Easy Chicken and Rice Soup-this easy chicken and rice soup is perfect for a cold day and makes a great weeknight meal.
This Easy Chicken and Rice Soup has been on our blog from the very beginning, it is a family favorite recipe and a perfect weeknight meal.
I have learned a lot in eight years and decided it was time to update these soup photos because I keep seeing my chicken soup recipe come up in Google and on Pinterest and I cringe at the old photos. It is time for a refresher because the soup is a winner and deserves to look like soup. I will leave one of the old photos at the bottom of this post so you can see what I am talking about. Go ahead and laugh:)
The soup is full of vegetables, chicken, and rice. The fresh thyme adds great flavor too.
This Easy Chicken and Rice Soup is the soup you make when you are sick or when someone else is sick and in need of a warm bowl of comfort. It is the soup you make when you are feeling lazy, but want a hearty, homemade meal. It is the soup you make when your picky kids say they won’t eat dinner, so you make this soup and they eat a big bowl. It is the soup you make when it is cold outside and you need to warm up. It is the BEST soup recipe to have on hand because it is so easy and everyone loves it.
To keep it easy, we like to use rotisserie chicken from the store or leftover chicken. If you have leftover turkey from the holidays or a big family meal, you can use turkey instead. It works just as well. You can use wild rice or brown rice, it will just take a little longer to cook. This soup also freezes well, another reason to love it!
Easy Chicken and Rice Soup, it doesn’t get any easier than this folks! Warm up with a bowl today!
If you like this soup, you might also enjoy:
Easy Chicken and Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 2 celery ribs, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
- 4 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 quarts chicken stock or broth, we use low sodium
- 1 cup of water
- 1 cup long grain white rice, uncooked
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken, can use rotisserie chicken
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place a large pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned.
- Pour in the chicken broth and water and bring the liquid to a boil. Add in the rice and chicken; season with salt and pepper.
- Cook on medium-low until the rice is tender, about 25-30 minutes. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
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I really love how smoothly you create such beautiful dishes. Thankyou
This dish looks very delicious… love it and the one who made it
Our family has been sick and my husband asked for some chicken and rice soup I made it just the way you suggested and it hit the spot thank you!Â
Best chicken and rice soup ever! Love it. My grandson always wants me to make it for him. So nourishing and comfort food. The thyme adds such a wonderful flavor. Thank you for this recipe.
I have rice already made . Can i just use it?
Yes, stir it in at the end.
I just made this soup and it was really, really good! I followed the recipe but added about 4 extra cloves of garlic, added an extra carrot, only had one chicken breast and only had about 2/3 of the chicken broth on hand. Also used brown rice instead of white. Fantastic!! This would be great with some toasted bread. I separated it into individual, covered glass bowls and froze about 2/3 of it. I plan to make more very soon.
Really great simple soup!
Thank you
The soup was easy and tasty. But one cup of rice was far too much and I had to add another quart of chicken broth.
I had the same problem….too much rice. Next time I will use 1/2 cup. I had to add almost 2 quarts of water, so I put much more chopped garlic and bullion cubes and thyme to make up for the lost favor from the added water.
Sounds perfect!! Would Jasmine rice work as well?
I am trying Jasmine rice, I don’t see an answer to the question from them though. I’ll let you know. It’s probably fine I would guess.
This is my second time I made this chicken soup today and same thing happened as it happened first time.
First time I made, I added extra 1/4 cup long grain rice thinking enough of liquid and it looked like porridge even though taste was good. I followed recipe this time and same thing happened again( hardly any broth) I don’t know what I did wrong this time, used same long grain rice,25 min cooking. Recipe says chopping onion, carrots but when I saw new photo, it was more like cubed or diced. That might be the reason? Any advice? Thanks.
Just add more broth or water
Did you cover the pot after putting in the chicken and rice? If not, the liquid will evaporate.
I will definitely try this out
Man oh man . .this looks so clean and yummy…I’m currently under the weather but will be making this soup tonight!!! Oh…do you think I could just cut the veggies up and put them in the pot without sauteeding in olive oil??
I never sauté my veggies. Still delicious.
Yes I do it turns out the same
How much is a serving of this soup? It says there’s 1800 mg of sodium in a serving?! Is this right? If so I wouldn’t touch a teaspoon of an! This can’t be right!
Many store broths are super high in sodium so I make broth at home our of the veggies that I trim during the week like carrots, onions garlic celery and I buy farm raised chickens and butcher them and use the backs and wingtips to make the broth with the veggies. Add whatever spices and herbs that you like.
I saw that sodium content too. That’s unbelievable!!! If its true, I would use salt free broth and only add salt to taste prior to eating.
Easy and super delicious! Didn’t add any water, and it turned out perfect. Subbed a wild rice blend for white and dried thyme for sprigs. I cooked the rice beforehand and added it at the end. Cooked the chicken in the slow cooker beforehand and then shredded. Normally my husband doesn’t love broth-based soups, but it was thick enough with the rice and chicken that it was filling and it also had good flavor. Served with slices of toasted sourdough. Yum.
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fabrikant van lasersnijder https://www.accurllaser.com/nl/
I love the simplicity of this dish.
This is soo good! This is the easiest way to make a lot of chicken soup quickly. Only thing I think 72 oz of liquid (2 Qt +1 cup of water) plus all the ingredients seems like way more than 4 servings! I like my soup with lots of meat and veggies and less liquid so I recommend adding 4-5 carrots and 4-5 celery stalks, a whole onion and 3 cups of chicken and 1 1/2 cups of rice. It makes for at least 4 quarts of soup and around 8 servings.
When I have fresh thyme I always use that but if using dried herbs, I switch it up to tarragon for a flavour change, both delicious.
Can I use instant rice instead of long grain rice?
Whenever I make rice soup, the rice absorbs all the water. How do you keep it “rice soup” and not chicken, veggies, and rice-mush?
A. Very simple soup to make but really very tastie
Do not cook the rice IN the soup. Cook the rice separately. When ready to serve, place some rice in bottom of each person’s soup bowl and ladle hot broth with the chicken and veggies over top. A little dab of fresh lemon juice wakes it up and garnish with some fresh parsley leaves to make it pretty. If you like the soup to thicken a bit, add a very small amount of rice into the soup (like 1/4 cup) cook rest of rice separately and follow instructions to serve. I do the same with all big bathes of soup that have rice, noodles or pasta. Leaving cooked starch in hot soup will cause starch to absorb nearly all of your good soup.
I think this is the best, and certainly easiest, chicken/rice soup. I used brown rice.
So I haven’t read all the comments, and want to make this. I’m surprised that it doesn’t say if the rice should be cooked first or not. Sorry, some people (me) are very novice and need instructions that leave no room for question….and if not cooked, am I supposed to rinse it until the water is clear like the instructions to cook rice?
#stilllearning
Uncooked rice. You can rinse it first, but not mandatory. Enjoy!
Yvette, I can relate! Someone posted above a great suggestion and that was to cook the rice separately and then add some rice to the bottom of everyone’s bowl and ladle the soup over it. Same if you are substituting pasta…because the starch will absorb the liquid. Hope this help! I am definitely making this soup. Enjoy and be well!
I made it last night, and it turned out sooo delicious! I really loved it. Just what I needed when I thought about chicken soup. I froze some of it because I want to have it many more times soon
Amazing soup family love it I added mushrooms as well yummy thanks for sharing
I used chicken thighs because I like the flavor of the darker meat and nutritionally speaking, for a kid sick, I think its better. You knocked this recipe out of the park.
Just add more broth or water
Do I need to put a lid on after adding the rice or will it cook uncovered? Thanks in advance!
Sounds great,will make tomorrow Jim
My favorite soup recipe! I use uncle Bens long grain rice in the microwave pouch, sauté the vegetables, then add all ingredients. So easy. Thank you!
This came out delicious! I actually added more rice because my family loves rice! Will definitely make again!
Thanks for sharing!
Super easy and delicious. I didn’t have fresh herbs, so used dried. Will definitely make again.
What a delicious soup! The thyme is such a lovely addition. Thank you for the recipe!
I make this one all the time! So easy and my kids love it!
My boys love it too:)
Can I use Jasmine rice?
If you like Jasmine rice, sure!
My go-to chicken soup recipe. So fast, easy, and tasty! I always come back to this recipe when I’m craving. Thank you!
You are welcome!
Delicious and simple recipe ‍
Followed the recipe by instructions but did need to add another quart of chicken broth. Also added a chicken bouillon cube for extra chicken flavor. Next time I will add extra carrots and celery maybe even tweek it by adding in a half cup of frozen kernel corn.
Thanks for sharing!
I made this for my husband and he loved it! But i was wondering if i can put kale in it for extra vitamins since he isn’t feeling well today and i would like to make it for him… and if so do i put it at the end ?
Sure, you can stir in chopped kale at the end. You might need to add a little more broth.
Came out well. I am unaccustomed to using fresh thyme. I may have used too much.
I really appreciate it!
I would like to make this, but need to know if it would freeze well? (at least a month)
Love this recipe. Have made it many many times. The only change that I make is to use cooked rice, no water (just broth) and fresh herbs. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Thanks for this easy to prepare soup. I am house bound with the Delta variant and this soup was perfect. Felt like I was giving my body some good nutrition to aid my recovery.
Quick, easy, tasty soup! Whole family loved it.