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
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I’ve made this soup 3 times and it’s really good and truly easy to put together. It makes a great healthy meal for someone who is sick or recuperating, and it’s very tasty. I think I will cut the rice to 3/4 cup next time because I use Uncle Ben’s converted brown rice and it’s very hearty.
Not impressed. It was like eating porridge. Won’t make again. I’m glad I added a lot of garlic or it would have had no flavor to add to the mush.
Sorry to hear that Amber, the rice can get mushy if left to cook too long.
This smelled delicious as I was cooking it. Because it came out super thick, at the last minute I rolled out pie crust and used this as filling for individual chicken pot pies. They were the most amazing pot pies! To remake as soup, next time I will increase the broth and decrease the rice. Thanks so much for bringing huge smiles to the family!
I think some people think of stalk of celery as the whole stalk. Is that what you mean or just one rib or stick of celery?
Yes, just one rib is needed.
Thank you! Making it right now!
Wow! This soup was delicious and quite easy to put together! So glad to have found a great homemade soup recipe like this. I made it as stated except no celery (can’t stand the stuff) and substituted half & half (that’s what I had in the fridge) for the evaporated milk. Before serving, I squeezed half a lemon into the soup to add a hint of brightness. So, so good!
Easy, delicious and comforting.
I made it with couscous pearls because I had them leftover from Italian wedding soup. Will definitely keep this recipe on hand.
Ashley- I was looking for a nice comfort food soup and this hit the spot! I love how easy it to to put together and the flavor was perfect. I was out of brown rice, so used white rice. I can’t wait to try it with brown rice or may even try quinoa.
This will be part of our regular soup rotation. Thanks for sharing!
Hands down a winner! I used cream instead of evaporated milk and it was great! I also added extra broth and only 2/3 c brown rice since others had said it wasn’t “soupy” enough. My husband said it was the best soup recipe I have made from a Pinterest find!
looks great
I made this yesterday. I used white rice instead of brown. It was not soupy at all. This rice sucked up the broth, but that was fine with me because I loved it. I will definitely make it again and hope it comes out the same way.
This soup is delicious! I made it for the family as we are recovering from a tummy bug and it was nourishing and sooo tasty. However, may I just say that the rice quantity is far too generous for soup. I doubled the recipe for the four of us and the rice ballooned to the entire size of the casserole dish. I needed to add another litre and a half of broth just to get the consistency soup. So I will half the rice quantity the next time I make it – not for awhile as we’ve been eating this one for the past 4 days!
So happy your family is starting to feel better Louise!
Mine did the same,but I loved it. I will try cutting back on rice, but will make original recipe also.
Do you cook the rice first before adding it to the soup?
My family loved this recipe! So easy to do with left over already cooked chicken and rice. I will definitely make again.
Hello I am not able to find chicken broth only chicken stock and cubes is that okay to use?
Yes, that will work just fine!
Can I substitute pasta in lieu of rice?
Hi Yancey, you definitely could. We have a yummy chicken noodle soup recipe I would follow to make it that way.
Can I use brown minute rice or would it get too mushy?
Hi Allyson, since minute rice takes way less time to cook I don’t think it would be a great substitution. Or if you want to attempt it I would add it at the very end once the vegetables are basically cooked through and let it simmer just until the rice is cooked through. Let us know how it turns out!
Can I use white long grain rice? I don’t have brown rice on hand.
It should work just fine but you may need a bit less cook time.
This might be a dumb question but do I have to cook the chicken separately before putting it in the soup or does the broth cook it?
The chicken goes in raw and cooks in the broth. Enjoy!
I used this as a base for a creole chicken sausage rice soup, and it was awesome. I like to take a very good starting base recipe (like this one) and tweak it to fit my own tastes. Don’t interpret this as a criticism of the original recipe. Here’s what I did:
Added 1 diced red pepper to the “vegetable mix”.
Seared the vegetable mix much longer than one minute to ensure there was good caramelization on all the veggies. Should see many little black/brown spots on individual pieces when you’re done, but should not be burnt.
Added 2 bay leaves to the broth before adding tot he soup.
Along with the parsley and thyme, added 1 tsp dried marjoram, dried basil, dried sage. This was based on recommendations from others in this comment section. Also upped the garlic level to 4 cloves minced because i like a lot of garlic.
Along with the salt and black pepper, I added 2 tsp mild yellow curry powder and 2 tsp monosodium glutamate (MSG). I think just about every soup would benefit from the savory flavor of MSG. I used the Accent brand of MSG. There difference betwen a good cook and a great cook is that a great cook understands that MSG is not a “bad” thing.
Used 8 cups of broth instead of 5 because of some of my other changes that added more bulk to the final product.
Added 2 thinly-sliced Johnsonville andouille sausages to the pot alongside the chicken. Important to sear these sliced sausages to give them caramelization before adding.
Added 1 cup heavy whipping cream to turn it into a “creamy” soup. This is totally optional (as are with most of my changes).
I’m trying to keep carbs low, so I used 1/2 cup rice. The reduction in rice and the addition of peppers and more meat make this a great low-carb soup.
your version sounds delicious as well Chris! Glad you were able to adapt this recipe for your needs. Thanks for sharing.
Not sure about this recipie, after cooking for 30 minutes brown rice is still not fully cooked and all the broth is gone. Will definitely need to modify to maintain soup consistency by adding more broth or water. Next time would cook the rice before adding to the soup.
I make my soup the same way, but add 1/2 dried marjoram , the thyme and 1/2 cup white wine. Very tasty soup