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Soup | January 6, 2022

Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is about to become your new favorite year-round soup! It is filled with veggies, chicken, wild rice and a bit of half and half or cream and cooked to perfection in the Instant Pot!

How to cook wild rice in the Instant Pot

If you have had a difficult time cooking wild rice or wild rice blends, you’re going to love this method! Similar to brown rice; wild rice and wild rice blends can be tricky to cook. Half of the time they come out undercooked, or too mushy. This recipe for making Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup solves all of your cooking issues related to perfectly cooked wild rice!

Our recipe calls for a Wild Rice Blend which you can find in most grocery stores. I like this brand which is just the right blend of: wild rice, red, black and brown rice. I like a blend because it is still appealing to picky eaters, but hearty enough to make this soup a main dish, and is more affordable than pure wild rice!

I feel it took me forever to learn how to cook brown rice just right. It happened when I started using the Instant Pot and now my brown rice cooks perfectly in minutes! Same with wild rice. It’s an easy 30 minutes in the Instant Pot to cook perfect wild rice every time!

Why cook the rice separately from the vegetables?

Our Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup calls for a few steps (see below). I promise it’s worth the result in the end! I found that cooking the rice separately from the veggies ensures that the veggies don’t get overcooked while the rice cooks to perfection. I like to cook the rice early in the day or even the day before so it’s ready to go and it doesn’t slow down the process of making my homemade wild rice soup! Rice freezes well, so if you’d rather do it days ahead, that works as well. Just refrigerate the cooked rice for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months in an airtight container, such as a Ziplock bag.

When making the Instant Pot version of this soup, I cook the chicken in the Instant Pot. This step can be eliminated if you use a rotisserie chicken, or cook chicken while you are using the sauté feature on the Instant Pot. I use this recipe for cooking frozen chicken in the instant pot.

Can I make this soup dairy free?

Yes! Use olive oil to sauté the vegetables and either substitute the cream with unsweetened almond or coconut milk or eliminate the milk all together.

How to make Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup:

  • If using frozen chicken, cook the chicken in the Instant Pot using directions here. Remove and set aside.
  • Cook the wild rice in the Instant Pot. Remove and set aside.
  • Use SAUTE feature and add the oil and butter, chopped vegetables, half of the parsley, salt and pepper.
  • Add the broth, water, cooked chicken, rice and cook for 5 minutes until heated through.
  • Add the cream or half and half and heat for another 5 minutes or until soup is hot.
  • Turn the SAUTE feature off and use the KEEP WARM button until serving. Add remaining parsley before serving.

Our Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup recipe can be found here.

5 from 5 votes
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Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup made easy in the Instant Pot!

Course Dinner, lunch
Cuisine American
Keyword chicken, instant pot, soup, vegetables, wild rice
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

Chicken:

  • 2 chicken breast halves or thigh meat about 2-3 cups cooked and chopped, or a rotisserie chicken, chopped see recipe notes

Prepare rice:

  • 1 cup Wild Rice Blend (NOT instant wild rice mix) see recipe notes
  • 2 cups cold water
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil, optional

Prepare vegetables and soup:

  • 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil, or a combination of both
  • 2 stalks or about 1 cup chopped celery
  • 2 cups medium to large carrots sliced, or about 1 1/2 cups baby carrots, chopped
  • 1 cup chopped onion, white, yellow or sweet
  • 1 clove garlic minced (optional)
  • 8 oz fresh mushrooms sliced, about 2 cups
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 cup parsley loosely packed, chopped and divided
  • 32 oz chicken broth or 4 cups water plus 5 teaspoons "Better than Bouillon"
  • 1 1/2-2 cups water start with 1 1/2
  • 1/2 cup cream or half and half

Instructions

  1. Place 1 cup of wild rice blend in the Instant Pot and add two cups cold water.

  2. Make sure the rubber seal is properly inserted in the lid of the Instant Pot. Turn the valve on the lid to SEAL position and close the Instant Pot. Place the setting to MANUAL or HIGH PRESSURE and set the timer to 30 minutes.

  3. While the rice is cooking, prepare the vegetables and the rest of the ingredients. Wash and chop the carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, parsley, garlic and set aside. Chop the chicken, set aside. Measure out the chicken broth, water, cream or half and half and set aside.

  4. When the rice is cooked, allow Instant Pot to natural pressure release for 5 minutes, then carefully release any remaining pressure. Remove lid after pressure is released. Remove rice to a bowl and set aside.

  5. Rinse the insert of the Instant Pot and wipe out. Turn the setting to SAUTE and place 1 tablespoon olive oil and one tablespoon of butter into the Instant Pot. If the chicken has not already been cooked, add chopped raw chicken to the Instant Pot at this time. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes .

  6. Add the carrots, celery, onions and garlic to the Instant Pot and saute for 5 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add the mushrooms and parsley and sauté an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point, I often add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. Optional but recommended!

  7. Add the chicken broth, water, cooked chicken, and cooked rice to the pot. Cook until heated through. Add cream or half and half and additional salt and pepper if needed. Leave on SAUTE setting until soup is hot. Once soup is hot, turn to the KEEP WARM setting until ready to serve. Add remaining parsley just before serving.

Recipe Notes

  • The chicken may be pre-cooked (rotisserie chicken) or other white or dark meat chicken, cooked and cut into pieces equalling about 2-3 cups total. 
  • If using frozen chicken, use the directions linked in the recipe post for how to cook frozen chicken in the Instant Pot. If using fresh chicken, the chicken may be sautéed before or with the vegetables in the Instant Pot.
  • I recommend a wild rice blend. See recipe post for recommendations.
  • Do not use “instant” wild rice (usually sold in a box with a flavor packet), it will turn mushy in this recipe! Again, see recommendations in recipe post. 
  • I use 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to sauté the vegetables for best flavor. It’s fine to use all olive oil or all butter as well. 
  • If the soup seems lacking in flavor when all of the ingredients have been added, add an additional teaspoon of “Better than Bouillion” chicken flavor or a bouillon cube. Make sure to completely dissolve the flavoring in the soup!
  • Heavy cream produces the richest and creamiest consistency, but half and half  or milk may be used as well. 
  • This soup freezes well. If you are making the soup and know you will be freezing immediately, do not add the carrots and mushrooms to the vegetable mixture. Wait to  sauté the carrots and mushrooms separately later and add when you are ready to serve the soup.  If you have leftover soup and would like to freeze, go ahead and freeze with the carrots and mushrooms, the texture changes a bit, but still tastes great!
  • Stovetop instructions: Make the soup as directed, using cooking directions for rice on package of wild rice blend. 

5 thoughts on “Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

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Recipe Rating




  1. 5 stars
    Can’t say enough good things about this soup. The veggies, the rice, the cream 😍

  2. 5 stars
    This is a family favorite. I’ve also subbed coconut milk to make it for my husband who avoids dairy, and turns out just as good!

  3. 5 stars
    Is it any surprise that this is my favorite soup? I got on the instapot bandwagon when we upgraded our kitchen and this soup recipe no joke saved Christmas (we did not have an oven and I made on Christmas Eve) and it was so yummy!

    I made it the frozen chicken and added dried parsley with a little squirt of lemon. This is a go-to.