Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

But…comfort food 👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼.

How’s the weather in your area? It’s still FREEZING COLD HERE. In Kansas’ defense, it is actually supposed to get super warm today…we’ll see. But for the last billion years (potential slight exaggeration), it has been WINTER. So cold. Like…wait…it’s April 11th. I feel like, if we’re being totally fair, it should have started getting springy in March. YET – here we are, middle of April, and it snowed several days ago. What up?

Anyway, this cold, cooollllddd weather has left me bitter but also craving warm and cozy comfort food. If it’s going to be frigid outside, we might as well roll with it and eat some yummy, cold-weather food, right? On the 1-10 scale of cozy comfort food, this soup is a 12. It’s impossibly thick and creamy, loaded with soft rice, veggies, and chicken, and it feels like someone is getting you a big, warm hug as you are slurping down every last spoonful.

Let’s be honest, Ima probably make this in the dead middle of summer, too, because when is a cozy food hug NOT needed in life? Never, IMO.

Let’s chat about how this cozy food hug happens, shall we?

1. Add the rice blend, chicken stock, chicken breasts, and veggies (onion, celery, carrot, garlic) to your Instant Pot. Season it up with some salt and pepper, close the lid, and cook on manual high pressure for 20 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 5 minutes and then quick release the rest.
2. Pop your lid off, remove your chicken, dice it up, and add it back in, and stir in some lemon juice, a few dashes of hot sauce, and some milk. Turn the Instant Pot onto the saute setting so the soup simmers while you throw together a roux.
3. In a bowl, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of flour and add this roux to the soup, stirring as you add it in. Let the soup simmer for a few minutes as the roux thickens it up. Once it is thickened to your liking, turn the Instant Pot off, and you’re ready to serve!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. << Which is appropriate because some lemon squeezy action does happen up in hurr (see step 2, yo ^^).

That’s all there is to it! So do me and yourself a favor, go make a steamy pot of this soup, and feel like I’m giving you a virtual hug via this soup via the internet via your computer screen. Feel me?

Do you guys go through food phases? Right now I’m in a phase where I want all things sweet every second of life. You know my theory behind this? I just finished Whole 30 and wasn’t able to eat ANYTHING sweet for a whole month (strug), so now that I’m free to eat what I want (in moderation, of course…usually…😳), I find myself wanting sweet things like nobody’s bidness.

Muffins? Yes. Scones? Of course. Allow me to provide you with a few examples…I went over to a friend’s house yesterday, and she made banana bread. How many slices did I have, you ask? One, obvi. JK – two. FINE I HAD THREE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE.

I am sitting at a coffee shop right now, and the bakery section beside the cash register is calling my name. Hello, little blueberry muffin. You’re so pretty. Come over and hang out with me, please.

After going dessert-free for a month, I have a new appreciation for the deliciousness of baked goods. Pretty sure that wasn’t one of the intended outcomes of Whole 30, buuutttt it is what it is…STRUGGLE. Usually I’m able to resist. And by usually I mean sometimes. And by sometimes I mean occasionally. So, to sum it up, I love dessert and muffins are by besties. Goodbye.

Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

• Author: Annie Chesson
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 8 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups wild rice blend
• 32 oz box chicken broth
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice + the zest of the whole lemon
  
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• Several dashes of hot sauce (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Add the rice blend, chicken stock, chicken breasts, and all the veggies (onion, celery, carrot, garlic) into the instant pot and season with salt and pepper
2. Place the lid on, seal the vent, and cook on manual high pressure for 20 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 5 minutes, and then quick release the rest
3. Take off the lid and remove the two chicken breasts to a cutting board. Dice the chicken breasts into small, bite-sized pieces and add them back into the soup
4. Turn the Instant Pot onto the saute setting so it will simmer as we add our roux, and stir in your lemon juice, lemon zest, milk, and hot sauce, if using
5. Meanwhile, make your roux. In a bowl, microwave your butter until melted. Whisk in your flour until it has come together and formed a thin paste. Add this to your soup and stir until it is combined. Let the soup simmer for a few minutes until the roux has thickened the soup to your liking
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve!

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cup
• Calories: 356
• Sugar: 6 g
• Sodium: 150 mg
• Fat: 7 g
• Carbohydrates: 44 g
• Fiber: 4 g
• Protein: 24 g
• Cholesterol: 60 mg

If you make this or any of my other recipes, be sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!

In the mood for more yummy Instant Pot recipes? Check these out:

Instant Pot Cheesy Turkey Taco Pasta

Instant Pot Curry Rice with Almonds

Instant Pot Carnitas