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.
I followed this recipe also use brown rice that was not expired my rice did not get done it tasted terrible I threw it away
Thank you for trying our recipe, Janice .I am sorry to hear that it didn’t turn out! That is definitely disappointing.
I made this soup almost exactly per the recipe and it’s a keeper! My SO has a cold so I added more garlic as well as fresh ginger. I love that it uses brown rice and that the chicken is cooked and then shredded – so much easier than cutting the raw chicken.
We ate half of this last night, then I strained the broth into another container before putting it in the fridge, so the rice doesn’t absorb the broth. Great recipe, five stars, will make again!
This was excellent! The only change I made was to use a box of Uncle Ben’s long grain and wild rice in place of brown rice. I also used the seasoning packet from the rice along with the herbs and seasonings listed in the recipe. I almost used half and half instead of evaporated milk, I’m glad I stuck with the recipe. This will be on repeat!
Great soup! I actually just used canned chicken-hehe. All 6 kiddos, my husband and I all loved it. Love the brown rice in it. Used lots of carrots. I will be making it again!
This is a new family favorite! Is easy, And so delicious. It keeps great for leftovers too. We use boneless thighs sometimes which seems to be tastier. We also use whatever type of rice we have (excited minute rice)
Hello. I made your chicken rice soup today for the first time and it was very tasty indeed. However, I have a few queries. When adding the evaporated milk do I add it straight from the can or do I need to rehydrate it? My soup looked so much milkier than yours and I wondered if I was supposed to add water first to the evaporated milk to dilute? Also, I realise evaporated milk isn’t recommended for freezing so much but is it fine to chill and reheat another day? Very many thanks x
Hi Amy, we add the evaporated milk straight from the can but make sure you are only adding one cup. It is definitely fine to chill and reheat another day!
Very good! Followed the recipe MOSTLY, except I didn’t have evaporated milk, so I used whole milk and 2 TBL of cream (that’s all I had). I added more broth, as the rice soaked it up! Definitely will make this again. Oh – I also used leftover Rotisserie chicken which I added when I added the milk. Very tasty!
Delish soup only change I added about two tbs of finely diced ginger and three more cloves of garlic. So good!!
I love this recipe. If you eat right away thickness is fine. Lots of great
flavor. However if you make ahead cut back on the rice by 1/4 c. The
soup with really thicken. Another option is to add however much
broth you need but you will have to also add more salt, pepper and
thyme. My reheated soup required 2-3 cups of broth. I recommend
decreasing the rice unless you are using pre-cooked rice.
Delicious.
Thank you for sharing your tips, Sally!
So good! Added a little more broth because it was a bit thick, but otherwise wonderful!
The taste was fine, but the recipe could be improved by using measurements for the vegetables – I’d rather know how many cups of carrots, celery, or onions I need given how different in size nature makes them. Also, 6 cups of liquid wasn’t enough. Recommend adding 1-2 more, it was more stew like.
This recipe works if the veggies are large or small, no need to cut an extra ½ onion or carrot to make a measurement so we leave it as whole vegetables.
This is the second time I have made this recipe and it’s a hit again.
I used turkey instead of chicken. Yum.
I made this soup last night, it was very good and flavorful! Mine did turn out very thick, not soup like, maybe next time I’ll add more broth.
I made this today with a few substitutions.
Used what we had in hands including white rice, heavy cream, and the vegetable better than bouillon instead of cooking stock. Just wow. Had family come BACK over and said they were dreaming about the soup so they had to come back. 10/10
Wow! I’m so happy to hear your family loved this recipe!
This is the only chicken and rice soup recipe I use. I make it exactly as stated.
It’s wonderful , I’ve been making this for 4+ years. Thank you
Great recipe! Thanks.
Can one use white rice if no brown rice???
Yes Kathy, you can use white rice if you don’t have brown. Please let us know how it turns out!
This soup is good and easy to make! However I noticed a few things. With only 5 cups of chicken broth it’s basically a stew. I added a few cups more. I don’t feel like the evaporated milk did anything, next time I probably won’t add it. Not that it matters, but with the milk it doesn’t look like the pictures. Not nearly enough rice and maybe too much chicken! Next time I’ll add another cup of rice.
I made the recipe verbatim. All in all, the flavor was a little basic, but my family loved it. Will be making again at wife’s request.
This is our tried and true recipe for chicken and rice soup. Love that the brown rice doesn’t get mushy. I wish I could give it 10 stars. This time we added fresh lemon juice for something different and it was delicious too. Love that it is basic ingredients. My son is gluten free and paleo and he loves this soup. Something that we can all eat together.
Do you use instant rice or long grain rice?
Hi Sage, we use long grain rice for this recipe.