These expert recipe tips will help you make a perfect bowl of chicken and rice soup.
- Chicken: Use boneless skinless chicken. Place the whole pieces into the pressure cooker. Shred or cube after cooking in the broth to prevent the chicken from over cooking and getting a rubbery texture.
- Vegetables: Prep the vegetables ahead of time to save even more time at dinner time.
- Herbs: fresh or dried herbs can be used to make homemade soup.
- Fresh herbs: When using fresh herbs it is recommended to tie the herbs up in a bundle secured with cooking twine. This will make is very easy to remove the stems from the soup.
- Best soup herbs: Garlic, thyme, and bay leaves are the best soup herbs to use.
- Rice: Instant rice will hold its shape and firmness unlike cooked white rice which will get mushy quickly. The instant rice is added after the chicken has pressure cooked.
- Using cooked rice: You can use leftover cooked rice instead of instant rice for this recipe. Just add the cooked rice to the pressure cooker after the chicken has cooked instead of the instant rice. Cooked rice will get mushy if used.
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Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 medium carrots peeled and sliced
- 2 small stalks celery sliced
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- 1.5 lbs boneless chicken
- 3 large bay leaves
- 1 small bunch fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 8 cups chicken broth divided, (two 32 ounce cartons)
- 2 cups Instant Rice
Instructions
- Turn a 6-quart or 8-quart Instant Pot on and press the Saute button.
- Add the sliced carrots, celery, diced onion, minced garlic and butter. Sauté until the onions are soft, about 3 minutes. Turn the sauté setting off.
- Add the salt, pepper and dried parsley. Toss to coat the vegetables.
- Add the whole chicken pieces to the Instant Pot. Add the bay leaves and fresh or dried thyme.
- Pour 6 cups of the the chicken broth over the ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot. Make sure the valve is set to the sealing position. Press the manual button and set the pressure cooking time to 7 minutes.
- After the timer beeps alerting you that the pressure cooking has finished allow the steam to release naturally for 15 minutes. Then push the valve to the releasing position and wait for all of the steam to escape and the pin to drop.
- Carefully twist the lid off away from your face. Remove the bundle of fresh thyme if used to season the chicken soup.
- Use a slotted spoon or a kitchen tong to remove the hot cooked chicken from the pot and place it in a bowl. Allow the chicken to rest for about 5 minutes before shredding the chicken with two forks.
- Return the shredded chicken to the inner pot of the Instant Pot.
- Pour the instant rice into the Instant Pot and stir with a wooden spoon. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and lock into place. Allow the rice to cook in the hot chicken broth until tender, about 15 or 20 minutes. See Notes.
- Remove the lid once again and stir the cooked rice into the chicken soup. If the rice has absorbed too much of the chicken broth add the remaining 2 cup and stir.
- Makes 8 servings.
Video
Notes
- Chicken: Use boneless skinless chicken. Place the whole pieces into the pressure cooker. Shred or cube after cooking in the broth to prevent the chicken from over cooking and getting a rubbery texture.
- Vegetables: Prep the vegetables ahead of time to save even more time at dinner time.
- Herbs: fresh or dried herbs can be used to make homemade soup.
- Fresh herbs: When using fresh herbs it is recommended to tie the herbs up in a bundle secured with cooking twine. This will make is very easy to remove the stems from the soup.
- Best soup herbs: Garlic, thyme, and bay leaves are the best soup herbs to use.
- Rice: Instant rice will hold its shape and firmness unlike cooked white rice which will get mushy quickly. The instant rice is added after the chicken has pressure cooked. It will take from 5 to 15 minutes for the instant rice to cook in the broth. Times may vary.
- Using cooked rice: You can use leftover cooked rice instead of instant rice for this recipe. Just add the cooked rice to the pressure cooker after the chicken has cooked instead of the instant rice. Cooked rice will get mushy if used.
- Do not press any buttons to turn the Instant Pot on after adding the Instant rice. The heat and hot broth trapped inside the tightly covered Instant Pot will cook the instant rice.
Nutrition
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