Chicken and wild rice soup is a hearty soup made with creamy broth, tender vegetables and rustic wild rice. It is so good it is guaranteed to become a family favorite.
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
I love all things soup, and there is nothing more satisfying than a comforting bowl of chicken and wild rice soup. Tender bits of chicken with hearty vegetables and wild rice all swimming in a creamy broth. This soup is perfection. Nothing is better on one of those nights when the air starts to chill and you want a warm comforting hug from your dinner.
One thing I love about this chicken and wild rice recipe is how versatile it is! This is my go to recipe when I am taking dinner to someone else because it is so easy to work around food allergies. If they are gluten free, I thicken it with cornstarch and water in place of the flour and butter. If they are dairy free, I add extra broth and leave out the cream. (Even though that’s not quite as good).
This is an Instant Pot recipe, so it comes together super fast, but you can easily make this recipe on the stovetop as well.
Ingredients in Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Chicken Broth
- Frozen Chicken Tenders- Yes, for this Instant Pot recipe they need to be frozen. Using fresh chicken or leftover chicken would change the cook time resulting in undercooked rice. If you have some leftover cooked chicken you are needing to use instead, you could add it after the soup has cooked.
- Carrots- you’ll want these carrots roughly chopped.
- Celery – The celery will be chopped, as well!
- Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild Rice- You want to make sure to get the box with the seasonings.
- Heavy Cream- You can substitute half and half if you would like, but it won’t have the same THICK creaminess.
- Butter
- Flour
- Salt
- Pepper
How to Make Chicken and Wild Rice Soup in the Instant Pot
Begin by adding the chicken broth, frozen chicken tenders, carrots, celery and the box of wild rice with the seasonings into the liner of your Instant Pot. Seal your Instant Pot and set it to cook on HIGH for 6 minutes with a 6 minute NPR. After 6 minutes NPR, manually release the remaining pressure.
Remove the chicken and set it aside. Change your Instant pot settings to the middle sauté setting and add the cream. Stir well to combine.
While the soup is coming back to a simmer, combine the melted butter and flour to form a thick paste. Once the soup is boiling again add the paste. Stir well until the paste has melted and integrated into the soup. Allow to soup to boil until it has reached your desired thickness. If the soup thickens too much, just add a splash of milk to thin it down again. While the soup is thickening, cut the chicken tenders into small bite sized pieces and return it to the soup.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.
How to Make Chicken and Wild Rice on the Stove
You can easily make this recipe on the stove top if you would rather. Just add the chicken broth, thawed chicken, carrots, celery and the box of wild rice with seasonings to a pot and let it boil. When the chicken is cooked through, remove the chicken and proceed with the recipe as written.
The Instant Pot definitely speeds up the process, but it is absolutely doable on the stove top as well.
And there you have it. This soup is so warm and so comforting, it is like your favorite hoodie in a bowl…only it tastes much better.
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If You Love Soup Like I Love Soup, Check Out Some Of These Other Soup Recipes.
Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 6 frozen chicken tenderloins
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 (6 oz) box uncle ben's long grain & wild rice with the seasonings
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the chicken broth, chicken tenders, carrots, celery, box of rice and the seasoning packet into the liner of your Instant Pot.`
- Set your Instant Pot to pressure cook (manual) on High for 6 minutes with a 6 minute NPR, release the remaining pressure after the NPR.
- Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot, set aside.
- Add in the heavy cream, stir to combine. Press cancel on your Instant Pot and then press the saute button (at the middle setting).
- While your Instant Pot is coming to a boil, combine the butter and flour until you create a thick paste.
- Once the soup is simmering, add the paste to the soup, stirring until the paste has melted.
- Allow the soup to simmer until it has thickened to your family's liking.
- Chop the chicken tenders into small, bite sized pieces and stir into the soup.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Kelly says
Very tasty soup. We tried it tonight and it was gobbled up. I enjoy these easy dishes when short on time. Thanks for another great recipe.
Patty says
Delicious! And so much easier in the Instant Pot than other versions I’ve made of this recipe!
Karli Bitner says
Thanks, Patty! I am happy to hear that you loved it!
Karli Bitner says
Thank you so much for coming back and leaving a review and stars, Kelly! I appreciate it! Thanks for following the blog and trying my new recipes. Makes me happy!!
Salli Jeppson says
Can this be frozen?
Jamie Webb says
Loved this recipe! I was curious what your take was on freezing this for a future date? Thanks for the awesome instant pot helps too!!
Janine Paskiewicz says
I LOVE this soup!! So easy, so hearty. Question, what is the purpose of removing the chicken & adding the roux at the end. The soup seems to be thick enough.
Karli Bitner says
This would freeze awesome! You just may need to add a little bit of milk and some extra salt when heating it back up. 🙂
Karli Bitner says
Yes! Freezes great!
Karli Bitner says
I personally like my soup really thick, but if yours is great without the roux, leave it out! 🙂
Jen says
Hello any way I can use thawed chicken? Thank you!
Karli Bitner says
Hi Jen- with the Instant Pot, in order to cook different components at the same time they need to have the same cook time. Both the rice and the frozen chicken call for the same cook time so we are able to cook them at the same time. If we used thawed chicken either the chicken would be over cooked with the rice perfect or the chicken would be perfect and the rice would be crunchy. I hope that makes sense!
Jessica Hill says
My husband hates it when I make soup, but this soup he LOVES. He will eat the entire pot if I let him 😉
Debbie says
This soup is SO GOOD!!! Plus, I had everything I needed for it, so I didn’t even have to go to the store…WIN.
Do you think I could double it in my 8 Qt cooker? My husband and I finished this in 2 days (with a little help from the neighbor) and I was hoping to freeze leftovers LOL
Karli Bitner says
Yeah, you should be able to double in an 8 qt!
Peggy Orendas says
This was easy and delicious! I didn’t have tenderloins so used thawed chicken breasts and increased the NPR by a few minutes.
Emily says
Love this recipe except how do you easily remove frozen chicken tenders from the package??? That was quite a hassle and I felt so silly. Am I missing something?
Cooking with Karli says
No, you aren’t missing anything. It is a little awkward. 🙂
Kandy says
My whole family enjoys this soup. I cut a pound of chicken into bite size pieces before cooking so that I didn’t have to remove and cut after cooking. I also use a can of fat free evaporated milk in place of the cream. It will be in our weeknight rotation all winter. Thanks Karli!