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This creamy Chicken and rice soup is cozy, hearty, and made in one pot with tender Chicken, vegetables, rice, and a splash of heavy cream. You’re going to love how comforting it is without being too heavy. It’s an easy dinner for busy nights when you want something warm and satisfying.
Why You’ll Love It
- One-pot dinner — the vegetables, Chicken, rice, and broth all cook in the same pot.
- Ready in about 50 minutes — a comforting meal without an all-day simmer.
- Creamy but not heavy — a little heavy cream makes the broth rich without overwhelming it.
- Tender chicken and hearty rice — the chicken simmers gently while the rice gives the broth extra body.
Ingredient Notes
Butter is where the whole thing begins, and I wouldn’t swap it out if you can help it. Two tablespoons isn’t much, but it gives the vegetables a mellow, cozy flavor that oil doesn’t quite manage. I use salted butter sometimes and unsalted other times, depending on what’s in the refrigerator. Life is short; use the butter you have.
For the onion, celery, and carrots, don’t get fussy about perfectly even dice. Try to keep things roughly the same size so they cook at the same rate, sure, but this is soup, not a tiny French restaurant entrée. The carrots can be a little bigger if you like some texture.
Use low-sodium chicken broth if you can find it. Eight cups of regular broth plus added salt can get salty in a hurry, and then you’re trying to fix it with extra water and pretending that was your plan all along. Been there.
Plain white rice is what you want here—uncooked, straight into the pot. Long-grain white rice works nicely. The rice is going to swell as it cooks, and leftovers will get thicker because of it. That’s not a flaw; that’s just rice being rice. It never minds its own business.
Chicken breast is easy and lean, but boneless skinless chicken thighs would work if that’s what you’ve got. I’ve made it both ways. Actually, I prefer thighs some days, but chicken breast is a classic choice, so there you go. Democracy is exhausting.
And please don’t skip the heavy cream at the end. It’s only half a cup, but it changes the whole personality of the soup.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 8 cups chicken broth, preferably low-sodium
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 cup uncooked white rice
- 1 pound uncooked chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- Fresh parsley, optional, for serving if you happen to have it—which I usually do not
Instructions
Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion, sliced celery, and carrots. Cook them for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring now and then, until they’re softened and starting to smell like you have your life together. Don’t rush this part too much. I once tried to shave off a few minutes and wound up with crunchy celery in the finished soup. Not awful, but not exactly the warm hug I was going for.
Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Keep it moving around the pot so it doesn’t burn. Burned garlic has a way of announcing itself to the entire house, and not in a charming way. Just one minute—garlic is needy like that.
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir well so everything gets lightly coated. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. You’re getting rid of that raw flour taste and building the little bit of thickness this soup needs. It may look a tad pasty at first. That’s fine. We’re not photographing it for a magazine.
Slowly pour in the chicken broth while stirring. Slowly is the operative word here, although I know we’re all busy. Adding it gradually helps keep the flour from clumping up. Stir in the Italian seasoning and bring the soup to a gentle boil.
Add the uncooked white rice and bite-sized chicken pieces. Give everything a good stir, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Let it simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally so the rice doesn’t settle and stick at the bottom. I usually peek at it around 20 minutes because rice seems to have a personal relationship with each individual stove.
Once the rice is tender and the chicken is fully cooked, stir in the heavy cream. Leave the pot uncovered and let the soup simmer gently for another 5 minutes, until it thickens slightly. Don’t let it boil hard after the cream goes in. A gentle simmer is enough. A hard boil can make cream separate, and then you’ll be standing there staring at your soup like it betrayed you.
Season with the salt and black pepper. Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for a few minutes before serving. The soup settles down a little, thickens a touch more, and becomes easier to eat without burning the skin off the roof of your mouth. Sprinkle with parsley if you’ve got it.
Variations
If you want to sneak in greens, stir a handful of fresh spinach or chopped kale into the pot during the last 5 minutes. Spinach works especially well here.
You can use brown rice, but it needs more time—about 10 to 15 minutes extra—so don’t expect it to behave like white rice. Wild rice or a rice blend gives the soup a nuttier flavor and more chew, though the broth will feel a little different. Still good, just not quite the same soft, classic chicken-and-rice situation.
If you’d rather lighten it up, half-and-half or whole milk can replace the heavy cream. I’ve done the whole milk version when that was all I had, and it worked fine. Not quite as velvety, but fine.
Storage & Reheating
Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. By the next day, the rice will have soaked up quite a bit of broth, so it may look more like creamy chicken-and-rice stew than soup. That is normal. Honestly, I kind of like it that way for lunch.
Reheat it gently on the stovetop over low heat, stirring occasionally. Add a splash of chicken broth or water to loosen it up until it’s the consistency you want. Don’t blast it over high heat because the cream can get a little fussy, and you don’t need another thing in your day acting fussy.
Microwave reheating works too, though I’d do it in short bursts and stir between them.
Final Notes
There’s something about a pot of chicken and rice soup that makes a kitchen feel softer. Maybe it’s the steam on the windows. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone tends to quiet down once they’ve got a warm bowl in front of them. Even the people who claim they “aren’t really soup people” somehow finish it.
I made this recently on a gray afternoon when the leaves were piling up along the curb and somebody down the street was using a leaf blower for what felt like six hours. Why do leaf blowers sound like they’re trying to take off? Anyway. The house was a mess, there were papers all over the counter, and I had exactly zero interest in making anything complicated.
Then the carrots softened, the broth went in, and the whole place smelled like dinner.
That’s enough sometimes. Not a grand moment. Just enough.
Chicken and Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 stalks celery sliced
- 2 medium carrots diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 8 cups chicken broth preferably low-sodium
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 cup uncooked white rice
- 1 pound uncooked chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- fresh parsley optional, for serving
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat, then add the diced onion, sliced celery, and carrots and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 more minute, stirring so it does not burn.
- Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir well to coat, then cook, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes to remove the raw flour taste.
- Slowly pour in the chicken broth while stirring to prevent clumps, then stir in the Italian seasoning and bring the soup to a gentle boil.
- Add the uncooked white rice and bite-sized chicken pieces, stir well, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender and the chicken is fully cooked.
- Stir in the heavy cream, leave the pot uncovered, and simmer gently for another 5 minutes until the soup thickens slightly, avoiding a hard boil after the cream is added.
- Season with the salt and black pepper, remove the pot from the heat, and let the soup sit for a few minutes before serving with fresh parsley if desired.