Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Chicken rice soup is a soup that eats like a meal! This easy soup recipe is packed with flavor and hearty ingredients that make it extra satisfying.
How long it takes: 1 hour, 45 minutes (mostly hands-off!)
Equipment you’ll need: large pot
Servings: 6
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Pin ItIf your only experience with chicken rice soup is out of the can, it’s time to don an apron and make it yourself! This classic comfort food soup is even better when you make it from scratch—and the extra effort to prep the veggies and measure the ingredients is absolutely worth it. This is the quintessential soup-that-will-cure-what-ails-you. (Well, it ranks right up there with homemade chicken noodle soup at least!)
Basically, this soup is chicken noodle soup, with rice instead of noodles. I find that rice makes the soup feel more hearty and substantive than noodles, and it adds a bit of earthy flavor, which I appreciate. And, instead of soft noodles, the rice is slightly chewy for a nice change of texture from the usual chicken soup.
With its cozy, warming qualities, this chicken rice soup is perfect for chilly days or any time you feel like you need a warm hug.
Easy Homemade Chicken Rice Soup
Comfort food goodness. With a rich broth, tender chicken, hearty rice, and uncomplicated flavors, chicken rice soup is comfort food in a bowl. Your whole family will love it and you’ll feel good knowing that you’re serving them a healthy meal.
Meal in a bowl. Some soups don’t have a lot of staying power but this chicken rice soup will keep you full and satisfied. It has chicken, veggies, and a starch—a balanced meal in soup form! (If you want to add dairy to the equation, try this creamy chicken rice soup.)
Easy to make. Once you’ve prepped all the veggies (and you can do that ahead if you want), the hard work is done. From there, it’s a matter of simmering everything together until the rice and chicken are tender.
Ingredient Notes
- Onion, celery, carrots: The fancy name for this trio of onion, celery, and carrots is mirepoix. They form the base of flavor in this chicken rice soup recipe.
- Olive oil, kosher salt and pepper: The vegetables are sautéed in a small amount of oil, seasoned with salt and pepper. Use a sparing hand with the salt. Broth varies widely in saltiness so you’ll want to taste your soup first.
- Garlic: The amount of garlic you use is up to you. Add more or less, whatever you’re feeling like. If you’re coming down with a cold, it doesn’t hurt to add a few extra cloves!
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts: You can swap in boneless skinless chicken thighs if you prefer. Bone-in chicken parts can also be used but be careful of small bones or bone fragments that may separate from the chicken.
- No-salt-added chicken stock and water: If you have regular chicken broth on hand, that works too, but note that you’ll need to add less salt. I recommend not adding any salt at all until the very end, when you can taste the soup.
- Herbs: I like to use dried herbs from my pantry: bay leaves, dried parsley, dried thyme, and rubbed sage. If you have fresh herbs, feel free to use them but increase the amount used because fresh herbs aren’t as potent as dried.
- White rice: You can use brown rice instead, if you prefer. It will take about 10 additional minutes to cook.
How to Make Chicken Rice Soup
Sweat the veggies. Cook the mirepoix (chopped onions, celery, and carrots) with the olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large soup pan set over medium high heat. Cook until the onions are translucent, then stir in the garlic and cook until it’s fragrant. Remember that you want the veggies to soften, not brown. Turn down the heat if they start browning. This process is called “sweating” the vegetables.
Simmer. Add the raw chicken, broth, water, and herbs to the pan. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. If the soup is sputtering with the lid on, leave the lid partly ajar to allow the steam to escape.
Remove the chicken and add the rice. Using tongs, take the chicken breasts out of the soup. Set them on a plate or platter to cool. Add the rice to the soup. Perhaps you’re wondering why you can’t just throw the rice in right away. Rice doesn’t take very long to cook. If you add rice at the beginning of the cooking time, it will actually get so soft that it disintegrates.
Add the chicken back. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, use two forks to shred it or chop it into small pieces with a knife. Stir the chicken back into the pot. Cover the pan, and simmer for 30 more minutes, or until the rice is tender.
Finish. Carefully remove the bay leaves from the chicken rice soup, then season to taste, and serve. We like our soup thick, almost stew-like as you can see from the photos, but if you like it thinner, add more broth or water.
Tips for Making Chicken Rice Soup
- Get a head start. To save time on busy days, consider prepping your vegetables in advance. Chop the veggies and store them in airtight containers in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.
- Experiment with different ingredients. Don’t hesitate to add herbs and spices according to your taste. Fresh parsley is a nice garnish, while a bit of smoked paprika adds a hint of smoky flavor that’s delicious. A squeeze of lemon juice adds a Mediterranean twist to this chicken rice soup, especially if you add dill too!
- Check the rice for doneness. Stir the soup occasionally, and near the end of the cooking time, start checking to see if the rice is done. Sometimes it will be done a little bit sooner, depending on which type of long grain rice you use.
- Adjust the broth as needed. For a “broth-ier” soup, add less rice or add more broth. You can also replace the 2 cups of water with additional broth for richer flavor.
What to Serve With Chicken Soup
- Bread. Serve this soup with crusty no-knead bread or Parker House rolls to soak up the delicious broth at the bottom of the bowl.
- Salad. Soup and a salad! Try this sweet kale salad with dried cranberries and poppy seed dressing.
- Sandwiches. For an unbeatable comfort food duo, serve chicken rice soup with an air fryer grilled cheese sandwich.
Refrigerate: Transfer leftovers to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. I don’t recommend freezing this soup; the rice will absorb more of the liquid during freezing and thawing, leaving you with an overly thick soup with mushy rice.
Reheat: Warm up the soup in a pan set over medium heat or in the microwave.
More Soup Recipes
Chicken Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion (1 medium onion)
- 2 cups diced celery (4 stalks)
- 2 cups diced carrots (5 medium carrots)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
- ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper, more to taste
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (or boneless skinless chicken thighs)
- 4 cups no-salt-added chicken stock (see note)
- 2 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice (see note)
Instructions
- In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onions, celery, and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 6 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent. Add garlic, cooking and stirring for 1 minute.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 cup diced onion, 2 cups diced celery, 2 cups diced carrots, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste, ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper, more to taste, 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Add chicken, broth, water, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and sage. Over high heat, bring soup to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover the pan, and simmer for 45 minutes.1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, 4 cups no-salt-added chicken stock, 2 cups water, 2 bay leaves, 2 teaspoons dried parsley, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, ½ teaspoon rubbed sage
- Remove chicken breasts from soup; set aside on a plate to cool slightly. Add rice to the soup, stir.1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
- When cool enough to handle, shred chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add back to pan, stirring to combine. Cover pan, and continue simmering for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until rice is done.
- Remove bay leaves, taste, adding more salt and pepper, if needed. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Broth Notes: If you use regular broth (not no-salt-added)), adjust the amount of added salt so the soup doesn’t get too salty. Always taste the soup before serving to adjust the seasoning. If desired, you can use all broth (instead of the 2 cups of water). A carton of broth usually contains 4 cups, so it’s more economical to supplement with water. The soup tastes great but if you prefer all broth, that will definitely work well. If you prefer soup with more broth, either add 2 more cups of broth or reduce the amount of rice (as you can see from the photos, we like it thick).
- Brown rice may be substituted for white rice but may require an additional 10 minutes to get tender.
- Nutrition information is calculated for low sodium broth, not no-salt-added.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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