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.
Serve it with a salad and some crusty bread for a perfect meal.
Why You’ll Make Chicken Rice Soup On Repeat
- This soup is packed with fresh and flavorful goodness.
- Made in just one pot, it’s easy to prep and cleanup is a breeze.
- It’s versatile, feel free to add in your own favorite veggies or even leftovers.
- It’s budget friendly, feel free to stretch it even further with extra veggies, rice, or broth.
What You’ll Need For Chicken and Rice Soup
The ingredients for this chicken and rice soup recipe are staples I always have on hand.
- Chicken Broth: I prefer low-sodium chicken broth as the base of this soup, so it isn’t too salty. 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
- 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 and is easy. Bone-in or boneless chicken thighs can be used.
- 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.
How To Make Chicken and Rice Soup
This chicken and rice soup is so easy to make – no need to pre-cook the chicken.
- In a pot or Dutch oven, soften the vegetables according to the recipe below.
- Add broth, uncooked chicken breasts, and rice, then simmer until the rice is tender.
- Shred cooked chicken, stir back into the pot, and finish with cream or evaporated milk if desired.
Serve with dinner rolls or a chunk of crusty bread for dipping.
Storing Leftovers
Chicken Rice Soup recipe is the ultimate comfort food, and it’s 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 to thaw quickly when you need it for dinner.
Quick Tip
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
- Chicken Bacon Rice Soup – quick and easy
- Chicken Gnocchi Soup – quick and creamy
- Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup – reader favorite
- Creamy Chicken Tortellini Soup – restaurant quality at home
Did you enjoy this Chicken Rice Soup? Leave a comment and rating below!
Chicken Rice Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion minced
- 3 large carrots peeled and diced
- 1 rib celery diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 5 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts uncooked
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 cup evaporated milk optional
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery and cook and stir for 3-4 minutes, until onion begins to turn golden.
- Add garlic, parsley and thyme and cook 1 minute.
- Add salt and pepper, broth, chicken. Add rice. Stir and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer for for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until vegetables and rice are tender.
- Remove chicken from pot and shred. Add back to the pot with evaporated milk or cream if using.
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.