creamy chicken wild rice soup

Chicken Wild Rice Soup is the ultimate comfort food to enjoy on cold days! It’s rich and creamy, full of tender veggies, herbed chicken, and hearty wild rice. Don’t forget the crusty bread for dunking!

this recipe

Why you’ll love this Chicken Wild Rice Soup:

• Creamy From-Scratch Soup – This Chicken Wild Rice Soup is made completely from scratch, but is still easy enough for anyone, even if you don’t consider yourself much of a cook. (Everyone has to start somewhere – that’s no reason not to try!)
• Tons of Flavor – This soup isn’t lacking in flavor one bit! It’s packed with veggies like carrots, celery, and onions, tender chicken, and of course a wild rice blend.
• Comfort Food – This great soup is the ultimate comfort food!

Ingredient Overview:

• Chicken – I usually use chicken breast, but you can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs too.
• Wild Rice Blend – You can find a wild rice blend near the rice in most grocery stores.
• Carrots, Onion, and Celery – These chopped veggies build the base of our soup and add so much flavor.
• Herbs – Parsley, rubbed sage, and thyme also add tons of flavor to this creamy soup.

Recipe Substitutions & Variations:

• Mirepoix – To save time, most grocery store will have a tub of mirepoix in their produce area – this is a fancy name for a mixture of pre-chopped carrots, onion, and celery.
• Dairy-free – Use your favorite dairy-free butter and heavy cream to make this recipe dairy-free, if needed.
• Rotisserie Chicken – Feel free to shred a rotisserie chicken or two if you want to save some cooking time.
• Vegetarian – Use vegetable broth instead of chicken stock and omit the chicken if you’d like to make this a vegetarian wild rice soup.

How to Make Chicken Wild Rice Soup:

Step 1: Cook your Chicken. Boil your chicken, shred it, then add it to a large soup pot or dutch oven with your chicken broth and the uncooked wild rice. The wild rice will cook while you work on the veggies.

You can also cook your chicken in a skillet in olive oil. Be sure it registers 165 degrees F on an instant read thermometer either way.

Step 2: Cook your Veggie Base. Sauté your chopped carrots, celery, and onion with plenty of spices in some sizzly, melted butter. Yes, that’s right – I said this soup was the ultimate comfort food didn’t I? Be sure to season them well with salt, pepper, thyme, sage, & parsley.

Step 3: Make the Roux. Stir in the flour into your veggie mix, then stir in the heavy cream. This is now the “roux” – it’s what allows the soup to thicken up to that nice creamy, rich texture we all love!

In the below right photo, the butter looks a bit separated out from the roux, but the soup still turned out perfectly fine. I’ve also had the roux turn out smooth – and the soup is always great either way.

Step 4: Combine Everything and Finish the Soup. Stir the vegetable roux into the pot of broth and chicken. Continue cooking the soup over a simmer to thicken a bit and make sure the wild rice is completely cooked through.

This chicken soup is so good for the soul – warm, creamy, comforting – and a bowl of soup pairs perfectly with a hunk of crusty bread. Did I mention that earlier? Well, just making sure you don’t forget the bread!

Serving + Storing:

Store this soup while it’s nice and hot, with crusty bread! Store leftovers in in an airtight container in the fridge for 5-6 days. You certainly won’t be sad when you’re on day 3 of these leftovers.

In fact, your co-workers will likely ask you what that glorious smell is wafting through your cubicle. Point them in this direction! Then, make my Tomato Basil Soup or my Chicken Gnocchi Soup!

Expert Success Tips:

• Season as you go – When cooking anything, it’s important to build your flavor by seasoning in layers throughout the recipe. So, we season the veggies while they’re sautéing, and we season the chicken in the pot of broth, and then we taste the soup at the end to see if it needs additional seasoning. If you wait to add all your seasonings at the very end, the flavor payoff will be much less.

FAQs:

Special Tools:

• Dutch Oven – This is my absolute favorite dutch oven and I use it for SO many things – soups, no knead bread, cooking dinner, etc. (Affiliate link)

More Hearty Soups to Love:

• Cozy Chicken Dumpling Soup
• Chicken Gnocchi Soup
• Tomato Basil Soup
• One Pot Cheddar Cauliflower Soup
• Hearty Minestrone Soup
• Broccoli Cheddar Soup & No Knead Bread

---

---