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This delicious quick Chicken and Rice Soup is hearty, filling, and can be put together in less than 15 minutes with a few shortcuts.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
Who doesn’t love the idea of dinner in fifteen minutes or less?! With today’s chicken and rice soup recipe you can do just that. The first trick is using leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken. The chicken is already cooked and ready to pop into the soup. And the second trick is using instant rice like Minute Rice for this chicken soup recipes.
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken broth
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Onion
- Lemon. We are using the zest but you can add in 1 Tbsp of lemon juice too for extra lemon flavor.
- Chicken. A rotisserie chicken makes it the quickest. See tip box below for how to make your own shredded chicken. You can also substitute leftover turkey.
- Minute® White Rice
- Chicken broth
- Red pepper flakes
- Parmesan cheese
- Chives or Fresh Parsley. For garnish
How To Make Shredded Chicken
You can also make your own shredded chicken instead of using a rotisserie chicken.
- Microwave. This method is quick and easy and takes about 10 minutes depending on the size of your chicken breast. Depending on the size of your microwave you can do 2-3 chicken breasts at a time. Find all the details here.
- Slow Cooker. If you have time, the slow cooker makes a moist and tender shredded chicken. It takes about four hours on low. If I have to make a large batch of shredded chicken this is the perfect way. Find all the details here.
- Instant Pot. This is another great method and I usually do about 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts at a time. It will take about a total of 45 minutes. Find all the details here.
How to Make Easy Chicken and Rice Soup
- Bring 1 cup chicken broth to a boil. Stir in 1 cup minute rice, cover and turn off heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork.
- Put olive oil into a pan and cook onion and garlic until onion softens.
- Combine 10 cups chicken broth, diced chicken, lemon zest, onion mixture and crushed red pepper into pot.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add in cooked rice.
- Top with parmesan cheese and chives.
- Salt and pepper to taste
Tips from Leigh Anne
We are big rice fans at our house and it is actually one of my favorite things to add into soup.
- I always cook the rice before putting it in the soup as this keeps the rice from absorbing too much of the soup broth.
- Cook your rice in chicken broth instead of water to give it some more flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Minute rice just makes the soup quicker to put together but if you prefer to use regular rice that is fine. I like to use basmati or jasmine rice and cook it in the Instant Pot if not using Minute Rice.
It would be delicious with wild rice, it just takes a lot longer to cook so the soup is no longer quick!
If you want to add some vegetables and keep the soup easy and quick I would recommend adding in some frozen vegetables such as a carrot and pea mixture or frozen broccoli or some fresh mushrooms.
Soup can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. To reheat the soup use the microwave or on the stovetop. The soup freezes well too for up to 3 months.
I love to top my soup with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Lemon and Parmesan complement each other nicely and cheese just makes everything more delicious.
Try some of our other favorite rice recipes:
Be sure and follow me over on You Tube for weekly cooking demos.
Quick Chicken and Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 10 cups chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 tsp garlic minced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 lemon zested
- 2-3 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1 cup Minute® White Rice
- 1 cup Chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 1/4 cup chives chopped
Instructions
- Bring 1 cup chicken broth to a boil. Add in 1 cup minute rice, cover and turn off heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork.
- Put olive oil into a pan and cook onion and garlic until onion softens.
- Combine chicken broth, diced chicken, lemon zest, onion mixture and crushed red pepper into pot.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add in cooked rice.
- Top with parmesan cheese and chives.
- Salt and pepper to taste
Tips & Notes:
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Nutrition Facts:
Jeannie Brooks says
I love making my home made chicken and rice soup with celery seasoning and lemon juice. Especially when you have a cold. It smells good taste good and makes you feel better.
Annalea says
Wow . . . this looks really, really good. But honestly, the real hook here are those adorable bowls. lol Where did you get them?
Leigh Anne says
The bowls are my favorite too! They are the Latte Bowl from Anthropologie – fairly reasonably priced!!
Rachel Jensen says
I ALWAYS have leftover rice!! I am going to try this recipe for sure!
P.S.- I LOVE that you’ve added the ability to easily “print” your recipes, especially when they include a photo. THANK YOU!
Ivonne Loving says
Hi! I included this post in this weeks from my reader round-up. Loved the post and thought it would be super useful to my friends and readers.
Mary Kathryn says
We are in Southern Utah and thankfully don’t need soup anymore but sometimes you do just need a good soup. Crank the air on and turn on the fans and enjoy some soup. We loved the last one we tried from you and this one looks yummy too.