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.
Kathy says
This was so easy and tastes so wonderful. I didn’t have celery so I used some celery salt!
Anna says
Thank you for making my recipe, Kathy!
Carla says
I have made this recipe several times now! Sometimes I use chicken broth I have made by cooking a whole chicken in the IP first. I have made this with whole frozen chicken breast and cut up raw chicken. I add more liquid because I like more liquid in my soup. I once added more celery thinking it would be healthier and have a higher water content, but the celery flavor was surprisingly overpowering. This recipe is in my Tried and True Recipes folder!
Monica says
I don’t have chicken broth or stock but I do have buillion cubes. Any suggestions on how to measure that out?
Anna says
Hi Monica! No worries! Dissolve two cubes in 2 and 1/2 cups of water. That should work!
Kari says
Absolutely delicious! I didn't change a thing. I love how easy and tasty it came out. It was as if I put it in the slow cooker all afternoon. Perfect for a fall Sunday football day.
Skip Johnson says
I think your instructions need to include rinsing the rice before adding it to the instant pot.
Leanne P says
This was absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing! All the way from Australia! It was a hit with the whole family… including my 4 year old picky eater! Loved it and will definitely make again. Super easy esp with 2 kids under 4. Yum yum yum!!!
Ken says
Travel a lot for work made the soup tonight in a hotel room ( kitchenette equipped) came out great in the instant pot mini. I can take leftovers tomorrow for lunch.
Looking for recipes for what I’m calling pandemic cooking. No restaurant at limited capacity wants to burn a tAble of one. Soup was great and hearty
Anna says
Sounds perfect, Ken! Thank you for trying my recipe!
Martie says
Love this recipe! This has become my go-to recipe for taking a meal to someone else who needs the TLC. The soup, with some homemade rolls and it's a full meal.
I add more carrots and celery and I use CANNED chicken (12.5 oz size). Just fork shred it. I also add more broth/water to compensate for more veggies.
Jennifer Foley says
My daughter made this tonight and it was absolutely delish! Will definitely make again.
Renee says
Just made this recipe and it was wonderful! I tweaked the dry mixture because I doubled the recipe so I was worried it might not pack enough flavor. I added a ground chicken bouillon cube in the mixture of salt, pepper, thyme, terragon and Italian seasoning, and threw in a bay leaf with the liquid, and a spoonful of better than bouillon. Also- tried Goya Cannilla long grain rice and cooked for 7 minutes. Fantastic!
Kathy says
I'd like to double this but not sure if I should exactly double the liquid or just add a smaller amount of extra liquid. I'm a newbie but loving this way of cooking.
Mary Ellen says
THIS will now be my go-to chicken rice soup recipe! It was perfection!
Cynthia H says
Used chicken thighs (more flavor) and celery seed (out of celery) and homemade chicken scrap stock. Yummy!
Anna says
Thank you, Cynthia!
Sunny Haynes says
I made this for my husband who is making some healthy lifestyle changes and it was a hit! A serving was enough to satisfy him for the night and he actually complimented it! The quick-release did take a long time for mine as well, but that didn't affect the taste!
Anna says
I am so glad it was a hit! Thank you so much, Sunny!
Ewa says
My neighbor was ill and I thought I'd make her some soup. It was fantastic! Couldn't believe how much flavor it had.
Laurel says
Good taste, easy recipe. I didn’t have celery (which my husband hates anyways) so I subbed about 3-4 oz quartered mushrooms. It made a lot of rice so I might bring down to 1/3 cup or even 1/4. I would also let it natural release a bit longer, as it sputtered an threw out broth a lot. I had to stop and start the quick release a few times before it stopped sputtering.
john says
Hi can i use brown rice and what type