Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup Recipe · i am a food blog (2024)

January is the coldest month and it can be hard to get motivated to do all the things we promise we’ll do at the beginning of the year. At the top of everyone’s list is eat healthier and be more active. I’ve never seen the gym so busy…who am I kidding? I haven’t been going to the gym. I have been working on eating more healthily though, with lots of cozy and satisfying soups.

Soup really is one of the most comforting foods. For such low effort, it is particularly high reward. You can make a big batch of soup and eat it for the rest of the week. It’s perfect for meal prep. Or, if you’re looking to make a quick dinner, this recipe happens to fit that box too. It’s an Instant Pot recipe, which is perfect for coming home, throwing everything in the pot, then relaxing while the pot does its thing.

The only annoying thing with making soup in an Instant Pot is that it takes forever to get up to pressure. My solution to that is to bring your liquids to a boil on the stove then add it to the pot, but that’s kind of annoying because it dirties another pot. Mike’s solution is much simpler: turn the Instant Pot on to high heat on the sauté mode while you’re prepping your other ingredients.

So, in this case, turn the pot onto high and add the chicken stock, water, and chicken. While that’s coming up to a boil, peel and crush your garlic, peel and thinly slice the ginger, peel and slice the carrots, and wash and slice the mushrooms. By then, the water/stock combo should be quite hot, so just pop in the rest of the ingredients. Cancel the sauté and then pop the lid on and set it for 7 minutes on high pressure.

Seven minutes might not seem like enough time, but the chicken will definitely be cooked. It comes out super tender and fall off the bone, but not weirdly dry like Instant Pot chicken can sometimes be. Trust in the seven minutes. It won’t fail you.

After the seven minutes is up and you do a quick release of the pressure, all you need to do is shred the chicken, add it back into the soup, season and eat! Super comforting, hearty and light at the same time. The ginger adds brightness and a bit of a kick and the soy gives everything a nice deep umami.

Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup Recipe
serves 6-8
prep time: 13 minutes
cook time: 7 minutes plus the time it takes for the Instant Pot to come up to pressure
total time: 20 minutes active, plus pressure cooker time

• 4 cups no sodium chicken stock
  
• 4 cups water
  
• 1 small whole chicken
  
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1 inch ginger, thinly sliced
  
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
  
• 1 lb cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
  
• 1/2 cup rice
  
• 2 tablespoons soy, or to taste
  
• salt and freshly ground pepper
  
• flat leaf parsley, to finish

In the Instant Pot insert, add the chicken stock, water, and chicken. Set the pot to high on sauté mode while you prep the remaining ingredients.

Peel and crush the garlic. Peel and thinly slice the ginger. Peel and slice the carrots. Wash, trim, and slice the mushrooms.

Place the garlic, ginger, carrots, mushrooms and rice into the Instant Pot with the chicken and stock.

Cancel the sauté mode, then put the lid on and set the pressure on high for 7 minutes.

When the 7 minutes is up, quick release the pressure.

Carefully remove the whole chicken and use two forks to shred the meat off the bones. Add the meat back into the soup.

Taste and season with the 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and freshly ground pepper. Taste and add salt or more soy if needed.