20 Minute Rotisserie Chicken and Rice Soup

A healthy, wholesome and delicious rotisserie chicken and rice soup. This soup is perfect all year round and is extra comforting when you’re not feeling well. Made in only 20 minutes from start to finish, it couldn’t be easier to serve up a warm, healthy and easy meal when your pressed for time. Plus it’s gluten free!

This 20 Minute Chicken and Rice Soup was a life saver last week when I was nursing my sick 3 year old, running between to doctor visits, and getting my oldest off to her first week of kindergarten (yes, we just started back!).

Every mama knows – when a little one gets hit by a stomach bug, the whole household is affected. Cleaning, cooking, and sleeping go out the window, and are replaced by snuggling, movie watching, and extra laundry. 

Once my little buddy was finally on the mend, I wanted to make him some “real food” he could enjoy and that would be good for him too. I defrosted some homemade chicken broth from the freezer, and got out a few staple ingredients. My sweet mother-in-law delivered a rotisserie chicken from her grocery run and we were in business! 

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Making Rotisserie Chicken and Rice Soup

The keys to this fast and easy chicken and rice soup are the homemade chicken broth and the rotisserie chicken. 

If you’ve never made homemade broth before, check out my super simple method for Crock Pot chicken broth. It’s easier than you think, can be made ahead and frozen in pint-sized mason jars for quick defrosting, and makes a night-and-day difference in the flavor (and nutrition) of your soups! 

Rotisserie chickens aren’t something I normally buy but, without a pastured chicken from our local farmer in the fridge, and with limited time to spend in the kitchen, I was grateful for the quick and easy substitution that saved me at least 20 minutes! If you have the chicken and a little more time, by all means, go that route. 

I love that this 20 Minute Rotisserie Chicken and Rice Soup is a simple, nourishing recipe when someone’s recovering from illness, but that it’s a recipe we can all enjoy! And it’s gluten free, which is important for more and more families these days. 

In fact, we had enough left over to share with friends who were having a rough week too. It’s such a blessing to make and share healthy, homemade food with others in need!

Top Tips For Making The Best Rotisserie Chicken And Rice Soup

• I’ve used this recipe with leftover chicken, Instant Pot chicken, and leftover Thanksgiving turkey in place of the rotisserie chicken. They all work great!
• Use homemade broth/stock it’s much more flavorful and makes a big difference to the end result of this soup. Plus there’s no nasty additives or added salt.
• Store you homemade broth in the freezer to make comforting and healthy soups whenever you need them.
• Rinse the rice under cold running water using a kitchen strainer before adding to the soup (unless stated otherwise on the packet). This removes the surface starch from the rice which stops the rice clumping together and going all sticky and gummy.
• Don’t have rice? Use noodles…any will do!
• This recipe calls for dried thyme but you can easily adapt it with other fresh or dried herbs such as parsley, rosemary or basil. You could even try a few red pepper flakes for a spicy kick.
• Once you’re done with the rotisserie chicken use it to make more broth (stock) for next time, no food waste and more yummy soup…win win!

How To Make 20 Minute Rotisserie Chicken And Rice Soup

20 Minute Rotisserie Chicken and Rice Soup

Gluten free and ready in only 20 minutes, thanks to the rotisserie chicken and prepared broth!

4.46 from 66 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: 20 minute soup, chicken and rice soup, chicken soup, rotisserie chicken recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 266kcal

Author: Dena Norton

Ingredients

• ▢ 6 cups homemade chicken broth/stock*
• ▢ 2 cups water
• ▢ 2 large cloves garlic minced or pressed
• ▢ 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• ▢ 1 cup sliced carrot
• ▢ 1 cup sliced celery
• ▢ 1 bay leaf
• ▢ 1 Tbsp sea salt more or less to taste, depending on how salty your broth is
• ▢ 1/2 Tbsp ground black pepper or to taste
• ▢ 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• ▢ 1 cup white rice I use organic basmati
• ▢ 1 rotisserie chicken
• ▢ * I freeze my homemade broth in mason jars then defrost a few at a time as I need them: Remove lids and place frozen jars in a pot of water on the stove over medium low heat until broth is fully defrosted.

Instructions

• Place all ingredients except rice and chicken in a stock pot and bring to a low boil. (If your chopping veggies as you go, start the broth + water on high heat and chop in the order listed, tossing each into the pot as you go to speed things up a little).
• Add rice, reduce to a simmer, then cover and cook until rice is soft (12 minutes or so).
• While rice is cooking, remove meat from rotisserie chicken and cut into bite size chunks.
• Once rice is cooked, add chicken to the pot and give it all a good stir. Heat for a couple more minutes until chicken is hot.

Notes

Top Tips For Making The Best Rotisserie Chicken And Rice Soup

• I've used this recipe with leftover chicken, Instant Pot chicken, and leftover Thanksgiving turkey in place of the rotisserie chicken. They all work great!
• Use homemade broth/stock it's much more flavorful and makes a big difference to the end result of this soup. Plus there's no nasty additives or added salt.
• Store you homemade broth in the freezer to make comforting and healthy soups whenever you need them.
• Rinse the rice under cold running water using a kitchen strainer before adding to the soup (unless stated otherwise on the packet). This removes the surface starch from the rice which stops the rice clumping together and going all sticky and gummy.
• Don't have rice? Use noodles...any will do!
• This recipe calls for dried thyme but you can easily adapt it with other fresh or dried herbs such as parsley, rosemary or basil. You could even try a few red pepper flakes for a spicy kick.
• Once you're done with the rotisserie chicken use it to make more broth (stock) for next time. Don't have a rotisserie chicken? Follow the steps below.
• The beauty of this recipe is that it's super fast, yet it's almost as rich and flavorful of traditional homemade chicken and rice soup. The key is using homemade broth, cooked low and slow for maximum flavor and nutrition. If you don't make your own broth, I'd suggest buying a whole chicken instead of the rotisserie chicken.  Add it to the pot at the beginning of cooking, and cook thoroughly (approximately 30 minutes) before adding the rice. This will add some extra flavor to the soup and it should still only take 40-45 minutes to cook.

Nutrition

Calories: 266kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 72mg | Sodium: 1226mg | Potassium: 149mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 2735IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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