Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup Recipe is a quick and easy soup with chicken, rice and vegetables, that cooks in 4 minutes. One of the easiest and healthy soups you can make in your pressure cooker.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Cooking soups in the Instant Pot is in my weekly routine. Some of my favorites include Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup, Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup and the creamy Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar soup. Now, I have another recipe in the collection: the Chicken and Rice soup. It's even faster to make!
This Instant Pot Chicken and Rice soup is so easy to make. With cooking time being only 4 minutes, you can have a delicious lunch or light dinner ready fast. The leftovers the next day are perfect too!
Ingredients:
- chicken: boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs;
- vegetables: onion, garlic, celery, carrots
- rice: I used long grain;
- seasoning: Italian seasoning, salt and pepper;
- liquids: water and chicken stock or broth.
How to make chicken and rice soup in the Instant Pot?
- Start by cutting the chicken breast into bite-size pieces. Chop onion, carrots, and celery.
- Make sure the stainless steel insert is in your Instant Pot. Press the "saute" setting and let the IP heat up for 2 minutes. Add oil and let it heat up.
- Add chopped onion, carrot, celery, and minced garlic. Sautee for 3 to 4 minutes. Add chicken and saute for 2 minutes. When the chicken starts to turn white, add seasoning. Cook until the chicken is almost done.
- Add rice and stir well. Add liquids and stir. Close the lid, set the valve to the "sealing" position. Make sure the Instant Pot is set to cook on HIGH pressure. Press the "manual" or "pressure cook" button. Set timer to 4 minutes. It will take about 7 minutes for the IP to come to pressure.
- When the timer is done, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then flip the valve to the "venting" position to release the remaining pressure.
- Open the lid carefully away from your face. Stir. Serve with chopped parsley.
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How to make sure the soup is flavorful?
To ensure that the soup is not bland but flavorful, I recommend adding dry seasoning (herb mix, like poultry mix or Italian seasoning) to sauteeing vegetables and chicken. The dry herbs will become fragrant, they will stick to the chicken and add a lot of flavors. You don't want dry herbs floating on top of the soup. Adding them to the chicken is the best way to activate them.
Recipe FAQs:
Any leftovers should be stored in a container with lid, in the fridge, for up to 4 days. The rice may absorb more liquid so add more chicken stock or water when reheating.
Absolutely! You can use white, Jasmin, or brown rice in this recipe. Brown rice will require a longer cooking time (12 minutes). In that case, you can use whole chicken breast or thighs (1 lb total), sear it with vegetables and seasoning, then add rice and liquids. Cook for 12 minutes on HIGH pressure. Jasmin rice requires only 4 minutes of cooking, so the instructions remain the same as for the white rice.
Yes, you can place frozen chicken breast or thighs after sauteing the vegetables. Frozen chicken does not saute well, so skip that step. If using frozen chicken, you will need to increase the cooking time to 12 minutes. That means the white long-grain rice will overcook. I recommend using brown rice (since it requires longer cooking time) if you are using frozen chicken.
More Instant Pot soup recipes:
To learn more about the Instant Pot, check out my Guide for Beginners. If you experienced the “burn” message while using your IP, check out my Instant Pot Burn Message post to learn how to fix the issue and prevent it in the first place.
If you like this recipe and make it, let me know in the comments below! Don't forget to rate it if you enjoyed it!
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 celery stalks
- 2 carrots
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon Italian seasoning or dried thyme
- ½ cup white long-grain rice see note
- 2 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth or stock
- 2 ⅓ cups water
Instructions
- Start by cutting the chicken breast into bite size pieces. Chop onion, carrots and celery.
- Make sure the stainless steel insert is in your Instant Pot. Press "saute" setting and let the IP heat up for 2 minutes. Add oil and let it heat up.
- Add chopped onion, carrot, celery and minced garlic. Sautee for 3 to 4 minutes. Add chicken and saute for 2 minutes. When the chicken starts to turn white, add seasoning. 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. Make sure the Instant Pot is set to cook on HIGH pressure. Press the "manual" or "pressure cook" button. Set timer to 4 minutes. It will take about 7 minutes for the IP to come to pressure.
- When the timer is done, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then flip the valve to "venting" position to release remaining pressure.
- Open the lid carefully away from your face. Stir. Serve with chopped parsley.
Notes
- Please note, that the nutrition value can vary depending on what product you use. The information below is an estimate. Always use calorie counter you are familiar with.
- If using frozen chicken, skip the browning step, increase the cooking time to 12 minutes and use brown rice since it requires longer cooking time. White rice may overcook.
Jen says
This is my family's go-to soup, we love it so much! As I share your recipe with family and friends the big question has been - what size instant pot is needed to make it? Can it be made in smaller than a 6 quart? Thank you!
Anna says
That is absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much, Jen!