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.
It’s my 5th time coming on this page to make this soup! I freakin LOVE it!
Stop reading the comments and just cook it now haha!!
(I skipped the milk part)
I’m making this tonight… I don’t have low sodium chicken broth. Only bullion cubes. Do you think it will be too salty?
I would suggest omitting the salt from the recipe, and adding to taste. Enjoy Amie!
Made tonight, trying to get vegetables in my 4, 6 and 8 year olds, so we put it in a homemade bread bowl- they loved it!!
I used normal full fat milk and it was awesome very good winter soup
Lovely until I added the milk and then it was absolutely disgusting! Very very weird soup.
Do not add milk.
All went to waste.
Yes agree. Do not add milk. It destroy the soup.
I was looking for a soup that would go easy on my husband’s stomach and this did the trick. The whole family enjoyed it and it’s pretty easy to make. I didn’t have evaporated milk so I just used 2% and it was delicious. Thank you for a great recipe
Delicious and healthy soup. It’s very easy and needs no changes at all! I will be making this a lot.
Made this tonight with turkey leftover from the freezer. I made it with 2 celery stalks and 4 carrots as my family likes thick soup. Didn’t add the milk for dairy free. Normally I am not a fan of brown rice but this recipe makes it perfect. Perfect texture on the rice. Holds up perfect. Making it with dark meat turkey gives it a great meaty flavor. Restaurant quality. I am now a brown rice believer thanks to this recipe. Made this 3 times since Thanksgiving as requested by my daughter. Twice with Turkey, once with Chicken.Thank you for the keeper recipe!
Can you use white rice instead of brown
You can use white rice. You’ll likely need to reduce cook time a bit.
Thank you for the great recipe. It was a hit at my house. I have made this recipe twice. Once with chicken and once with leftover turkey from the freezer. Both times it was excellent. My daughter is not eating dairy so I didn’t add the milk and it was still delicious. Using the brown rice is the key to no mushy rice.
I have celiac so I can’t make chicken noodle soup. I came across this chicken rice soup. It’s been my go to soup recipe. It’s sooo good! The only thing I change is I add a small amount of heavy cream or lite cream. Whatever I have on hand, instead of evaporated milk. It makes it a creamy chicken rice soup. I also add an extra onion, celery and carrot and another cup of water. And a small amount extra of the seasonings. Just cause I added more water and veggies. But this recipe HITS!
How much does each serving give you?
Approximately 1.5 cups, this can vary a bit based on the size of your veggies.
perfect for a chilly November night Easy to make and delicious~
Prepared as shown, but substituted jasmine rice for brown and excluded evaporated milk. Flavor was good, but consistency was too thick. Recommend either reducing rice to 1/2 cup, or preparing the rice separately and adding at the end (probably still reduce rice quantity).
Is the nutritional content for the entire recipe?
Nutritional information on Spend With Pennies is for one serving. Enjoy the recipe Jess!
Made this today with out the milk and it was delicious. Was wondering if it would work with leftover Turkey from Thanks giving next week?
That’d be great D!
Awesome and easy recipe!
Should the chicken be cooked before it’s added?
The chicken is not cooked before it is added.
Really good. I just made the rice separate, because I’m not practiced with rice lol. I also used two 900ml tetras of chicken stock. Comes together quick. Sooo yummy. Yummy leftovers too. Used pilsbury biscuits to go with it. Yummy! Thank you!
Hi! Do you use raw chicken for this recipe or is it cooked first? Do you leave the breasts whole?
Thanks!
The chicken goes in raw and cooks in the broth (it goes in whole and is shredded in step 5). Enjoy!