This Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is the definition of comfort food! Full of delicious, rich, earthy flavors and easy to make, it is filling and perfect for your next dinner recipe!
The thing I cook more of than probably anything else is soup.
Probably at least once a week from early fall to late spring our family gathers together for family dinner around steaming bowls of soup and fresh from the oven bread.
It is so easy to make up a big pot of soup and have it include all of the major food groups. You can make it full of delicious flavors, and the possibilities are endless.
Not only that, but my kids will eat it.
This Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is no exception. It is creamy, delicious, full of earthy flavors, and it is so hearty. A big bowl of this for lunch and I am totally full all evening.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS CREAMY CHICKEN AND WILD RICE SOUP?
This recipe comes together with only a few simple ingredients. I opted to use skim milk instead of cream, making this a healthy chicken and wild rice soup – or at least healthier!
- Chicken – I like to slice mine thin for this soup recipe.
- Mushrooms – If you can’t find a mixture of fresh mushrooms, frozen mushrooms work great in this recipe.
- Flour and Butter – These two combine to create a roux which makes the creamy base of this soup.
- Chicken Stock – I love using chicken stock base that I keep in my pantry because a little of it makes for a lot of chicken stock.
- Milk – This takes the place of cream you’d normally find in this type of soup. The soup is still very rich, but you save some calories!
- Cooked Wild Rice – See how to cook it below.
HOW TO COOK WILD RICE
I really think the heartiness of this recipe comes from the wild rice in this soup. If cooking wild rice sounds intimidating, you can buy it pre-cooked and just throw it in this soup, but it’s really so easy to make.
Cook it up the night before you are going to make this soup for a jump start the next day.
- In a medium stock pot, combine three cups of water and 1 cup of wild rice.
- Bring to a boil, covered, then reduce to a simmer (the heat should be as low as possible while still seeing some decent sized bubbles here and there) and cook, uncovered for 45 minutes.
- Stir regularly.
- This will yield about 2 1/2 cups wild rice.
MAKING A ROUX
As mentioned above, the roux is what makes this soup so creamy and delicious.
A roux is the combination of fat and flour. It is the start of so many delicious and creamy things, like my Bacon Jalapeño Cream Corn or my Turkey Dumpling Soup.
The most important part about making a roux is adding the liquid slowly. In this recipe you cook the chicken and the mushrooms before adding the butter (our fat) and then the flour.
After you combine the butter and flour, slowly whisk in the chicken stock. I go very slowly, adding about 2 tablespoons at a time, and whisking it in to fully combine before adding more. You will be able to go more quickly at the end.
Finally, slowly whisk in the milk.
Doing it this way will make for the very creamy soup you see here.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH THIS SOUP
Most of the time we only have bread with our soup recipes. You might like these fast dinner rolls or this beer bread.
But a salad is always great with soup. Here are a few that would be great next to this soup recipe:
OTHER CREAMY SOUPS
You will be sure to love some of my other cream based soups:
If you make this delicious soup (or any of my other recipes) for your family, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound chicken sliced thin
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 16 oz mushrooms shiitake and baby portabellas mixed, sliced
- 1 tsp oregano
- 4 TBSPs butter
- 4 TBSPs flour
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups milk I used 2%
- 2 cups wild rice cooked, depending on how thick you want your soup (see note)
Instructions
- Place a large soup pot over medium heat and add the olive oil.
- Once you have heated up the olive oil, add the chicken, season with salt and pepper, and sauté the chicken until it is cooked on the outside (it doesn't need to be cooked all the way through).
- Add the garlic, mushrooms, and oregano. Cook until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the butter to the pan, and melt. Then whisk in the flour. Very slowly whisk in the chicken stock. When I start adding it, I add in about two tablespoons at a time, whisking it in to the flour butter mixture so it is fully combined before adding more.
- Slowly add in the milk. Then add in the rice and bring the whole pot to a boil before reducing to a simmer and cooking for 20 more minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Jocelyn @BruCrew Life says
Oh, sweetie! You are not huge at all!!! You are a seriously cute pregnant mama!!! And the things you described are how I feel too…and there is no baby coming here! Let’s just do soup together!!!! I love chicken and rice soup so much!!! This one looks so hearty and absolutely amazing!
Meghan @ The Tasty Fork says
This soup looks so comforting! I love the big chunks of mushrooms. Your pregnancy brain seems to be working just great, my dear!! This is an awesome and cozy recipe.
Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) says
I want this soup in my life!
Laura says
I just made this today – very yummy, and easy to make! Will definitely be a make again!
Bita says
Hi Lisa! This is my kind of soup! I love all the textures and flavors standing up for themselves, instead of being pureed into baby food if you know what I mean. Love it. And it’s absolutely gorgeous too.
And congrats on having your 4th babe!! :)
Mom of six says
This soup sounds wonderful…for my husband and me. I’m pretty sure the boys won’t touch it! You know, mushrooms! As this was posted quite some time ago, what did you name your baby? :)
My kids complain endlessly about mushrooms, lol! We named her Piper! She’s a sweet and adorable seven month old now :) Also, my husband is one of six boys, I have the utmost respect for any mom of that many kids :)
Danielle says
I featured you today on Blissful and Domestic! Check it out! :)
http://www.blissfulanddomesticrecipes.com/2015/02/20-comforting-winter-soups.html
Thanks Danielle!
Vickie says
Looks yummy.
Kirsten Vincent says
I’ve made this soup a few times and we LOVE it. But this time I think I overdid it and there are a lot of leftovers! Do you think this recipe might freeze well? Thank you!
This recipe wouldn’t be my first choice of soup to freeze because of the milk in it, but if you do freeze it, let me know how it goes.
Brenda says
This soup was wonderful! My husband absolutely adored it. I am sure we will make this over and over. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
These are my favorite kinds of comments to get! I’m so happy you liked them!