Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
“Going once, going twice, going chicken soup with rice.”
As a kid, we always had a bowl of Campbell’s chicken soup with rice hanging out in a cupboard somewhere. While chicken noodle soup gets all the credit, I’ve always loved the texture of chicken and rice soup, so I decided to try my hand at a homemade version with chicken and wild rice. This recipe makes for a delicious, filling, warming soup that’s perfect for feeding a family on a cold winter night (unless your husband is like mine and eats four bowls - that’s how good it is!).
Tips for Making Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
If you want to make the recipe a little quicker, you can do a few things:
Use rotisserie or pre-shredded chicken from the deli instead of cooking your own.
Swap the wild rice for instant brown rice.
Find pre-julienned carrot sticks and celery sticks, and diced onions, to speed up the prep time.
It’s important that you follow the recipe in the steps written - starting the rice while you cook everything else saves time waiting for the rice to finish (which can take as long as 45 minutes, depending on the rice!). Make sure you use a different cutting board for your chicken and veggies - no one likes bacteria-infested produce.
How to Make Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs butter
1 c diced carrots
1 c diced celery
1 c diced onion
If you, like me, hate onions, substitute 1 Tbs onion powder
8 c chicken broth
1 1/2 c dry wild rice
1 Tbs Garlic powder
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves removed
2 sprig of fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 bay leaf
Salt
Pepper
Tools
Stock pot or dutch oven
Knife and cutting board
Cutting board and spoons
Rice maker or additional saucepan
Mixing bowl
Whisk
Ladle
Instructions
Begin cooking the rice according to the package directions in either a saucepan or a rice cooker, replacing any water called for with chicken broth. Save the rest of the chicken broth for the soup. My rice took 2 cups of broth to cook in, so I had 6 more cups for the soup.
Heat the olive oil in the bottom of your stock pot on medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then cook until nicely browned on the outside. Remove the chicken from the pot, and shred with forks. Set aside.
Add the butter to the chicken drippings in the pot and melt. Add the carrots, celery, and onion to the pot. Season with more salt and pepper. Sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic powder (and onion powder if using) and mix well into the veggies.
Once the veggies are sautéed through, add the broth to the pot and bring to a nice, gentle, bubbling simmer. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom and make sure nothing is stuck. Add the thyme, chopped fresh parsley, and bay leaf.
When the broth is simmering, add the cooked rice and chicken. Simmer for 20 minutes, until everything is soft and mellow.
Whisk the milk and sour cream together in a separate bowl. Use the ladle to remove a scoop of the hot broth, and hold it for about a minute to cool off a bit. Add the broth to the dairy in a slow trickle, stirring as you go. Once the scoop of broth is fully incorporated in the dairy, turn the temperature down on the soup and add the dairy mixture in. Stir well to incorporate.
Serve warm with oyster crackers or crusty bread.
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