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Warm and cozy instant pot chicken wild rice soup takes under an hour to make! It’s cream, snug, and studded with celery, onions, mushrooms, and carrots. The perfect meal for chilly winter nights!
Snug as a bug!
Instant pot chicken wild rice soup has been the most memorable recipe I’ve made this fall. It’s warm and cozy and features ingredients like, garlic, onions, dried herbs, and studded with carrots, mushrooms, and celery. Every bite starts with tender chicken, nutty and chewy wild rice and smooths out with that luscious, rich and creamy flavor.
And though chicken wild rice soup was not something I’d had until I was much older, it always reminds me of those simpler times.
It’s also easily customizable. If you don’t like mushrooms, just omit it from the recipe and if you don’t eat chicken, just double the mushrooms, so you get a little bit in every bite.
The hardest part about this whole instant pot chicken wild rice soup is waiting for 45 minutes. But here’s the thing – it’s simple, humble, feel-good food. It’s also perfect for those of us that want a warm bowl of soup for lunch every day of the week as this recipe makes enough for 6-8 servings.
Quick to throw together, straightforward, easily adaptable to your preference. Instant pot chicken wild rice soup is perfect to meal prep on Sundays and enjoy all week long!
In fact, I think it’s going on the menu again for next week!
Ingredients for instant pot chicken wild rice soup recipe:
- Mirepoix: A mirepoix is a fancy word for a medley of onions, carrots, and celery. I like to use equal parts of all three and chop them up so that you get a little bit in each bite.
- Mushrooms: I use baby Bella mushrooms for this recipe and slice them up.
- Uncooked wild rice: Keep in mind that wild rice is different from a wild rice blend. A wild rice blend typically contains, brown rice, white rice, and black pearl or wild rice. For this recipe, it’s best to use wild rice only!
- Chicken: I typically use thaw chicken breasts for this recipe. You can also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the same amount. Keep in mind that you will need to adjust the cooking time slightly if the chicken thighs are significantly smaller.
- Chicken broth: you can also use water and bouillon if you like, that’s typically what I do if I don’t have prepared chicken broth in the freezer.
- Garlic: Lots and lots of minced garlic goes into this recipe!
- Seasonings: you’ll need dried thyme, Mrs. Dash seasoning, bay leaves, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.
- Butter: the base of the roux that we’ll make to thicken the chicken soup. Swap the butter with plant-based butter to make this dairy-free.
- Flour: we’ll use this to make the roux.
- Milk: You can also use half and half to make the recipe a bit more luxurious. Half and half is a product sold in the US that is made with 1:1 ratio of whole milk and heavy cream. You could also use coconut milk (the canned variety) here if you’d like to make the soup dairy-free.
How to make chicken wild rice soup in a pressure cooker:
- Easy, peasy – toss it all in! Start by adding everything but the ingredients for the roux into the instant pot and cook it over high pressure until the chicken is cooked through. Do a quick pressure release by turning the valve and allowing to vent.
- Shred it up. Remove the lid. Then using two forks, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add the chicken back into the instant pot.
- Make the roux. In a saucepan on the stove top, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir until melted. Then add the flour and garlic powder cook for a few minutes until it starts to turn lightly golden. Continue to whisk as you stream in the milk. Once the milk has been added and the liquid thickens, add a small sprinkle of salt.
- Make chicken wild rice soup. Stir the prepared liquid into the soup. Let the soup sit for a few minutes, this will allow it to thicken slightly. Then taste the soup and adjust with seasonings as desired. Fish out the bay leaves then serve this up with homemade no knead bread.
Tips for the best chicken soup:
with 35 minutes of cooking time, you’ll need to use real wild rice for this one. I don’t suggest a wild rice blend, or brown rice, or white rice. It’s wild rice. It can be difficult to find in stores so if you’ve got a Trader Joe’s nearby, you can pick it up there. Keep in mind you’ll want to rinse the wild rice as the outer coating can sometimes make the soup a bit purple if you don’t rinse it!
like the slow cooker version of my chicken wild rice soup, this one also calls for a seasoning blend. I use the 21 seasoning salute from TJ’s, but Mrs. Dash also makes one that you can find in almost all grocery stores. Just be sure to use the salt-free kind.
the roux for this instant pot chicken wild rice soup is cooked separately from the soup so you’ll need a small saucepan. Depending on my mood, I might even add half teaspoon of garlic powder to amp up the flavor a little more.
This is a great recipe to serve with homemade no knead bread. You could also make my all-time favorite no knead focaccia. Or serve with roasted garlic rosemary focaccia.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup
- Cuban Black Bean Soup
- Luxurious Turkish Lentil Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Pho (Pho Ga)
- Roasted Garlic White Chicken Lasagna Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
Soup:
- 3 cups mirepoix equal parts, chopped onion, carrots, and celery
- 8 ounces mushrooms diced (see notes)
- 1 cup wild rice rinsed (see notes)
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 6-8 cloves of garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1-3 tablespoons Mrs. Dash’s seasoning see notes
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Roux:
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder optional
- 2 cups milk or half and half
Instructions
- INSTANT POT:Add all the ingredients listed under the soup section into the instant pot, cover, and cook on manual (high pressure) for 35 minutes. During the last 5 minutes prepare the roux. Quick-release the steam by turning the valve. Remove the chicken, shred it using two forks, and add it back into the instant pot.
- ROUX: In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and whisk in the flour. Let the flour mixture cook for 2 minutes before adding the garlic powder (if using). Continue whisking as you slowly start streaming in the milk (or half and half). Once the sauce thickens (about 2-3 minutes), add a sprinkling of salt.
- CHICKEN WILD RICE SOUP: Stir the prepared roux into the instant pot and let sit for 5-7 minutes before serving. This allows the soup to thicken just a tad bit. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as desired. Serve with tons of crusty bread!
Notes
- Purchase prechopped veggies or pop each individual veggie into a food processor and give it a few pulses to make this faster.
- I used Trader Joe’s 21 seasoning salute for this recipe (that’s their version of the Mrs. Dash salt-free Original seasoning blend.)
- The soup will thicken significantly as it sits. Leftovers should be placed in an airtight container and refrigerated. Additional milk, cream, broth, or water can be used to adjust the consistency of the soup when reheating.
- I suggest using real wild rice for this recipe. A wild rice blend, white rice, or brown rice won’t produce the same results. Unfortunately, they do soften quite a bit in the time needed to prepare this recipe.
- Leftovers can be frozen, just allow them to defrost in the refrigerator overnight. You may need additional water or broth to help bring it back to its normal consistency.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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THE BEST RECIPE!!! Been making versions of this soup for years. Wild rice is a Minnesota thing and your recipe beats any others!
My whole family LOVES this soup! It’s our go-to as soon as it gets cold or rainy! Thank you for the great recipe and detailed directions.
Delicious! Cooking time was perfect. Amount of liquid was perfect. The wild rice had that wonderful, chewy texture that I remember from spending summers in Minnesota. So much quicker and easier than making it on the stovetop!
I used a big bundle of fresh thyme instead of the dried. I omitted the Mrs Dash and instead added fresh parsley at serving. This wasn’t the best choice though. It could have used flavor from a few more herbs. I also omitted the mushrooms since my family won’t eat them, but I bet it would have tasted better with them. I debated sautéing the mirepoix in advance, but it was fine without that added step.
Excellent recipe! Very easy to put together, especially when your grocery store has the mirepoix already chopped up for you!
Just don’t be fooled by the cook time on the recipe. Yes, it takes about 10 minutes to prep, unless you’re having to chop your own veggies. And yes, it takes 35 minutes to cook in the instant pot, but it takes about 30 to 35 minutes for the instant pot to come to pressure. So keep that in mind!
It seems the link for the slow cooker version of this isn’t working. Do you still offer that version on your website? This is a family favorite! Thanks!
Just made it tonight. I used a wild rice/brown rice blend because thats all that was at the store. I doubled the mushrooms and diced chicken thighs instead of shredded. I decreased the time for the instant pot to 25 min based on your comments of using the rice blend instead of all wild rice. I didn’t have any Mrs Dash either, so I used garlic powder, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chicken bouillon, thyme, majoram, oregano, parsley. It needed much more salt than listed, so I let everyone salt it themselves. My daughter said it great, and that says a lot coming from a 10 year old! It came out great using the wild rice blend, plus we paired it with the cheddar bay biscuits from Red Lobster. We are having it tomorrow also!
How would I do it with a shredded rotisserie chicken?
Love the way this soup turned out, I accidently bought black rice instead of wild, which made my soup purple, but still delicious.
Absolutely amazing! So excited to eat it again tomorrow for lunch.
I absolutely loved this chicken and wild rice recipe. My entire family enjoyed it. It is easy to make compared to how it turns out. It is so delicious and seems like it would take forever to make. I followed the recipe exactly as you recommended, with the three tablespoons of Mrs. Dash’s and Minnesota wild rice. I appreciate that you can make it so quickly and the flavors are all there. Thank you for your wonderful recipes. I have made several, and I find they turn out the best of any of the Instant Pot recipes.
Best soup I’ve ever made! Thank you!
this soup maybe best anything i have made in my instant pot so easy so good i will make it many Times. thank you
I loved this! I left out the mushrooms so I did heaping cups of carrots, celery, and onion. This was so easy and so yummy! It was great as leftovers. I used a wild rice blend (as other people did in earlier comments) but I didn’t precook it. I added it just like it said in the recipe and the rice still had some texture. I liked the level of spice! Definitely will be making this again! So easy and budget friendly 🙂
I made this recipe for crusty bread and it turned out great as well [hidden]
This is the first time I’ve EVER rated/reviewed a recipe online! I make creamy chicken and wild rice soup quite often on the stove and it is so delicious. I recently bought an Instant Pot and absolutely LOVE it. I’ve tried several recipes per week with it and every one of them have been delish! I was excited to try this recipe and stopped at the store for Mrs. Dash’s original salt free seasoning and for wild rice. The soup looked amazing (just like the pics) but it was SO SPICY!!! :O. Never would expect creamy chicken w wild rice soup to be SPICY! As someone else commented perhaps it’s the Mrs. Dash seasoning vs the Trader Joe’s? Next time (if there is a next time) I’d try ONE TBSP of Mrs. Dash’s seasoning not THREE (which is NINE TEASPOONS!!!). So disappointing! :/
I make this at least once a month in the winter, it’s a favourite of ours. The only thing I change is I usually make it with leftover shredded chicken (and no mushrooms since we are not fans of them). Otherwise I make it as written and it is a fantastic!
Very good soup. Thankfully our local grocery store had wild rice. Will definitely make again.
Delicious soup! I am saving this one to make again!
Beyond delicious and simple to make, perfect for this time of year. I only had wild rice blend and followed another commenters suggestion and cooked it separately, then added it when I took the chicken out.
Thank you for sharing this recipe, we will make this again, and again. 🙂
Very flavorful! Only issue was my rice all popped open and didn’t look like yours pictured. My brand of Instant Pot has you leave it pressurized or vented during cook time. I left it closed. Could that have been the issue or maybe shorten cook time?
Hi Sandy! I agree, maybe you can try reducing the cooking time by a few minutes next time, hopefully that should solve the issue
This is the best wild rice soup we have ever made. I followed the directions to a T and wouldn’t change a thing. It is not too spicy.