Hearty + healthy Chicken and Rice Soup – comes together in the instant pot and ready in under 30 minutes! Perfect for fall and winter dinners! | Gluten Free + Dairy Free
One thing that I really love about being married to someone who grew up in a different country is when we’re able to introduce each other to different foods we had growing up. He gets to share with me his appreciate for pork pies, yorkshire pudding, and kinder eggs and I get to make him the things my mom used to make for my family when I was a kid.
There’s something uniquely comforting and nostalgic about being in a different kitchen in another country but surrounded by the smells you used to know so well.
Even though this chicken and wild rice soup isn’t exactly the most traditional recipe – made without dairy and gluten flour – it’s still got that same base flavour profile that I remember devouring when I was young.
So let’s get into it!
How to Make: Chicken and Wild Rice Soup in the Instant Pot
Unlike your average Chicken and Wild Rice Soup this recipe comes together and is ready to be served on your table in under 30 minutes thanks to the Instant Pot.
It starts off with a quick sautéing of veggies. Once your olive oil is nice and hot and in your vegetable blend: chopped onions, celery, carrots, and mushrooms. Let those babies soften, simmer and smell amazing for a few minutes before adding in your garlic and herbs.
After a minute or two add in the wine and wild rice blend. Feel free to use all wild rice here – I’d have done the same but it’s not so easy to find here in the UK.
Then just add your chicken pieces, a little bit of tapioca flour or corn starch for thickening, and chicken stock and you’re ready to cook. Set the cooker to 5 minutes and just wait. The instant pot may need a few minutes to come to pressure before it actually starts cooking and I recommend letting it depressurise in the end at its own speed. Even with the waiting before and after this soups should still be done in under 30 minutes which makes it a perfect weeknight meal when you want something quick & easy.
This soup is hearty enough to enjoy on it’s own but you can’t go wrong with a thick slice of french bread (egg free version) on the side!
Enjoy!
Instant Pot Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
Hearty + healthy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup - comes together in the instant pot and ready in under 30 minutes! Perfect for fall and winter dinners! | Gluten Free + Dairy Free
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large celery stalks, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 cup mushrooms, sliced (8oz)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each
- 1 cup uncooked wild rice blend - ensure gluten free
- 4 cups chicken stock (960ml)
- 1 1/2 cups water (360ml)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine - on more water (120ml)
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons tapioca starch or corn starch + 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Press the sauté button on the instant pot and wait for it to heat up. Add the olive oil. When the oil is simmering add the onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cook for about 7-8 minutes until the vegetables have softened.
- Add in the rice and cook another 2-3 minutes.
- Add the chicken breast to the pot then cover with the chicken stock, water and wine.
- Secure the lid on the instant pot and make sure the dial on top is set to 'sealing'. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. (Press 'Manual' or 'Pressure Cook' and set the timer to 5 minutes.)
- After the time is up the Instant Pot will automatically switch the keep warm. Let it keep warm for 10 depressurising on its own before releasing the steam valve.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the pot and transfer to a cutting board or a plate. Using a couple of forks shred the chicken into small pieces and then add back into the soup.
- Switch the instant pot back on to the 'sauté' setting to simmer with the lid off. While simmering, mix the starch and water together in a small cup, then pour into the soup. Let cook another few minutes until the soup thickens up.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed and serve.
Notes
If you have leftover roast chicken or turkey you can easily add them to this soup. Instead of adding the uncooked chicken breast before cooking just add the cooked shredded chicken/turkey at the end.
If using long-grain wild rice instead of the blend, simply cook the wild rice and chicken broth for 25 minutes on high in the instant pot. While the rice is cooking, prep the other ingredients for the sauté step. Once the rice finishes, quick-release and set broth and rice aside in another bowl and move onto the sauté steps. When the recipe calls for rice and broth to be added, just pour the mixture back into the pot and continue with the recipe
Joseph Pierce says
Fresh mushrooms right???
Sarah Nevins says
Yes!
Joseph Pierce says
If I have frozen chicken and use true wild rice.. that takes 35 minutes.. shouldn’t have to increase cooking time like you would with wild rice blend right?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Joseph! Apologies if I’m just being daft here, but I’m not sure I understand your question.
Wild rice takes about 20 minutes to cook in the instant pot with an additional 10 minutes needed for the pot to depressurise. Frozen chicken breasts need about 10 minutes to cook with an additional 10 minutes to depressurise. So, in theory, if you were using true wild rice with frozen chicken you’d only need about 20 minutes to cook on high with 10 extra minutes of depressurising. I hope that helps!
Joseph says
Yep!!!!
Amanda says
Can I use a whole chicken? What about Jasmine rice?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Amanda! Both of the substitutions should work, but you’ll need to switch up the cook time. As a general rule of thumb when it comes to cooking whole chicken in the instant pot – you want to cook 6 minutes per pound. For example a three pound chicken you’ll cook it about 18 minutes.
Sara says
Can this be frozen? If so, how do you suggest freezing it?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Sara! I’ve actually frozen this myself but I’m almost certain you can freeze without any worries like other wild rice soups. I recommend just waiting until it cools completely and then storing in an airtight/freezer safe bag or container. It should keep about 3 months in the freezer.
Lauren says
Is the chicken thawed or frozen? Do you have a recommendation if I am using frozen chicken? Thank you!
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Lauren! I use fresh chicken in this recipe but you can certain use thawed chicken as well. All you need to do is do is increase the cook time to 12 minutes and that should be more than enough. Hope you love it!
Shay Pascale says
I made this tonight, subbed lentils for rice, skipped the wine, added fish sauce for an umami flavor profile when it was finished. All turned out great!!
Sarah Nevins says
Oooh I’m intrigued by the fish sauce! I’m gonna need to try that myself! Thanks Shay!
Linda Davies says
Made this soup today and precooked the wild rice so it would be cooked enough. I didn’t use the wine just the chicken broth. The flavor was so good so will definitely be making this soup again. Great recipe, easy to follow and it turned out. Love using the insta pot for making soup and this was a definite winner. Thanks for sharing.
Linda
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Linda! Glad you enjoyed it!
Vivien Heyob says
I am going to try this for dinner. I am using backs and next and pulling the meat. We raise our own chickens and we like to use as much as we can. I even make my own broth at the same time. It works for me. I am using all wild rice as I have it. I love love love that you made your own thickening and not canned soup. Can’t wait to eat. I’m going to use my own cow milk as a creamy additive and yep, French bread! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Vivien! That sounds so cool – I bet having home raised chicken fresh stock make this even better! Hope you loved it!
Don says
I substituted a half teaspoon of tarragon leaves and used a half teaspoon of rosemary. Turned out to be delicious. Definitely will make this again.
Sarah says
Thanks Don! Love the sound of added tarragon!
Kaleena says
So we followed the instructions for the long grain wild rice and it was my first fail in an Instant Pot. The rice stuck and burned to the bottom. I would suggest changing those instructions to add the cooked wild rice after the cooking time since it’s already fully cooked at that point.
Sarah says
Hi Kaleena! I’m not sure I understand – did you add cooked wild rice to the instant pot before anything was cooked?