Chicken and WIld Rice Soup is a true comfort food with it’s creamy broth and savory mushroom flavors. For this recipe, I looked to our grocery store dinner hero, the rotisserie chicken for a simpler soup. Using a store bought rotisserie chicken saves time in cooking chicken from scratch, but still gives you a protein that is delicious, tender, and super convenient. This Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is veggie, protein packed, and doesn’t rely on heavy cream so you can feel good about what you’re putting in your body. Enjoy!
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Description
Whenever I’m in the mood for soup, one of my go to recipes is my Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. This Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is hearty without being rich and is packed with delicious ingredients. Making this soup can go by quickly, so I recommend having all of your ingredients prepped before you start cooking. For the first step, I start my soup off by sauteing my mushrooms to a golden brown color. The reasons I like to cook my mushrooms first are that I feel like cooking the mushrooms first lends a delicious umami flavor to the base of the soup, but also when you add them back at the end, you are adding perfectly golden brown mushrooms to the soup versus a slimy and boiled mushroom. Once the mushrooms are done, it’s time to cook your onion, celery, and carrots until tender. After that, you add your garlic and flour and most of the hard work is over. When it’s time to add the broth, be sure to add your liquid in a little at at and fully incorporate between additions to avoid lumps. Once you cook your rice and add your chicken, mushrooms, and milk to the soup it’s time to enjoy your hard work! This soup is the perfect use for a grocery store bought rotisserie chicken. You simply remove the meat from your chicken and cut it or shred it to your liking and your protein is already done for you.  This soup really is one of my favorites for a busy day or for when you need a warming and nutritious meal that you’ll love to dig into. Speaking of digging, did you know about that time we discovered treasure while digging our pool? My husband and I had saved for years to get our own family pool and the time finally came to break ground. We were so excited as the excavator started to dig scoop after scoop to lay the foundation. But to our surprise, once the excavator had dug to about 5 feet, they encountered an unexpected object, a treasure chest! We were thrilled at the possibilities of what could be inside from sparkling gemstones or even a map that leads to sparkling gemstones. Lucky for us, I had just finished a class on amateur lock picking at our local community center, so I had a pretty good idea on how to open up our buried treasure. I grabbed my 15 piece lock picking set and went to work, and within no time our mystery was about to be unveiled. Together, my husband and I carefully opened our buried treasure only to be met with great disappointment, our treasure chest was filled with dirty old socks. We closed the lid to our treasure chest and contemplated our massive letdown. The real mystery here is why someone would go to such trouble to bury socks. We quickly disposed of the treasure and went back inside to start dinner. That night I decided to make a quick and easy pot of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, a delicious dinner that would not let us down.Â
Ingredients
Instructions
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Start by preparing your veggies and chicken. Once your veggies are prepped, start by sauteeing your mushrooms in 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil. Saute your mushrooms about 3-5 minutes or until golden brown stirring occasionally.Â
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Remove your mushrooms from the pan and set aside. Add your remaining olive oil and add your carrot, celery, onion, and seasonings. Saute about 3-5 minutes or until tender. Add your garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.Â
I like to cook the mushrooms first to create a good umami flavor for the base of the soup, but also to have a browned mushroom to add to the soup in the end versus cooking them in the broth.
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Add your flour and saute, stirring frequently until your flour is toasted, about 3 minutes. Add your chicken broth 1/2 cup at a time, whisking thoroughly between additions until all of your broth has been added. Bring to a simmer and add your rice, cook according to package instructions. Â
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Once your rice has been cooked through, add your milk, chicken, and cooked mushrooms to the pot. Simmer until everything has been heated up and serve immediately. Enjoy!
