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
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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!
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
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 42 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
A flavorful soup with tender bites of chicken, chewy brown rice and flavorful basil pesto made in minutes in your pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 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
- 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.
- Secure the lid and turn valve to sealing. Turn off the saute function, press manual and enter 22 minutes.
- 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.
- 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.
—>>Click here for the SLOW COOKER version of this recipe<<—
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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!!!
★★★★★
Sounds like a great version!
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!
★★★★★
Glad you liked it! Hope he gets better soon 🙂
Could I use almond milk for this instead of regular milk? Or maybe coconut milk in a can?
I’m sure you could. It might affect the taste a bit but I bet it would be okay.
Do you chop the chicken into bite size pieces after the chicken is cooked?
Yes, sorry for the confusion. I added that info into the recipe.
Can I use a different rice, we like basmati!
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.
What kind of brown rice do you use?
long grain brown rice
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
Yes, I think that would work 🙂
If I used thawed chicken breast, should I decrease the cooktime? If so, how much? Thanks!
You could try it. I bet you’ll still need at least 18 minutes for the rice to cooker properly though.
Thanks! I made it earlier and did 17 mins. I was worried the rice would be crunchy still, but it was perfect!
Thanks for the great recipe! What is the brand/pattern name of the blue dishes in your photo?
Hi Marilyn, I’m not sure! I wish I knew. I got this one plate at a food blogger swap. I love it though 🙂