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 only have two people in my family and I wanted to maybe half this recipe. is it okay to literally half all ingredients or is there any other suggestion you would have for that?
This recipe should work fine if you would like to half it.
Can I use some sweetie condensed milk?
I’ve never tried that but I don’t think that sweetened condensed milk would work in this recipe Kim.
This was a hit in my house! I cut up a whole chicken and rubbed it down with a poultery seasoning, chicken rub, garlic, salt & pepper. Then added a small amount of oil and cooked it on the stovetop in a Dutch oven. I had a few other items that needed used up so I added shiitake mushrooms, tarragon leaves, baby potatoes, colorful carrots and boy was it good!! (with and without the cream). Thank you… we have leftovers and we can’t wait to have it again!!
Just made this for the first time today and it turned out amazingly delicious! Added some smoked paprika, cilantro, avocado, and broccoli at the end and it gave it a great crunch and freshness. Followed the directions exactly and chicken and rice came out perfect. I’m just a novice in the kitchen so really appreciated how easy to follow this recipe was. Seems failproof! Will definitely be making this again. :)
Hi Emily, awesome additions! Glad you liked it!
CAN I USE INSTANT BROWN RICE
Yes but if you use instant rice it should only be added during the last 7-10 minutes of cook time so it doesn’t overcook.
One thing that might help the mushy rice factor is to cook the rice separately and then add it to your bowl just before you serve the soup, saw that tip on another site and it works nicely b/c everyone gets the amount of rice they want and no mush! Rice swells the longer it’s in the liquid. Just a thought. Great recipe.
Does the rice go into the soup uncooked? Or cooked?
Uncooked. Enjoy!
This was a huge hit with my family for dinner the other night…it was so loved we made it a second time so that we could have it for lunch for a couple of days. The only thing we changed was to use half and half and it worked wonderfully.
Delicious! Substituted the evaporated milk for equal parts coconut milk and it turned out amazing!!
Can I use regular milk instead of evaporate?
I would suggest heavy cream in place of evaporated milk.
This was great. I didn’t use the evaporated milk, mostly because I don’t have any and because I want to freeze a good portion of the soup, but it was still really tasty and easy to make.
Can you use white rice instead? If so would anything in the recipe change?
You can use white rice but might have to adjust the cook times accordingly. Let us know how it turns out for you, Hannah!
I made two versions of this soup and they came out delicious! One creamy and one not! My only wish is that it was a cooler day out that would have made a hot bowl of delicious soup even better! Thanks
I’m family loves chicken rice soup… always looking for hints to make better!
Hope I can ask a question…but boiling chicken breasts for soup….now finished…..can I use the cooking liquid in my soup ? Thanks, Barbara
Sure you can! If boiling the chicken in water, it may not have as much flavor as broth so you might like to add some bouillon.
Delicious! And very simple.
Looking for a good recipe for Chix and Rice Soup
Very disappointed to see this SAME recipe, with the same photos published by Ashley Fehr on The Recipe Rebel. Is this actually considered acceptable?
It sure is! :) Ashley is the author of this lovely recipe (as you can see at the top as well as in the recipe itself). Ashley shares recipes here on occasion and she shared the same delicious recipe on her own site too! I hope you enjoy it.
Hi! Made it 1st time with the dairy and felt it didn’t really need it to be good. 2nd time made it without the dairy and cut back on the amount of rice. Added some bay leaves, dried dill and just a small amount of poultry seasoning and the flavor was great! I really like cooking the chicken right in the broth and then shredding. So,so easy!
Tried this tonight and we loved it! Super hearty and thick. I didn’t end up with the beautiful soup color from the pic, mine was also much more white but was deeelicious nonetheless! Hubs even asked if there was more before finishing his first bowl! I substituted dried parsley for fresh, which we sprinkled on after serving, it gave the soup an extra kick of freshness. Thanks for sharing this keeper of a recipe :)
I followed this recipe and it tastes good BUT I agree with some previous comments that the result does not look like the photo. The soup looked great up until I added the evaporated milk. It made the soup a very white color and I ended up with a texture I was not aiming for. The only thing that made me okay with it was that it still tasted great (my boyfriend loved it). If you’re like me and you want to achieve a soup similar to the photo rather than a thick white chowder look, I’d skip out on the evaporated milk. Hope this helps someone!