This Paleo and Whole30 Chicken Rice Soup is made fast in the Instant Pot so it’s great for meal prepping and weeknights! This cozy soup has lots of flavor and is packed with veggies and protein. The “rice” is actually cauliflower so it’s low in carbs, grain free, and dairy free.
A cozy bowl of homemade soup on a freezing cold night is what December memories are made of!
With all the holiday chaos (and desserts!) it’s nice to have a super simple, healthy, and comforting meal to turn to when you just want to reset.
Enter my instant pot chicken rice soup. We won’t actually use rice (oh so sneaky!) but honestly you’re really not going to miss it because the flavor game is strong. Plus, the cauli “rice” does a remarkably accurate job of imitating the texture of actual rice.
I know I’ve mentioned it several times over the past two months, but we’re in the process of a major kitchen renovation right now. It’s been a huge challenge not only for recipe content, but for everyday life!
My toaster oven, electric burner, and Instant Pot have saved my family and my blog over the past two months countless times! I’ve definitely been using my Instant Pot a whole lot more than before – and that’s been a huge PLUS of not having a kitchen.
When I know I can cook everything from start to finish in one pot, it makes the idea of cooking a lot less dreadful. This chicken rice soup was a complete breeze to make, kitchen or no kitchen!
Now luckily, we are just about a week out, if not less, from having a new working kitchen and I could not be more excited!
But, that doesn’t mean I’ll be using my Instant Pot any less since I’ve sorta developed a serious relationship with it at this point.
Especially since we’re crazy tight on time during the week between all the driving to and from activities. There isn’t a day that I have more than 30 minutes to get dinner ready and on the table. Or, the living room floor as it’s been lately 😉
This Instant Pot Chicken Rice Soup has everything you want – shredded chicken, onions and garlic, mushrooms, carrots, and all the right seasonings to give it the best flavor.
I used chicken mushroom bone broth as the base, and you also have the option to thicken the soup by adding a bit of tapioca and coconut cream.
Either way, it’s warm, comforting, healthy and packed with lots of flavor and goodies! It’s also Whole30 compliant, low in carbs (keto friendly) and family approved. And my family is generally not a cauli-rice kinds crowd, just saying!
I hope you’re ready for healthy winter comfort food at it’s finest! Grab that instant pot and let’s go!
Instant Pot Chicken Soup with “Rice” {Paleo, Whole30}
Instant Pot Chicken Soup with “Rice” {Paleo, Whole30
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ghee or preferred cooking fat
- 1 med onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 8 oz mushrooms sliced
- 1 cup carrots cut into bite size pieces (not too thin or they’ll soften too much)
- Sea salt and pepper for veggies and chicken
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tsp poultry seasoning dried
- 4 cups chicken bone broth or sugar free chicken broth
- 1/2 cup coconut cream or full fat coconut milk, optional*
- 2 tsp tapioca flour *Optional
- 1/2 tbsp brown mustard
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 8 oz cauliflower rice
- Chopped parsley or chives for garnish
Instructions
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Have all ingredients prepped and ready to go. Turn the instant pot to “saute” and wait until it reads “hot”. Add the ghee and swirl around the bottom, then add onions and cook for 30 seconds until translucent. Add the mushrooms, carrots and garlic, sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper, stir and cook another minute until fragrant.
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Press “cancel”, then season chicken breasts all over with salt and pepper and add to pot, along with the broth and poultry seasoning. Seal the lid and pressure cook for 10 mins.
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You can either release the pressure naturally or quick release if you’re short on time. Remove chicken to a plate and shred with two forks, set aside. Press “cancel” and then “sauté” and add the tapioca flour and coconut cream if using*, and the mustard, stir to combine and cook a minute to thicken.
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Add chicken back to the pot along with the cauliflower rice and continue to cook on “sauté” another minute. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper as desired. Serve hot garnished with chopped parsley or chives if desired. Makes 6 servings. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*If not using the tapioca and coconut cream, you can add the mustard along with the chicken and cauli rice in the following step.
Nutrition
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Want More Paleo and Whole30 Soup Recipes? Try One of These!
Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup
Creamy Chicken Soup with Mushrooms and Kale
Butternut Squash Soup with Apples and Bacon
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This takes me right back to my childhood! My mom use to make a big pot of chicken and rice nearly every week! It was her favorite and I may have not admitted it at the time, but it was my favorite too. 🙂 I agree! There is just something so comforting about a warm bowl of chicken and “rice” on a cold winter day! Looking forward to trying this very soon! 🙂
So comforting, perfect with this cold weather!
I made this today, and it was even tastier than I could have possibly imagined! The broth alone was out of this world. I completely agree that the cauliflower rice tastes just like real rice. Looking forward to eating this over the next few days!
I don’t have an instant pot. Can this be prepared stovetop or crockpot?
i also do not have an instant pot! how can i make this on the stove or in the slow cooker?
Made this soup today…really so good! Can’t wait to have a bowl of soup again tomorrow!
I’m brand new at cooking. It was my first time using an Instant Pot. The directions are clear and this soup came out delicious. The chicken turned out a bit dry though, probably my fault. My friends and family loved it (almost didn’t believe I made it it was so delicious!) I will be making this again soon 🙂
Made this today. It is delicious. Kid and husband approved. I did use 2 cups of Fire and Kettle Chicken and Mushroom Bone Broth and 2 of their regular Chicken Bone Broth. The chicken and mushroom broth has quite a strong flavor that I am kind of on the fence with on it’s own so mixing it with the chicken only made it better. The coco cream cut that strong flavor considerably too. I didn’t use an instapot either. Just made it in my trusty old cast pan. Thank you for another amazing recipe and keep them coming!
Happy you enjoyed it, sounds perfect!
Trying this today. When you say pressure cook, do you mean low or high pressure? Thanks.
This recipe was delicious! I had never used an instant pot before, so that part was a little intimidating and involved a lot of googling. I followed the recipe exactly and everything turned out perfectly! I will definitely be making this again!
Do I use low or high pressure on the Instapot?
Yummy!
I didn’t use the coconut milk/tapioca flour but this was still delicious! My boys loved it! Thank you for a new way to cook chicken!
loved it! but it could use some more seasoning
We appreciate trying new things and are still getting used to instapot so please don’t take this to heart but we are finding that small portion instapots take longer than the stovetop. 1 hour and 20 minutes is not an improvement. Veggies are overcooked. Will keep trying but not seeing an advantage yet.
Delicious!!!
I will love to make this soup, but I don’t have in instant pot, can I do this in the traditional way?
Absolutely Delicious! This is by far my favorite soup I have made. ❤️
This recipe is so simple and delicious! Thank you so much. I made it twice and it came out great
Amazing soup. So flavorful. The whole family loved it.
This recipe is easy and delicious! I added some chopped kale with the coconut milk the second time I made it for a heartier soup.
Made this two times already and it is perfect as is! Everyone loves it
My husband actually likes it! Although he can’t tell the difference between paleo vs normal foods, this is a win. Now time to have my kids try it.
I did use the chicken breast from rotisserie that I made myself. Omitted the mustard.
Can’t wait to try again!
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Very good! Be sure to read directions carefully and add tapioca before adding back chicken and do not combine directly with coconut milk while you wait (my mistake and it gelled)!
I wanted Chicken noodle without the “noodle”. This was exactly what I needed! This will become a regular for our house.
Love this soup! My 3 kids and husband ate it up.
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