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365 Days of Slow Cooking and Pressure Cooking

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March 13, 2017

Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Rice Soup

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Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Rice Soup–a flavorful soup with tender bites of chicken, chewy brown rice and flavorful basil pesto made in minutes in your pressure cooker. 

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Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Rice Soup--a flavorful soup with tender bites of chicken, chewy brown rice and flavorful basil pesto made in minutes in your pressure cooker.

Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Rice Soup

Today is Day 4 of 31 Days of Instant Pot recipes! If you’d like to receive all the recipes sent straight to your email you can sign up here. 

Today I made a healthy and delicious soup in the pressure cooker in a matter of minutes. I couldn’t believe how quickly this soup was made considering it had frozen chicken and uncooked brown rice in it! I love the slow cooker version of this pesto chicken rice soup so I felt I should give it a go in the Instant Pot. It was a great choice and my whole family was super happy with the results.

You might also like to see–>>slow cooker soup recipes<<–

You’ll make this instant pot chicken pesto rice soup by piling chicken, broth, vegetables, rice and seasonings into your pressure cooker. I like to use the saute function while I’m prepping and adding ingredients into the Instant Pot so that the pot can start warming up and it will cut down on the total cooking time. You’ll then set the cooking time to 22 minutes. My pot took 6 minutes to come to pressure, then it cooked for 22 minutes and then I let the pressure release for 10 minutes before I opened the pot. So total time in the pressure cooker was 38 minutes. Not bad at all! The rice was cooked to perfection and the chicken came out fork tender. You’ll then stir in some dairy and the pesto and serve it up!

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Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Rice Soup--a flavorful soup with tender bites of chicken, chewy brown rice and flavorful basil pesto made in minutes in your pressure cooker.

What Instant Pot Did You Use?

For these pressure cooker easy to peel hard boiled eggs I used this Instant Pot IP-LUX60 V3 Programmable Electric Pressure Cooker. It’s 6 quarts, so the same size as most slow cookers. It cost me around $80 on Amazon.

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Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Rice Soup


★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

  • Author: 365 Days of Slow Cooking
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 22 minutes
  • Total Time: 42 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings 1x
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Description

A flavorful soup with tender bites of chicken, chewy brown rice and flavorful basil pesto made in minutes in your pressure cooker


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 3 cups chicken broth (or 3 cups water with chicken bouillon)
  • 2 carrots, sliced into quarter inch rounds
  • 2 ribs of celery, sliced into quarter into pieces
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 3 frozen boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 3/4 cup brown rice
  • 1 1/2 cups milk or half and half, warmed
  • 1/2 cup basil pesto

Instructions

  1. Turn Instant Pot to saute to warm up while you add ingredient to pot. Add broth, carrots, celery, onions, oregano, garlic powder, chicken and brown rice to the Instant Pot.
  2. Secure the lid and turn valve to sealing. Turn off the saute function, press manual and enter 22 minutes.
  3. Once the 22 minutes is up the pressure cooker will beep. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Then turn the valve to venting. Remove the lid and cut the chicken into bite size pieces, stir in warmed milk or half and half if you want it more creamy. Make sure that it’s warmed up or else the soup will curdle. Stir in the pesto.
  4. Ladle into bowl and serve.

Notes

I used my 6 quart Instant Pot for this recipe.

My IP took 6 minutes to come to pressure, 22 minutes to cook and then 10 minutes to release the pressure.

Did you make this recipe?

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—>>Click here for the SLOW COOKER version of this recipe<<—

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon. Each time you purchase something from Amazon that I’ve linked to I get a few pennies. Thanks so much for supporting my blog!

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19 Comments Filed Under: All Recipes, Chicken, Instant Pot, Rice, Soups Tagged With: 5 stars, 0-2 hours, pesto, instant pot

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Comments

  1. Sherrille says

    May 27, 2020 at 5:36 pm

    So, I combined the idea for beans (slow cooker version) with this recipe using brown rice. I used dry chickpeas and brown rice, frozen chicken thighs and everything else as directed. It was AMAZING and HEARTY! The chickpeas took longer to cook, so in total, I processed about 50 minutes. It went through a natural release; then, I added the milk and pesto and sautéed until hot. Definitely a keeper!!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      May 28, 2020 at 12:28 pm

      Sounds like a great version!

      Reply
  2. Bri says

    July 30, 2019 at 6:51 pm

    I’m not a big soup fan normally but I made this for my boyfriend because he was feeling sick and it was phenomenal! I just used the “high pressure” setting on my IP following all other directions and everything was cooked perfectly. I also used whole milk and it was so creamy and delicious. Thanks for the great recipe!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      August 1, 2019 at 12:54 pm

      Glad you liked it! Hope he gets better soon 🙂

      Reply
  3. Jessica says

    July 29, 2018 at 8:05 pm

    Could I use almond milk for this instead of regular milk? Or maybe coconut milk in a can?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      July 30, 2018 at 12:24 pm

      I’m sure you could. It might affect the taste a bit but I bet it would be okay.

      Reply
  4. Peggy says

    July 10, 2018 at 4:21 pm

    Do you chop the chicken into bite size pieces after the chicken is cooked?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      July 11, 2018 at 3:50 pm

      Yes, sorry for the confusion. I added that info into the recipe.

      Reply
  5. Kat says

    February 20, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    Can I use a different rice, we like basmati!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      February 20, 2018 at 6:53 pm

      yes, but if it’s white basmati you won’t need to cook as long. Probably only 12 minutes cooking time. Hopefully the chicken will cook in that time.

      Reply
  6. Rose says

    October 3, 2017 at 7:19 am

    What kind of brown rice do you use?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 4, 2017 at 10:12 am

      long grain brown rice

      Reply
  7. Terry Bradley says

    March 17, 2017 at 8:43 am

    My pressure cooker settings are high and low. Do you think
    I should use high for your recipes? The only thing I cook on
    low is rice pudding.
    Thank you

    Reply
    • Karen says

      March 17, 2017 at 10:58 am

      Yes, I think that would work 🙂

      Reply
  8. Kelly says

    March 14, 2017 at 11:43 am

    If I used thawed chicken breast, should I decrease the cooktime? If so, how much? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      March 14, 2017 at 10:24 pm

      You could try it. I bet you’ll still need at least 18 minutes for the rice to cooker properly though.

      Reply
      • Kelly says

        March 15, 2017 at 1:18 am

        Thanks! I made it earlier and did 17 mins. I was worried the rice would be crunchy still, but it was perfect!

        Reply
  9. Marilyn Berberich says

    March 14, 2017 at 8:47 am

    Thanks for the great recipe! What is the brand/pattern name of the blue dishes in your photo?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      March 14, 2017 at 9:00 am

      Hi Marilyn, I’m not sure! I wish I knew. I got this one plate at a food blogger swap. I love it though 🙂

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Karen. I know that dinner time can be less than relaxing. Busy schedules and cranky kids and a hundred other things can lead to weariness when it comes to putting dinner on the table. I can help! I make homemade, family-friendly slow cooker and Instant Pot dinners and share the recipes with you.

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