Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

By Kath Dedon

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Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is not exactly “instant”, but it’s super easy and really good. The gluten-free, dairy-free recipe is from Ashley Singh Thomas’ blog, myheartbeets.com.

Ashley cooks a small potato with the soup and then blends it with ½ cup of coconut milk to make a creamy base to blend into the finished soup. I decided to skip the potato and stir a can of coconut milk into the soup. It turned out great! Do hop over to Ashley’s blog to see how she uses the potato if you’d like to try her version. (And to see her photos which are much superior to mine!)

Start to finish, it took about one hour and 45 or 50 minutes to make the soup. But only 30 minutes of that time was “hands on”. The time breaks down like this: 30 minutes prep time (chopping, slicing, mincing, measuring), 19 minutes to get up to pressure, 30 minutes cooking at pressure, and 30 minutes Natural Pressure Release (NPR). Once you seal the pot and start the pot, the Instant Pot does all the work.

We enjoyed the Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup so much that I’m sure I’ll be making it again. It’s a perfect soup for warming up on a cold night. And all that “hands off” time gives you a chance to make a salad, or maybe even biscuits or cornbread to go with it. Or you could just enjoy a glass of wine and a good book while your Instant Pot cooks your soup.

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Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

(Adapted from Ashley Singh Thomas’ recipe on myheartbeets.com)

(print the recipe)

Makes 6 servings

1½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces

½ large onion, diced

1 cup chopped carrots (2-3 medium)

1 cup chopped celery (2 large stalks)

1 (8-ounce) package sliced mushrooms

2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 6 large cloves)

1 Serrano pepper, minced (I did not take the seeds out and it was not too hot.)

3 teaspoons fresh thyme plus extra sprigs for garnish (The garnish is optional.)

2 teaspoons minced fresh sage

2 teaspoons salt (I used sea salt)

½ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup uncooked wild rice

4 cups chicken broth (I used Swanson chicken stock.)

Add later:

1 (13.66-ounce) can coconut milk (not lite)

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1. Rinse the wild rice in a fine-mesh strainer and drain.
2. Put all of the ingredients except the coconut milk in the Instant Pot.

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3. Seal the pot, setting the Pressure Release to Sealing.

4. Select Manual, High Pressure, for 30 minutes.

5. When the 30 minutes of cooking are done, do nothing and just let the pressure release naturally. It will take about 30 minutes for the pressure to release and the valve to drop back down.

6. Once the pressure has released, open the pot, and stir in the coconut milk. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if using, and serve.

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