INSTANT POT CREAMY CHICKEN AND WILD RICE SOUP

This quick and easy creamy chicken and wild rice soup is made in the Instant Pot. It makes a delicious and comforting dinner.

Instant Pot creamy chicken and wild rice soup. So delicious. Recipe at everydayjenny.com

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I saw the hype going around right before Christmas about the Instant Pot. I hadn’t ever heard of one before, but suddenly it seemed like everyone was getting one. I researched them online and they seemed awesome. Anything that makes meal time faster and easier is a great buy to me.

I still wasn’t sure if I wanted one but I mentioned it to my husband and he decided to surprise me for Christmas and get one. Unfortunately, it was delivered in a box that said Instant Pot on all four sides, and I was the one who was there when it arrived. The surprise was ruined, but on the upside I got to use it before Christmas. 🙂

If you don’t know what an Instant Pot is, the simple answer is an electric pressure cooker. But it has so many different functions that I haven’t even used yet.

I took a cooking class in college where we used a pressure cooker on the stove. I thought it was great that it cooked things faster, but it scared me. Even when I got the Instant Pot I was scared to use it at first! I imagined it exploding.

It probably would be sitting in the box still, but my husband was the first to get it out and make some steel cut oats in it (3 minute steel cut oats I might add). After that test run I started using it a lot. One day we used it for breakfast and lunch and my husband said we needed to use it for dinner too to keep the streak going. I have loved cooking sorts of meals in it.

One day over Christmas break I decided I wanted to some soup for lunch. This recipe came together and my husband, who does not love soup as much as I do, said it was the best soup I had made for him.

He had previously been on a soup strike because he said we had had way too much soup this winter, but he gobbled this up. Even my kids loved it. I hope you enjoy it too.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot the recipe can be adjusted for the stove, it will just take a little longer.

Add and cook the chicken fully after the first step of sautéing the onions, mushrooms and carrots.

Then add the rice, seasonings and broth and allow the rice to cook.

Finish it off with the milk and cream cheese at the end just like in the recipe below.

Instant Pot creamy chicken and wild rice soup. So delicious. Recipe at everydayjenny.com

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

1/2 yellow onion diced
3/4 cup carrots diced
3/4 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms (about 3-4 mushrooms)
2 tablespoons butter
1 chicken breast (about 1/2 pound) diced into 1 inch cubes
2 cans chicken broth (14 oz)
1 box Uncle Ben’s quick cooking wild rice
1 cup milk
1 cup half-and-half
2 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons corn starch

In your Instant Pot, select the Sauté feature and add the butter, onions, carrots, and mushrooms.

Sauté for about 5 minutes until onions are translucent and soft.

Add the cubed chicken and seasoning packet from the Uncle Ben’s wild rice box, and stir to combine.

Add the wild rice, and the 2 cans of chicken broth.

Select Manual on the Instant Pot and set the time for 5 minutes.

After the cooking time ends, allow it to stay on keep warm for 5 minutes and then quick release the pressure.

Remove the lid, change the setting to the Sauté function again, and add the milk, half-and-half, and cream cheese.

In a small bowl mix the corn starch with a little bit of water to dissolve then add to the soup to thicken.

Instant Pot creamy chicken and wild rice soup. So delicious. Recipe at everydayjenny.com

Instant Pot creamy chicken and wild rice soup. So delicious and easy. Recipe at everydayjenny.com

52 thoughts on “INSTANT POT CREAMY CHICKEN AND WILD RICE SOUP

  1. This has become a favorite in our house! My kids ask me to make it all the time. They’re not big carrot fans so we sub in celery instead and also use low-fat cream cheese and fat free milk and half and half and it still turns out delicious!

    1. I’m so glad to hear that Michelle! Its one of my favorites too! And those are some great substitutions! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂

  2. Oh my word it was so delicious and too easy!!! I love trying new instant pot recipes. The best investment I’ve ever made was the instant pot!

  3. Jenny, have you ever doubled this? Just made it and it was DELICIOUS. I also thought of adding a little bit of diced celery because we like that – how does celery do, in regards to texture, in the Instantpot?

  4. This was awesome! I didn’t have the Uncle Bens in the box. I only had the rice that you microwave for 90 sec. I added that when I added the cream cheese. Turned out just fine!

  5. I’m new to the whole instant pot thing. My BFF got me one. I literally just made this soup. I doubled as I have a big family. Turned out great. Thanks for the recipe.

  6. Yum! This was such a satisfying soup. Next time I’m going to add a little celery and rosemary, because I think that would make it even better. Mmmmm! Thanks for sharing this!

  7. Sounds delicious. I’m wondering if I can substitute Almond Milk for the milk and omit the half and half altogether since I don’t have any on hand now. Also wondering about using regular wild rice and how much extra time I would need to allow? Any ideas?

  8. OMG! Spectacular recipe!! Kudos to you Jenny! Hubs is sick with a bad chest cold so I made him soup using my chicken feet broth. Only thing I did different was added celery and garlic and substituted a 13.66 oz can of Thai Kitchen Coconut Cream for the milk,cream cheese and half and half (I’m lactose intolerant). Didn’t even need the corn starch either. Thank you for sharing!

  9. Used Vegan chick’n, Vegan sour cream, soy milk, dried wild rice, garlic, Vegan butter and Vegan half & half and made vegetable broth.
    It was so good!

  10. I use mixed vegetables instead of carrots. I also use almond milk and add some minced garlic. Some times I have used Rice A Roni Chicken rice. It gives it a little more chicken flavor.

  11. This is a favorite at our house as well! I don’t use the cream cheese, add celery (and more of each veggie to get more servings of veggies in), and I use 1 box of Zatarain’s long grain and wild rice (it’s gluten and MSG free which we need). If I’m in a hurry, I don’t use the cornstarch, and it’s no big deal. And I add the milk and half-and-half (or heavy cream) at the very end after I turn it off.
    Last night I left home before I finished it and forgot to tell my husband I hadn’t added the milk/cream. The family liked it just fine, it was just a broth soup, like chicken noodle. So if you don’t do dairy, it’s still really yummy without it!
    Also, I only pressure cook it for 3-4 minutes, and then natural release for 5-10. The veggies and rice are a little over done at 5 for me for some reason.
    I have an 8 qt instant pot and doubling the recipe it still fits just fine.
    Thanks for an amazing, delicious recipe!

  12. I would like to use natural wild rice, so how much time would I have to add? Would I cook the rice for a few minutes and then add the veggies so they aren’t overcooked? This is my very first time using my instant pot so maybe I shouldn’t start out this way? Sorry for all the ? but really would prefer the long-cooking wild rice, as we get it when we go through Northwestern Ontario.

    1. Hi Julie! I’m not sure on the changes you would need using natural wild rice. I would maybe try a different recipe since it’s your first time using the instant pot, and then once you learn what you have to do to tweak recipes, maybe come and try it.

  13. Really good, thank you! Next time I think I will leave out the cream cheese, I did add a third can of chicken broth because I had closer to a lb of chicken and kept pressure 4 min instead of 5 because the chicken was thinner than an inch (notes for myself really!!) Wondering how this would be with the addition of some kale, and how that would change cook time, hmmm..!?

    1. We love this! I leave out the mushrooms, because we don’t like them, otherwise I follow the recipe and it is fabulous! Thank you! (Oh, I always double it for leftovers!)

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