Cream of Chicken Wild Rice Soup :: Instant Pot Style

We’ve recently shared of our new found Instant Pot love and you can see our adventures by following along on Instagram: #MixedPrintsInstantPots. I tested my hand at a new soup recipe this week and IT CHANGED MY LIFE. Literally.

Cream of Chicken Wild Rice Soup

The first element of my soup was the rice. Wild Rice can sometimes take FOREVER to make and the texture is undesirable. Since I was home, I opted to make the rice in the morning to add to the soup later with ease. The recipe is simple. Add equal parts rice and water and then an extra 3/4 c. water for wild rice (this worked best for me, but may be trial and error for you). I put an entire bag of rice in (about 3 dried cups) because I knew I wanted some for the soup and also for leftovers. Hit the rice button and you’re rolling. Set the timer for 25 minutes and voila! Perfect rice in the time it takes to catch an episode of your favorite show.

Next, comes the soup! Here’s what you’ll need:

2 diced chicken breasts (I used raw)

1 cup mixed veggies (I used leftovers, even better! You can use the traditional celery, carrots, onion mix, but this is what I had on hand and it was awesome!)

1/2 c. diced onion

3 tbsp. butter

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water

Salt/Pepper/Poultry seasoning to taste

32 oz. chicken broth

2 cups preferred milk, room temp (I used 1%)

2 1/2 cups of your preferred rice (I used wild)

4 oz. cream cheese (optional)

Up first, you’re going to use the saute feature on your pot. Saute your garlic, onion, and butter together. Once they start to meld, add in your mixed veggies to infuse some of that flavor. Once ready, turn off the saute feature and add the following to your pot – diced chicken (raw is totally fine!), broth, seasonings and mix together well. Since my rice was ready, I did not add it at this point yet.

Manual button, cook for 5 minutes after it pressurizes. Release pressure with the valve. Remove lid. Push saute button to give yourself some heat. Add cornstarch/water mixture and room temperature milk, stirring constantly to a light simmer/boil. Want it extra creamy? Add 4 oz. cream cheese. My mom prefers it without, so I scooped out some beforehand in a jar for her and then added the cream cheese for the extra OOMPH. Add in your rice (approx. 2.5 cups) and mix around if it has clumped together.

Serve warm or store in jars for a snowy day (this made two HUGE bowls for our dinner and then four jars for single servings later on).

It was absolutely DELICIOUS and a hearty winter meal. I served with Tastefully Simple beer bread that I made during the morning. From start to finish (including precooking the rice), this winter meal was ready in under an hour.