Autumn is certainly here and that means it’s soup season. I mean, we like to eat soup all year round, but it is at least once a week once the weather turns cooler. This hearty soup is for your family to enjoy for a weeknight dinner. Wild Rice Chicken Soup is full of great homey flavors of mushrooms, carrots, celery, along with the woody flavors of the wild rice.
The really great part of this soup is that it doesn’t actually take that long to build amazing flavor. By using the chicken broth instead of water to start the soup off, you have already upped the flavor. Tarragon and Thyme are amazing flavors to use with chicken and work so well with the wild rice. As always, when cooking something with bay leaf – be sure that you remove it from the pot before serving. No one wants to bite into the bay leaf.
I opted to cook the rice separately from the soup itself mostly because I do not like when the rice gets super mushy. The time it takes to cook the chicken through and properly soften the veggies, usually over cooks the rice. I like to use chicken broth to cook the rice so that it has similar flavor and blends well with the soup (not as a separate side dish). If you don’t normally eat wild rice – there are a number of reasons to try it, in addition to the great flavor. Wild rice is actually a complete protein – it has all 9 aminos. Wild Rice also has less fat and less carbs than brown or white rice.
As I mentioned, this is a very hearty soup. I found some rosemary sourdough that I simply toasted and buttered. It was a beautiful compliment to the flavors of the soup. If you wanted to make this soup as a meal prep – I would encourage you to keep the rice and soup separate until you are ready to reheat it. Wild rice has a tendency to absorb all liquids and turn to mush, so use caution.
Now Let’s Get Cookin’!
Wild Rice Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 2 lb Chicken Breast
- 2 Large Carrots diced
- 3 stalks Celery diced
- 8 oz White Mushrooms sliced
- 1 Small White Onion diced
- 3 Garlic Cloves minced
- 3 qt Chicken Broth divided
- 2 tsp Thyme
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Tarragon
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 Bay Leaf
- ¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 cups Wild Rice
Instructions
- In a large stock pot over medium heat, add 2 quarts chicken broth, chicken, carrots, celery, mushrooms, garlic, onions, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, tarragon, thyme and bay leaf. Cover with lid and cook for 30 minutes.
- In a sauce pan over medium-high heat, add rice and remaining chicken broth. Bring to a rolling boil. Cover with lid, reduce heat to medium and let cook for 20 minutes.
- Remove chicken from stock pot and chop up. Return to pot and let continue to simmer until rice is done cooking.
- Add a portion of cooked rice to a bowl and ladle soup over top. *Be sure not to serve the Bay Leaf
Estelle Forrest’s self-published first cookbook – Homemade on a Weeknight: A Family Cookbook – was created after a lot of playing around in the kitchen. You can purchase your own copy here:
AVAILABLE IN PRINT OR KINDLE eBOOK VERSIONS
Estelle self-published a second cookbook – Burgers on a Weeknight – recently. It has over 60 delicious burger creations! You can purchase your own copy here:
AVAILABLE IN PRINT OR KINDLE eBOOK VERSIONS
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What a wonderful soup! I love the cooler weather and all the delicious soups to choose from. Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party! Have a fabulous week.
That soup looks wonderful, and we are just getting started with cooler weather too. I noticed you add Worcestershire sauce to your soup, and I’ll have to try that soon!