My new Creamy Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup is a delicious low-fat and dairy-free meal that comes together in under an hour and it is sure to be a family pleaser. It’s full of tender chicken breasts, healthy vegetables, and brown rice. It can be the perfect soup for any leftover chicken or turkey as well!

Making The Creamy Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup

Lately, I’ve been all about using my Instant Pot, so if you see a ton of new recipes from me over the next fall and winter months don’t be surprised!

I mean how can having dinner prepped, cooked, and on the table in an hour or less not be my favorite thing, right?

If only all my daily chores were this simple and quick, then maybe I wouldn’t feel as if I needed more hours in the day, ha!

But thanks to my pressure cooker and this easy soup recipe, at least I know that I can mark dinner off my list quickly.

This delicious low-fat and gluten-free soup will surprise you with its amazing flavors. With these basic ingredients and your Instant Pot, you are well on your way to having a family-friendly dinner in a jiffy. 

Here’s What You’ll Need To Shop For:

• chicken breast
• chicken broth
• lite coconut milk
• carrots
• a red onion
• celery
• poultry seasoning
• garlic and onion powder
• brown rice

Once you have all the ingredients for the recipe, you are just a few steps away from enjoying a tasty and healthy Chicken and Rice Soup.

Here’s a look at the steps that you’ll follow to make this Instant Pot soup recipe. 

Step 1: Prep the chicken breast and vegetables. 

The prep work is pretty simple for this recipe and includes just some knife work and a cutting board. Start by cutting the chicken breast into bite-size cubes and dice the onions, celery, and bell pepper. 

You can use a rotisserie chicken here if you’d like to or any leftover turkey or chicken you have on hand. Just shred or chop it up and add it to the veggies.  

I forgot to add the baby carrots to this photo (I was rushing to get these photos done between helping my son with his math lessons, oops) so I’m sorry about that.

I just tossed in some baby carrots that I had on hand, but you don’t have to have baby carrots, just use any size carrots you have as long as they equal about a cup or two. 

Step 2: Add Chopped Ingredients to the Instant Pot.  

Now it is time to add all the chicken and veggies you just chopped to the Instant Pot along with the uncooked brown rice and seasonings. Yes, the rice and carrots are in there, don’t worry, I didn’t forget that this time!

I love to use Poultry Seasoning in this soup because it just gives this soup a savory flavor that just screams fall to me.

Think chicken and dressing when you think of this spice because with one of the main ingredients being sage, it kind of reminds me of a holiday side dish. 

It is so good and it goes so well with the chicken and rice in this soup. Of course, if you don’t have the Poultry Seasoning you can sub your favorite spices.

A sprig or two of thyme and a bay leave would both work great in his recipe in place of the other. 

Step 3: Add in the broth and cook the soup. 

In this third step, you’ll simply add in all of the chicken stock, stir the soup, and put the lid on the pressure cooker.

Press the Manual Setting button and set the timer to 20 minutes. This time is needed to cook the brown rice and chicken.

Even if you use precooked or leftover chicken you’ll need to cook this soup at least 20 minutes on high to ensure that the rice is cooked and tender. Nobody wants to get a spoonful of crunchy rice, yuck!

If you use a different type of starch other than brown rice, like barley, please check our pressure cooker manual to get an idea of how long you need to cook the soup.

If you don’t add the rice, the soup must only cook for about 15 minutes. 

Step 4: Add in your choice of a creamy element. 

Once the pressure cooker has counted down the 20 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes then you can switch the pressure valve to rapid release. 

When all the pressure has been released carefully remove the lid and stir in the coconut milk. The soup is now ready to serve. This recipe makes about 8 servings of 1.5 cups per serving.

If you don’t need to watch the fat level or need a dairy-free option then you can use heavy cream or your favorite diary to make this soup creamy.

I’ve included the national for using heavy whipping cream in the note section of the recipe card if you need them. 

Don’t Have An Instant Pot, No Worries Make This Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup In A Slow Cooker!

This soup can be made in the slow cooker if you don’t have an Instant Pot or if you just want to cook it throughout the day while you take care of other things.

This soup will take 6 to 8 hours on low when made in the slow cooker. The recipe steps are the same, with one added step that will need to be done during the last two hours of cooking.

Let’s take a look at the steps for making this soup in your slow cooker. To start the soup place the chicken, veggies, spices, and broth all into the slow cooker and set it to low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

You don’t want to add the rice to the slow cooker this early so wait until the last 2 hours of cooking to add the uncooked rice and give it a good stir.

Continue cooking the soup for the remaining two hours and just before you are ready to serve stir in the coconut milk or the cream depending on which version of this soup you are making and the soup is now ready to eat. 

You can also cook the brown rice on the stovetop and add it to the soup right before you serve it to your family and friends. 

What is the Best Way To Freeze This Soup Recipe?

When it comes to make-ahead meals or freezer meals, soups can be a fantastic option. They are easy to combine in large freezer-safe bags that will be ready for you to grab and thaw.

Then dump them into your Instant Pot and you’re well on your way to a quick dinner. 

There are some elements, well one mainly, the rice, that don’t freeze well in the soup. It just gets pasty and gummy in my opinion so there are a couple of ways that you can use this soup as a freezer meal that will avoid that whole soggy rice issue. 

Uncooked Freezer Prep Option: The first option for freezing this soup is setting it up as a freezer meal that can be added to the Instant Pot on the night you are ready to prepare it.

First, make sure you label your freezer bag with the name of the recipe and cooking instructions. Then add in the cut-up chicken, carrots, onions, and celery. 

Next, add the seasoning to the bag and press as much air as possible before sealing. At this time you’ll want to leave out the rice and coconut milk.

These two items will be added later when you are cooking the soup, same with broth.

I always have brown rice, coconut milk, and chicken stock in my pantry so I know it will be there when I need it, but if you want to ensure you’ll have it when you need it you can add the brown rice portion to a small Ziploc bag and store that and other two ingredients together labeled with instructions that it goes the soup. 

If you are going with the higher fat option, the heavy cream, for this soup you will not freeze well either. Trust me, it gets lumpy and gross-looking so don’t add that until right before you serve the cooked soup.

Cooked Soup Freezer Option: For this option, you can prepare the soup as per the directions, without the rice. In this method, I like to cook the rice and soup separately and let them both cool completely.

Once both are room temperature, I add the soup to a large freezer-safe container large enough to hold it all and freeze my cooked brown rice in a separate freezer bag.

When I do this method I will then label the soup as “1 of 2” and the bag of rice as “2 of 2” along with the name of the recipe.  Then I store them in the freezer beside one another.

I know I said brown rice didn’t freeze well earlier but that is only the case if it is in the soup. It works fine frozen separately.

When you are ready to serve this soup let it thaw overnight and add it to the slow cooker or Instant Pot.

On the night you are ready to eat this meal, just dump in the thawed soup and brown rice and heat until the soup is warmed through.

Stir in the creamy element you prefer and dinner is served. Hot and Delicious. 

Who says a healthy and delicious dinner needs to take all day in the kitchen? Certainly not me, and I think this soup recipe proves me right!

I hope you enjoy this soup, and if you do please let me know in the comments over on my social media pages!

Continue to Content

Yield: 8 Servings

Creamy Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

A simple yet hearty chicken and brown rice soup made in under an hour in the Instant Pot. The recipe has a dairy-free option as well.

Print

Ingredients

• 7 cups of fat free low sodium chicken broth
• 4 large stalks of celrey, chopped
• 2 large chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 2 cups of carrots
• 1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups of brown rice, uncooked
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 /4 teaspoon black pepper

Dairy Free or Cream Option

• Low Fat Diary Free Option: 1 1/3 cups of lite unsweetened coconut milk
• Higher Fat Dairy Option: 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream

Instructions

1. Cut the chicken (or turkey), celery, onion, and bell pepper into bite-sized cubes.
2. Add the chicken and veggies to the Instant Pot along with the uncooked rice.
3. Next, pour in the seasonings and the fat-free chicken broth. Stir the mixture to combine.
4. Place the Instant Pot Lid onto the machine and turn the steam valve to close to create the seal.
5. Press the Manuel Button (high) and set the timer to 20 minutes. Let the machine build pressure and then count down the cooking time.
6. When the 20 minutes have passed let the Instant Pot do a natural steam release for 10 minutes then carefully open the steam valve to finish with a rapid release.
7. Remove the slide from the pot and stir in the coconut milk for dairy-free and low-fat options (THM "E") or stir in heavy whipping cream for a richer and higher-fat option.

Notes

*See the recipe for instructions on the slow cooker method and freezer instructions.

*Nutrition Note: The nutrition included in this recipe card is using dairy-free options with lite coconut milk. Adding heavy cream will change the recipe to the following numbers per serving: Calories: 273, Fat: 7.4, Sodium: 878.8, Carbs: 31.5, Fiber: 2.2, Net Carb: 30.3.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1 1/2 cups
Amount Per ServingCalories 253Total Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gSodium 877mgCarbohydrates 31gNet Carbohydrates 28.8gFiber 2.2gSugar 3.2gProtein 19g

I am not a nutritionist. If you have strict dietary needs I always recommend using an online nutrition calculator to calculate your totals using your exact brands you're using in this recipe as values may vary per brand.

Keri Bucci

I am a southern girl through and through that loves to laugh, cook, read and spend time with family. My passions outside of home schooling my son are ministering to those in need and creating art in the kitchen! Every day is an adventure in our little house and I wouldn’t trade it or the chance to share here with you for anything!