Chicken and Rice Soup is a cozy, homemade meal that’s easy to make and always hits the spot. Tender chicken, hearty brown rice, and vegetables simmer together in one pot for a flavorful, comforting soup. Keep it brothy or stir in a little cream for a rich finish.
Serve it with crusty no-knead bread or fluffy dinner rolls and a simple green salad.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights: Chicken and Rice Soup
- Flavor: Savory, comforting flavor with tender chicken, brown rice, sweet carrots, and subtle notes of garlic, parsley, and thyme.
- Why Make It: Cooking the chicken and rice directly in the broth builds rich flavor while keeping cleanup easy.
- Budget Friendly: Rice and vegetables help stretch two chicken breasts into six hearty servings.
Total Time: 45 Mins Servings: 6 Cooking Method: Stovetop
- Total Time:
- 45 mins
- Serves:
- 6 servings
- Rating:
- 4.9/5
Ingredient Notes
- Vegetables: Cut the carrots and celery into small, even pieces so they cook evenly and you get tender vegetables in every spoonful. Use prechopped vegetables to save prep time, or stir in frozen mixed vegetables towards the end.
- Chicken Broth: Reduced-sodium broth or homemade chicken stock gives you more control over the salt level. Keep extra on hand at the end to add if the soup is too thick.
- Chicken Breasts: Use raw, boneless, skinless chicken breasts so they can cook directly in the broth and shred easily. Boneless chicken thighs are another option; just check that they are cooked through before shredding.
- For an easy shortcut, add shredded rotisserie chicken or leftover baked chicken breasts once the rice is tender.
- Brown Rice: Use uncooked long-grain brown rice. Different varieties can have different cooking times. Instant rice is not a direct substitute.
- Evaporated Milk or Cream (Optional): Add evaporated milk for a lighter soup, or heavy cream for a richer, creamier soup. Be sure to use evaporated milk, not sweetened condensed milk.
How to Make Chicken and Rice Soup
- Sauté the vegetables and add the seasonings.
- Add broth, chicken, and rice (full recipe below). Simmer.
- Shred the chicken and return it to the pot.
Prefer to use your slow cooker? Try my Crockpot chicken and rice soup.
Save It for Later
- Refrigerate: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: Store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 4 months. Leave out the dairy when possible and add it after reheating.
- Thaw: Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Reheat: Warm on the stovetop or in the microwave, stirring and adding broth as needed.
More Chicken Soup Favorites
Did you enjoy this Chicken and Rice Soup? Leave a comment and rating below.
Chicken and Rice Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 3 large carrots peeled and diced
- 1 rib celery diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 5 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts uncooked
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup evaporated milk or cream, optional
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the onion is translucent.
- Add garlic, parsley, and thyme, and cook 1 minute.
- Add broth, chicken, rice, salt, and pepper. Stir and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables and rice are tender and chicken has reached 165℉.
- Remove chicken from pot and shred. Add back to the pot with evaporated milk or cream if using.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Lunch, Soup
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Can the brown rice be subbed with cauliflower rice? If so, what changes to liquid and/or cooking time would I need to make?
While I have only made this recipe as written, I think cauliflower rice would be a great low carb addition Lynne! If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out
This recipe was terrible. I followed it to the Tee and my soup came out nothing like the pictures. The rice soaked up all of my broth and it turned to mush.. and the milk just made it worse!!! 0/10 do not recommend
Can you use a combination of brown rice and white rice? I don’t really like brown rice that much, so let’s say, maybe, half cup of brown rice and 1&1/2 cups white rice? What white rice would you suggest? I usually use minute rice but that doesn’t sound too suitable for this lol. So what do you suggest? :)
Other readers have had great success with using all long grain white rice or Jasmine rice. If using white rice, you will likely need to reduce the cooking time. Enjoy Haley!
This was delicious and so easy! I followed all the directions. No changes. The rice was cooked perfectly and the veggies were also perfect. Family loved it! Will definitely cook this again. Thank you!
This was so good! I added an extra chicken breast and one more cup of broth…next time I’ll add 3 more cups of broth for a total of 9 cups to make it more soupy. I also added chopped collard greens that I sauté in olive oil with garlic.
Can you leave the milk out entirely?
Sure you can!
So hearty and yummy. The recipe is simple and easy to make. I love putting in the chicken breast while and shredding it later- sometimes I just don’t feel like handling raw chicken, so this was great!
We didn’t have celery on hand or evaporated milk so I used our regular milk and I still thought the recipe was good! I also only used one chicken breast instead of two like the recipe calls for and still felt it was enough. My kids approved of this recipe also and I cut the carrots into stars to make it fun for them! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I’m having the same issue with my rice not cooking. I followed the directions as stated above. It’s over 30 minutes and it’s not at all done.
Any ideas on how o can get it too cook? Just leave it in longer?
For next time, is there an alternative I could try? Maybe cook the rice and add it towards the end of the simmer time? Thanks!
I can’t say for sure as I haven’t had the same problem but you can certainly cook the rice separately. If you’re cooking it separately, replacing some of the water with broth would ensure it has flavor within the rice as well. Let us know how it goes!
I was lucky enough to use all fresh vegetables and herbs from my garden, and the soup smelled so amazing already. I was skeptical about putting the cream in, but so glad I did! This soup was so thick and delicious
If you are using canned chicken broth the recipe is not from Scratch. Boiling up real chicken in water is simple and would be from scratch.
You can definitely use homemade chicken stock or broth in this recipe.
Holly, what a kind reply to a snarky comment.
Made this following basic recipe, but added a lot so I can freeze a bunch. Came out excellent!!! Added more chicken, broth, evap. milk, 2# brown rice, corn, green beans, mushrooms, extra onions, carrots, and celery. Made about 14-16 quarts!
IF YOU KNOW IN ADVANCE YOU ARE GOING TO FREEZE THIS SOUP TAKE OUT THE PORTION YOU ARE GOING TO FREEZE AND ADD THE MILK ONLY TO THE PART YOU ARE GOING TO EAT. PROBLEM SOLVED
I love this recipe… Just wondering, has anyone tried this in a slow cooker or instant pot? Sometimes, I’m just too lazy to do the stove thing… I’m sure y’all know what I mean?
Chicken soup in general is my favorite soup, all the time. If I could live on it, I’m sure I’d try.
Thank you for the great recipe… For those who don’t like parsley, I used the leaves from the celery and it was PERFECT! Yummo!
Hi Alexander, I have only made this recipe as listed but other readers have made it in the crockpot with great results. You can try following the cooking instructions for our crockpot chicken noodle soup for an idea on how to convert it! Hope that helps.
Can’t wait to try this, looks delicious! I have a strong aversion to parsley, any recommendations for other herbs that might taste good in this?
You can use your favorite herbs in this recipe. I love a little bit of rosemary or sage with poultry (or even a sprinkle of poultry seasoning).
This is easy and delicious. I added a little basil and rosemary and extra broth to keep it more soupy. We love it and I will make it again.
So awesome!!!! I had a cold and wanted chicken soup but didn’t have the frozen Reames noodles. So I searched for an alternative and found this gem. I’m making it for the 2nd time in 4 days because now my husband is sick. This soup is delicious and so easy to make. I had frozen homemade shredded chicken which I substituted and added it at the end, when you put the shredded chicken in the soup. This is now a favorite and on the fall-spring rotation!
Wow!! Made this recipe for my parents and we all love it!! Quick to make and great flavor. I used jasmine rice as that is what I had but otherwise followed the recipe very easily.
What can you use to substitute ror evaporated milk
Wanda, you can use heavy cream in place of evaporated milk. Enjoy!
2 chicken breast? There are so many different sizes 2 can weigh a # while others could be 1/2#, do you have a better description say by the ounce
Hi Terri, the average chicken breast is 6 ounces. So you will want about 12 ounces of chicken for this recipe. If using a large chicken breast make sure it comes to an internal temperature of 165°F before shredding and serving.
i love chicken and rice soup…i use yellow rice to make mine and it is fabulous