Creamy, thick, hearty and simple! When you're looking for a fast dinner fix that's warm and cozy, Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is all the good things soul comforting with diced carrots, sweet corn, pulled chicken, wild rice and a creamy chicken broth.
Who's sick of soup season?? We're coming up with crickets over here!
Living in New England certainly has its perks. Great sports teams, apple picking, and enjoying the most of all four seasons. For the winter season, well, that's enjoying all the comfort food eats, right? You have to balance out all that shoveling.
And regardless of snow accumulation, I'm about to shovel a bunch of this creamy chicken and wild rice soup right into my mouth. Come and join me.
How to make creamy chicken soup in an instant pot
Got a new IP for a special occasion? (Yes, Tuesdays count as special occasions in my book.) . This soup is a great way to break it in and get used to using a few different features all in one recipe. For this Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup we will be using the sauté and the stew settings, before and after. Let's get to it.
Using the 'Sauté' setting
To start, you'll heat the instant pot on 'sauté'. Just pressing the button will start to warm the bottom of the pan. Once hot, add the oil and cook the onions and carrots. Once they're soft, you'll need to remove them from the pan to prepare the roux.
You can do this with a large serving spoon or if you're scrappy like me, you'll take the pot holder tilt and scoop out method. I don't highly recommend that method because the pan is real hot, but I'd be a liar if I said I didn't do it every time.
Make a roux
With the pan empty again, make the roux. What's a roux? It a genius French method of making a thickening agent for sauces and soups using flour and a fat (butter). Melt the butter and sprinkle with flour. Stir it the whole time. I mean it. Roux can go from beautiful to burnt hot mess in zero time, so don't get distracted! As you whisk it, the flour-butter mixture will thin our and begin to darken.
Now here comes the next most important part! Using a whisk, slowly add some chicken stock. You want to add about 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time until the roux is thinned out enough but also incorporated into the stock without clumping.
Then everyone jumps in the pool (veggies, chicken, rice, salt and pepper) and the pressure part of this cooking begins. After the pressure cooking you'll switch your Instant Pot back to sauté. The soup will thin out during the pressure cooking. By switching it back to sauté, your beautiful roux is going to thicken the soup while you're busy pulling that chicken.
C'est fini! The only thing better than having a whole Instant Pot of Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is having some roasted garlic crusty soup bread so you can sop it all up.
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion (chopped)
- 2 medium carrots (peeled and diced small)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 15-ounce can corn, drained
- ½ cup wild rice
- 1 pound chicken breast (fresh or frozen)
- salt and pepper (to taste (about ½ teaspoon salt for low sodium chicken stock))
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil on the 'sauté' setting. Once hot, add the onion and carrot, season with salt and pepper. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent and the carrots are soft. Carefully remove the vegetables from the pot to a separate bowl.
- Make the roux by melting the butter on the 'sauté' setting. Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter, stirring to form a paste. Continue to stir while paste thins out and cook until it because a light tan color, about 2 minutes.
- Using a whisk to avoid clumping, slowly add about ½ cup of the chicken stock while whisking continuously. Repeat until the roux is fully incorporated into the stock and add the remaining stock and heavy cream. (See notes for what to do if your broth clumps.)
- Add the corn, wild rice and chicken. Close the Instant Pot and make sure the valve is on the 'sealing' setting. Cook for 20 minutes on high pressure or using the 'stew' option depending on your model.
- Once the Instant Pot is done cooking, manually release the pressure by pushing the valve to 'venting' - watch out for escaping steam! Once the red button goes down, remove the lid.
- Transfer the chicken to a separate plate and shred using two forks. While you are pulling the chicken, put the Instant Pot on the 'sauté' setting for normal heat to thicken the roux. Transfer the pulled chicken and any juices back to the soup and season with salt and pepper to taste.
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