Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup with Chicken is one of the best soups I make. It uses real wild rice, earthy seasonings, mushrooms, and chicken, to make a hearty, classic soup. This pressure cooker wild rice soup with chicken is a staple from the beautiful state of Minnesota, and I adapted my mom's recipe for the Instant Pot! It's delicious!
Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup with Chicken
My love of soups is strong, and sharing fabulous Instant Pot soup recipes with you is so much fun! Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup with Chicken (or make it without meat) is so delicious, earthy, and hearty. With mushrooms, and just a few simple herbs and spices, and a creamy broth, it's so good!
First, a little history. Wild Rice is actually the State Grain of Minnesota. Did you know there was such a thing as a State Grain? I didn't.
Wild Rice is native to North America, and mostly grows in the Great Lakes region. It has a higher protein content than most cereal grains.
The color is a beautiful dark brown, and to me it smells a little like tea (though it doesn't taste like tea). When cooked the grains "burst" and the texture is creamy and kind of chewy.
In this recipe you only need 1 cup, and that is the perfect amount with all of the other ingredients.
There are wild rice blends out there, but they don't fare too well in this soup because the grains that are not wild rice get cooked away.
If you can only find the wild rice blends in your grocery store, look for the ones with the highest percentage of wild rice in them. Look on Amazon, too. I provided a link below to the brand I like.
Here is a quick look at the steps to make this amazing pressure cooker Wild Rice Soup with Chicken:
It is as simple as sautéing the veggies and aromatics, then adding the remaining ingredients and pressure cooking it all.
This is a tasty, healthy wild rice soup that is total comfort food. I hope you enjoy it!
Instant Pot Mushroom Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup
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If you make this fabulous wild rice soup, please leave a comment below with a star rating. I'd love to know how you liked it!
Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup with Chicken is delicious and hearty. With wild rice, mushrooms, herbs and a creamy broth.
- 5 slices Bacon, chopped
- 1 med Onion, chopped
- 2 lrg Carrots, chopped (2 cups)
- 3 ribs Celery, chopped (2 cups)
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 1 Bay Leaf
- ½ teaspoon Thyme, dried
- 3 lrg cloves Garlic, pressed or minced
- 4-5 cups Chicken Broth*, low sodium
- 8 oz Mushrooms, sliced
- 1 sprig Rosemary, fresh
- 1 cup Wild Rice, rinsed
- 1 ½ cups Heavy Cream, divided in half
- 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt (or 1 ½ tsp table salt)
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
- 2 Chicken Breasts, uncut (skinless/boneless)
- ¼ cup Flour
- ¾ cup Heavy Cream (from divided heavy cream above)
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Turn the pot on to Sauté. Add the bacon pieces and cook, stirring occasionally, until mostly done. If you use a leaner bacon, leave the fat in. If there is more that 1 Tablespoon of fat, spoon it out, leaving 1 Tablespoon.
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Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Stir and cook a couple of minutes.
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Add the butter, bay leaf, and thyme. Cook for a couple of minutes.
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Add the garlic and stir it in, cooking for 1 minute.
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Pour in the broth and stir it well.
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Add the mushrooms, rosemary, and rice. Stir.
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Add ¾ cup of heavy cream, salt, and pepper, then stir. You can use half and half instead of heavy cream, if you want (if you want to use milk, add it after pressure cooking as it will not cook well. Heavy cream or half and half tolerate pressure cooking).
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Add the chicken breasts, and submerge them in the broth.
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Put the lid on the pot and set the steam release knob to the Sealing position. Then cancel the Sauté setting. Press the Pressure Cook/Manual button or dial. Then press the +/- button or dial to select 35 minutes. High pressure.
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When the cooking cycle is finished, let the pot sit undisturbed for 15 minutes (15 minute Natural Release). Then Manually release the remaining steam/pressure, carefully, using a controlled Quick Release (A controlled quick release is when you open the valve a little at a time to be sure no soup/sauce is going to spew out along with the steam when you release it. By starting out slowly and releasing the steam in bursts, you can avoid the mess! use a wooden spoon handle, or silicone oven mitts to avoid a steam burn.).
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When the pin in the lid drops down, open it up and carefully remove the chicken to a bowl.
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Mix the flour and remaining ¾ cup of heavy cream together very well, and stir into the hot soup.
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Shred the chicken and add it back into the soup. Let sit for a few minutes to thicken.
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Serve hot. Even better the next day!
*Use 4 cups of broth if you want the soup thick. 5 cups will make it soupier.
Resources to make pressure cooker Wild Rice Soup with Chicken recipe and more
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Nancy
I tried to make half a recipe with long grain white rice and might have included too much cream. It turned out more like stew, but still tasted good. Definitely want to try again with wild rice, less cream and more broth!
Layla
It’s a cold February night here. It’s perfect for a hot piping bowl of soup. I made this and croque monsieur. I made a few substitutions due to health reasons: half salt, low sodium broth, low sodium bacon, 2 celery stalks (not a fan), and 1/2 dried tsp rosemary (not a fan). The soup turned out very earthy, delicious, and flavorful. It is definitely a favorite that I will make in the future!
Mary
I made just as recipe said but used half and half. I made a roux with leftover bacon grease and 1/2 C flour, added the 1 1/2 cups fat free half and half and poured in at end. It is delicious. Very thick and I used 5 cups broth. 4 would be too thick for us. It won't let me click the stars but 5*for me.
Connie
Followed the directions almost to a T (I used less bacon, 2 slices of thick cut from Whole Foods) and it turned out perfectly aside from maybe needing some more salt (maybe because I used less bacon). Will try next time with an alternative to the heavy cream due to the high fat content. Sounds like coconut milk is a good one.
Georgia
made this tonight - AWESOME! won't be going to Panera anytime soon for their soup - I did use 1/2 & 1/2 for both calories and to kept it more like a soup based on other comments - glad that I did - only 2 of us; we had dinner, will have leftovers and I put another dinner in the freezer since she she it freezes well
Jean
Great flavor but not enough broth. I could eat it with a fork. I'm surprised nobody mentioned this in the comments.
Sandy
I didn't have that experience. Thank you for letting me know. 🙂
Barbie
So good! I omitted the mushrooms but the flavor was on point! I agree it could use another 1-2 c of broth but I'll definitely make this again!
Sallie
Love this soup! What would be the cook time for a crockpot? Thanks!