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. 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.
How to Make Chicken and Rice Soup
This is a brief overview of how to make this delicious soup recipe. For the full recipe with all of the ingredients, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Sauté the vegetables. Melt some butter in a large Dutch oven and then add in the onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Sauté until the onions are translucent.
- Whisk in some flour. This will be the start of the roux that will help thicken the soup. Then slowly whisk in some chicken stock.
- Cook the chicken. Add in some seasonings and then chicken breasts. Simmer the chicken breasts for 20 minutes to cook them. Then remove them and shred them using two forks.
- Finish off the soup. Add in the cooked chicken, heavy cream, and cooked wild rice.
Mushrooms for Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
In this recipe, I’m calling for shiitake mushrooms and baby portobellos. I love the texture that both mushrooms bring to this soup as well as their deep and earthy flavor. That being said, you can really use any type of mushroom for this recipe that you enjoy most.
Buying Mushrooms
When shopping for mushrooms, you want to look for the following things:
- Choose mushrooms that are smooth and plump. This will ensure that they are fresh and full of flavor.
- Look for mushrooms with dark gills. These mushrooms will provide deeper flavor.
- The mushrooms should have a pleasant smell. They will smell earthy in a delightful way, not a pungent way.
Cleaning Mushrooms
Don’t stress over cleaning mushrooms. They are most often grown indoors and are very clean. Simply wipe them off with a damp cloth.
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How to Cook Wild Rice
I really think the heartiness of this chicken wild rice soup comes from the wild rice. 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 3 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 3 cups of wild rice.
Making a Roux for Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
A roux is important for any cream-based soup. A roux is when you combine fat and flour. The fat can be just about anything, and in this recipe, we are using butter. The fat and flour combine and the fat coats the flour so that it is evenly distributed throughout the cream-based sauce.
There are two things that help ensure a good roux. The first thing is that you thoroughly mix the flour and fat together so that there are no lasting tastes of the flour. Then, you need to add the liquid to the roux slowly. I like to start with a few tablespoons at a time, only add more once the roux absorbs what you first added. Though it is important to go slowly, you don’t need to overthink it. This whole process takes me less than two minutes.
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Storing Leftovers
The leftovers of this soup are absolutely fantastic. They can be stored in the refrigerator for four to five days. To heat up leftovers, warm only the portion your plan to eat over low heat, stirring often. You can also microwave, covered, over half power until warmed through. The most important thing to keep in mind when reheating this soup is that it should be done over low heat so that the soup doesn’t separate.
Freezing Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Cream-based soups freeze just fine. The important thing to note is that when you want to eat leftovers, you will want to thaw it in the refrigerator overnight rather than heating from frozen. This will help keep the soup intact and not separate. Leftovers should be stored in containers that allow room for expansion and kept in the freezer for up to three months.
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