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This easy Chicken & Rice Soup recipe is one of those recipes you want to have around when you need a delicious thermos lunch idea or a warm bowl of comfort for dinner.
One thing I love about soups like this one is that it tastes better the second day. Keep reading to learn how to pack leftovers into a thermos container for a hot lunch for school or the office.
Hot soup, whether enjoyed on a cold day or by someone feeling under the weather is something everyone loves and it’s the perfect healthy comfort meal!
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Aside from being made in one pot and ready to eat in just 30 minutes, the key to speeding up this simple and flavorful pot of soup is a pre-made rotisserie chicken.
I love using pre-cooked rotisserie chicken to make this soup and many other meals. It’s an inexpensive item that can yield multiple recipes for the entire week. I’ll use it to toss into soups, make chicken salad, top salads for lunch, or shred it to make tacos and burrito bowls.
This recipe is versatile and perfect for incorporating more veggies into your family meals by adding green peas, chopped spinach, or broccoli into the pot.
Ingredients
This soup recipe is the perfect solution for those baked chicken leftovers sitting in your fridge. White meat, dark meat, or both will work great for this recipe.
Use cooked chicken and even rice leftovers to make the most convenient soup. It’s super flavorful thanks to these ingredients:
- Oil: for cooking.
- Aromatic veggies: onion, garlic, carrots, and celery.
- Herbs: dried thyme or poultry seasoning, and a bay leaf.
- Liquid: chicken stock and water are the liquids this soup needs.
- Long grain white rice: you can also use brown rice, just remember you’ll need to cook it longer. If using rice leftovers, add them to the soup at the very last moment.
- Shredded cooked chicken: use leftovers or rotisserie chicken.
For the ingredient measurements, check the recipe card below.
How to Make Chicken and Rice Soup
This 2-step soup is one for the books! Cook the veggies, add rice and chicken, and this epic meal is ready to enjoy!
- Cook the veggies
In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme, and bay leaf. Cook and stir until the veggies are soft, about 5 minutes. - Combine and cook
Add the chicken stock and water. Bring to a boil. Add the rice and chicken meat, stir and cook over medium-low heat until the rice is tender, about 25 to 30 minutes.
How to Pack Chicken & Rice Soup for Lunch
Curious how to keep this soup hot until lunch? I can help you do that, just follow the steps below:
- Preheat the thermos container with boiling water. This step is optional, but it helps.
- Heat the soup in the microwave or stovetop to a piping-hot temperature.
- Drain the water from the thermos.
- Fill the thermos with the very hot soup.
- Close the thermos container and pack it inside a lunch bag.
Learn better visually? Here’s a short video of the above process that you can use with any of your favorite soup recipes.
And just in case you’ve tried packing hot lunches into thermos containers only to find the food grew cold before lunchtime, you’ll find these thermos lunch-packing tips will help.
Need a Thermos container for this soup? Check out our top 5 Thermos containers here.
Easy Chicken and Rice Lunch Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- ½ cup celery, chopped
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme or poultry seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- 64 ounce low sodium chicken stock, (2 32-ounce containers)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken, from a rotisserie chicken
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme, and bay leaf. Cook and stir until the veggies are soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock and water. Bring to a boil. Add the rice and chicken meat, stir and cook over medium-low heat until the rice is tender, about 25 to 30 minutes.
To pack in a Thermos:
- Preheat the thermos container with boiling water. This step is optional, but it helps.
- Heat the soup in the microwave or stovetop to a piping-hot temperature.
- Drain the water from the thermos.
- Fill the thermos with the very hot soup.
- Close the thermos container and pack it inside a lunch bag.
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