This is the easiest recipe for Instant Pot chicken and rice soup, just dump everything into the pressure cooker! White rice gives the broth a creamy texture, plus there's tender chicken breast and veggies to make the soup even more satisfying.
Instant Pot chicken and rice soup is comfort in a bowl. It's exactly the type of soup that you wish someone would hand you on a cold winter night. The broth reminds me of Campbell's soup from a can - and I mean that as a good thing!
This easy and delicious soup is perfectly seasoned with dill, garlic and just a pinch of turmeric. It's made using white rice and tender chicken breasts.
The white rice in this soup has a soft texture and releases starch into the soup, making the broth thick and creamy. If you'd like to try another type of chicken soup with rich broth, try Italian chicken pastina soup.
Looking for more Instant Pot soup recipes? Try Instant Pot white bean and cabbage soup or Instant Pot mushroom barley soup.
What Makes this Recipe So Easy?
This is an easy family dinner made with simple ingredients!
What you're really going to love about this recipe for Instant Pot chicken soup is that everything goes into the Instant Pot at the same time. There's no chopping raw chicken and no sautéing the ingredients beforehand (unless you want to).
Just put everything in the Instant Pot and program the pressure cooker to cook for 5 minutes on high pressure. Easy peasy!
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Ingredients
Ingredient Additions
If you'd like to add more flavor to soup, consider adding one or more of the following ingredients:
- Bay leaf
- Fresh chopped dill
- Fresh parsley or fresh thyme
- Fresh garlic (thinly sliced)
- Baby spinach
- Italian seasoning
- Lemon pepper
- Lemon juice (2 tablespoons after the soup is cooked)
How to Make Chicken and Rice Soup in the Instant Pot
Step 1: Finely chop the garlic, onion, carrot and celery.
Step 2: Combine chopped veggies, chicken breast, white rice, broth, dried dill, turmeric, garlic powder and salt. Cook for 5 minutes on high pressure.
Step 3: Take the cooked chicken breast out of the pot and let it rest for 10 minutes. Chop, season with salt, and return to the soup.
Step 4: Add the chicken back to the pot. Season with salt. The soup will thicken the longer it sits.
(see recipe card below for detailed instructions and ingredient amounts)
Recipe FAQ
This recipe calls for only ⅛ teaspoon of turmeric. Just a pinch of turmeric doesn't affect the flavor of the soup, but it does give chicken soup an appetizing, yellow color. Try this trick with any type of chicken soup with a clear broth.
White rice cooks quickly in a pressure cooker. In as little as 3 minutes at high pressure, it can be ready. However, this soup cooks longer, so that the chicken breast and veggies also have time to cook fully. As a result, the white rice in this soup has a soft texture and releases starch that thickens the broth.
If you want the rice to have a firmer texture, you have to cook the rice for a shorter amount of time. To do this, follow the instructions for this recipe but don't add the rice. Once the soup is done, take out the cooked chicken breasts and add the rice. Cook the soup again for 3 minutes. Then, add the chopped chicken breast back into the soup.
If you have time, then saute the onion, carrot and celery for 3 to 5 minutes with a drizzle of oil. Then, add the remaining ingredients to the Instant Pot and proceed with the recipe.
It's important to finely chop the onion, carrot and celery in this recipe or the veggies won't cook fully. Learn how to finely chop veggies by watching these videos: how to finely chop an onion, how to chop a carrot, how to finely chop celery.
No. Brown rice takes longer to cook.
I like to cook boneless chicken thighs for 8 minutes in the Instant Pot. If you'd like to use thighs instead of chicken breast, then cook the chicken first before you add the rice. After the chicken has cooked in the broth, set it aside on a plate and add the rice to the pot. Cook the rice for 3 minutes, instant release. Then shred the chicken thighs and add the meat back to the soup.
To make the brothy creamy, add 1 cup of heavy cream to the finished soup. You'll also need to add more salt for flavor.
Yes, you can use chicken tenders although sometimes the texture isn't quite as moist.
No, the rice cooks in the pot along with the rest of the ingredients.
Storage and Reheating
This chicken soup will stay fresh for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The rice will soak up the broth, so the next day the leftover soup will be much thicker than on the day it is made.
To reheat the soup, warm it gently on the stove or in the microwave.
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
This is the easiest recipe for Instant Pot chicken and rice soup, just dump everything into the pressure cooker! White rice gives the broth a creamy texture, plus there's tender chicken breast and veggies to make the soup even more satisfying.
Total Instant Pot Cooking Time: 20 minutes to reach pressure + 5 minutes cooking time + 5 minute quick release
This recipe was originally published in Feb 2021 and updated in Nov 2023
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: soup
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or thinly sliced
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped or thinly sliced
- 2 carrots, finely chopped or thinly sliced
- ¾ cup long grain white rice (such as jasmine rice or basmati rice)
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
- 8 cups/2 quarts chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons butter (optional but delicious!)
Recipe Note: Make sure to finely chop or thinly slice the onion, garlic, carrot and celery so the veggies soften during the short cooking time.
Don't use chicken breasts that weigh more than 8 ounces or they might not cook fully.
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients (except for the butter) in the Instant Pot.
- Secure the lid, making sure the steam release valve is in the sealed position.
- Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
- Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes. Then, turn the valve to release the remaining pressure. Although it's not "officially" recommended, I like to drape a dish towel halfway over the steam release valve before releasing the pressure, to prevent liquid from splattering out.
- Take out the chicken breasts with tongs and set them on a cutting board.
- Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, chop or shred the meat. Generously season the chicken with salt.
- Add the chicken back to pot.
- If using the butter, stir it into the soup.
- You can add more flavor with fresh dill, black pepper and/or lemon pepper.
Notes
If you have time, you can saute the onion, celery and carrot for 3 to 5 minutes in a drizzle of olive oil before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Waiting 5 minutes before releasing the pressure helps keep the chicken breast tender. It also helps reduce the amount of broth that will spew out of the valve.
You can use water instead of chicken broth (or a combination of the two) but the soup won't be quite as flavorful. You'll definitely need to add more salt after the soup is cooked to help boost the flavor. You can also substitute veggie broth for chicken broth.
If you want the rice to have a firmer texture, you have to cook the rice for a shorter amount of time. To do this, follow the instructions for this recipe but don't add the rice. Once the soup is done, take out the cooked chicken breasts and add the rice. Cook the soup again for 3 minutes. Then, add the chopped chicken breast back into the soup.
This recipe was tested in a 6-quart instant pot.
Anna
Thank you for this recipe! This is genuinely the best chicken soup I have ever had!
Jenny Meier
I'm so glad you like it! Thanks for letting me know.
Katie
Thank you so much. My husband has a bad cold. This soup was very soothing on his throat. I definitely plan to make it again.
Jenny Meier
Thanks for letting me know! I'm glad you liked the soup and I hope your husband is feeling better!
Alex
The taste of this soup was wonderful!
I would not do the steam release again for 2 reasons, 1- adding tumeric made the broth yellow, which in turn made my towel and counter/grout neon yellow when it spewed out the steam release. 2- releasing the steam made the chicken seize up and it was very tough even when shredded.
Jenny Meier
Good advice, thanks for sharing! I'm glad you enjoyed the soup.
Jeanne
Simply delicious!
Joe
I never leave comments on recipes. But I love this chicken rice soup. Could eat it at least once a week has made it many times.
Jenny
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! I'm really glad to hear you like the soup, I love it too!
Jac
The turmeric added to this soup was a genius touch! Such a flavourful soup and I loved how quick it cooked in the pressure cooker. Thanks!
Beth
One of my favorite soups. I love the addition of the turmeric too. It adds so much flavor!
KAY
I would like to try this recipe. I just got an instant pot so I really don't know anything about it. someone commented about the steam release spewing the yellow broth and about the chicken being tough. Question 1: shouldn't pressure cooking make the chicken tender like pressure canning? Question 2: can I just do a natural release and how long does that take? Question 3. is there a reason why you cooked the breasts whole instead of cubing?
Thanks
Jenny Meier
The five minute cooking time for this recipe cooks the chicken fully, but usually chicken breast is cooked for slightly longer in an Instant Pot, which helps make the meat a little more tender. However, for this recipe the cooking time is only five minutes because otherwise the rice would be completely overcooked and mushy. You could do a full natural release (rather then just waiting five minutes after the cooking time then doing a release) but again, you would risk the rice getting overcooked. Lastly, you definitely could cube the chicken beforehand. The only reason I didn't is because I wanted to make the recipe easier, and didn't want to deal with raw chicken. Hope this information helps!
Lindsay
Soup in the instant pot is such a great time saver for me. This soup looks amazing, and I know my kids will love it! Adding to the list for fall.
Dannii
Chicken soup is the ultimate pick me up when I am ill. This instant pot version looks delicious and so easy too.
Liz
I've been loving my Instant Pot this summer because it doesn't heat up the whole kitchen! this soup is going to be a new favorite!