This chicken and rice soup recipe is the perfect recipe for a chilly day. Chicken, vegetables, and brown rice are simmered in a flavorful broth and finished with a touch of creaminess.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Classic and savory, this homemade soup is packed with fresh and flavorful goodness.
- Skill Level: Made in just one pot, it’s easy to prep, and cleanup is a breeze.
- Budget Tip: It’s budget-friendly; stretch it even further with extra veggies, rice, or broth.
- Swaps: It’s versatile, feel free to add in your favorite veggies or even leftovers.
- Serving Suggestions: Serve it with a salad and some crusty bread for a perfect meal.
What You’ll Need For Chicken and Rice Soup
- Chicken Broth: I prefer low-sodium chicken broth as the base of this soup, so it isn’t too salty. You can also make a homemade chicken broth. While it’s optional, heavy cream or evaporated milk adds a touch of creaminess.
- Seasoning: The seasonings are simple with parsley and thyme, but feel free to add other dried or fresh herbs or bay leaves. Garnish with fresh parsley.
- Vegetables: Celery, onion, and carrot add both flavor and nutrition to this soup.
- Chicken: Use raw boneless skinless chicken breasts; simmering them in the soup adds flavor to the broth. Bone-in or boneless chicken thighs can be used. Or add bacon for a chicken bacon soup!
- Rice: Brown rice is a hearty boost of fiber and holds its texture well. You can replace it with long-grain white rice, wild rice, or basmati. Adjust the cooking time as needed.
Shortcuts
- Use leftover cooked rice; it can be added about 5 minutes before serving.
- Use rotisserie chicken, leftovers, or cooked chicken in place of chicken breasts. Add it once the rice is cooked.
- Avoid standing at the stove and make this soup in the crockpot.
How to Make Chicken and Rice Soup
- In a pot or Dutch oven, sauté the vegetables in oil (full recipe below).
- Add broth, uncooked chicken breasts, and rice, then simmer until the rice is tender.
- Shred cooked chicken, stir it back into the pot, and finish with cream or evaporated milk.
Serve with dinner rolls or a chunk of crusty bread for dipping.
Storing Leftovers
- This chicken rice soup is perfect for meal prep because it freezes well. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- To freeze leftovers, cool the soup to room temperature, then place it in freezer bags. Seal completely and lay flat to freeze in a thin layer. This will help the soup thaw quickly when you need it for dinner.
- The rice can absorb liquid as the soup sits; if needed, add additional broth or water to reach the desired consistency.
More Cozy Chicken Soup Recipes
Did you enjoy this Chicken Rice Soup? Leave a comment and rating below!
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 3-4 minutes, until 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
Store soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Chicken breasts can be replaced with chicken thighs. Add it to the soup 10 minutes later.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1.5cups | Calories: 332 | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 607mg | Potassium: 803mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 5250IU | Vitamin C: 5.2mg | Calcium: 150mg | Iron: 1.6mg
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.
I’ve made this soup many times now and absolutely love it. Today I made homemade turkey stock from my leftover Thanksgiving turkey carcass and I’m going to adapt this for turkey rice soup.
This is my go to recipe. I have made it at least a dozen times over the years. I don’t normally like brown rice but the brown rice in this soup is perfect. Just want to mention NOT to use quick cooking rice or it will get mushy. I don’t add the milk. My family loves this recipe.
First time making this soup and it’s delicious.
First time I made Chicken Soup from scratch. I picked a good recipe. The broth we buy comes in 4 cup portions, so I added a cup of water with some chicken bouillon for the 5th cup of broth. The rice didn’t seem to completely cook through, but it was still good. Next time I’ll cook rice separately and add to soup. I also substituted dried Italian Season for herbs required.
All in all, very quick, easy, and tasty soup. Will definitely make this again.
How many servings does this chicken rice soup make? I cook for one and have no freezer to store left overs. Thank you.
Hi Brenda, this soup serves 6. If you hit print you can reduce the servings down. I hope this helps!
excellent recipe for a yummy soup. I swapped peas for celery, I also swapped cream for evaporate milk and added a touch of lemon zest at the end.
I added chopped celery ,1 cup.
I also added 1 bag of frozen corn
at the ended I added some leftover mashed potatoes.
my family and I loved it!
Will half and half freeze well?
Half and half should freeze okay in this recipe!
Won’t the rice obsorb any liquid in the pot like pasta does?
The rice does absorb some of the liquid.
Best chicken and rice soup recipe I have ever tried. Very flavorful, especially the chicken cooked in the broth. I did do some things differently. I used Jasmine rice as I don’t care for brown. I cooked the cup of rice separately in 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock with 1 tablespoon butter and a teaspoon of salt. I only put 1/2 teaspoon of salt in the soup because of the rice being salted separately. I also used whole milk instead of evaporated milk as I didn’t have that. And I added a squeeze of lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon at the very end. I put about 1/2 cup of rice in the bottom of a bowl and added the soup on top and mixed them together. The veggies and chicken were soft and it was so flavorful.
That sounds wonderful Gregory! I am so glad you enjoyed this soup!
Such an easy, affordable, delicious staple in my home! I make this all the time, and often serve it to friends because it comes out so delicious and consistent every time.
I leave out the evaporated milk because I find it makes the flavor more bland, and I also add in an extra onion and celery stock just because.
Just made this recipe. I tweaked it a bit after reading the comments. I cooked my rice separately and added it after everything was done. I also added an additional cup of broth. It is delicious!
This recipe was a failure with the uncooked brown rice. How did you get the rice to cook in 30 minutes, covered and all? I cooked for over an hour and it was still rock hard?????
I can’t say for sure what went wrong but brown rice should definitely be cooked in less than an hour. If you cooked over an hour and it was still rock hard there may be an issue with the rice.
This soup is a winner! I am home sick today and was looking for an easy chicken soup using things I had on hand, and your recipe fit the bill! I will be making this again! I used precooked leftover brown rice and leftover chicken, but would like to try cooking them both in the pot next time with the soup. I had Better-than-Boullion on hand, so I used that to make the broth. I also used Unsweetened Almond Milk instead of Evaporated Milk and it was really yummy! I only added a tablespoon of Almond milk to my bowl, not to the whole batch, but that little bit gave it that extra creamy YUM! Thank you so much for the recipe, it hit the spot!
I made this tonight without the milk. I added additional chicken broth because I wanted to use 1.5 cups of long grain white rice to make a larger quantity. It IS yummy! But I have to agree with others that the broth needs to Greatly increased. I ended up using about 6.5 cups to start- added a cup of water after done cooking and let it sit on a hot pad to cool. The rice continued to absorb the broth and it was more like a thick stew. I added 2 more cups of broth and it’s still super thick.
*Note- I used 2 drained cans of chicken and added a can of corn.
Is the rice cooked or not?
We used uncooked rice in this recipe! Enjoy Karen!
Flavor was good, too much rice and cooked to long. Rice was way over cook and it was not soupy more like a casserole.
I would add less rice and cook for only 20 minutes. Might add more chicken broth.
Made this tonight for dinner and it hit the spot! I added sage and made it vegetarian by omitting the chicken and adding potatoes along with the rice. I think I’ll add some chickpeas next time as well
I’ve made this recipe four times now and it is a keeper. I love all the comments and how you can alter it to fit any need.
Definitely a great recipe, thanks so much, Spend with Pennies!
Love all your great soup choices… one thought b/c I have a big garden trying to put up tomatoes do you have a tomatoe basil soup? Being harvest season want to use up things in garden. Thank you you do great at displaying, explains ‘ designing recipes. Thank you
Hi Sabrina! I love this tomato soup using fresh garden tomatoes.