Chicken Wild Rice Soup
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Chicken Wild Rice Soup is a delicious soup which is best served with crusty bread. This creamy soup is loaded with chicken, carrots, celery, mushrooms and more! It’s so easy to make because it’s all prepared in one pot. Perfect for an easy dinner recipe. Warm up with a big bowl tonight.
I love making soup during the cold winter months. One of my husband’s favorite soups is chicken wild rice soup! He always gets it when we go to restaurants. But I gotta say, this homemade version is just as good, if not better, than a restaurant. I love to serve it with something like air fryer cheesy garlic bread.
A quick tip to make this soup extra easy — make a big batch of wild rice and freeze the leftovers. Then whenever you want to make this delicious soup, you can simply dump a bag of frozen rice in the soup. And then make this go even more quickly by using shredded rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken in the soup! An easy dinner recipe that is hearty and filling.
Why You’ll Love Chicken Wild Rice Soup!
- Creamy chicken wild rice soup is a wonderful way to repurpose leftovers so that they don’t go to waste. Don’t let the chicken go bad in the fridge!
- This chicken wild rice soup recipe can be made in just 40 minutes. A great way to get dinner on the table quickly.
- Soup is a wonderful meal prep item since it stores and reheats well. Make a big batch of soup and reheat the leftovers during the week.
Ingredients Needed for Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Butter, Onion, Carrot, Celery and Mushrooms – Use these veggies to make the mirepoix. It gives the soup tons of flavor!
- All-purpose flour – Use this to help thicken up the base of the soup.
- Low sodium chicken broth – If you use regular instead of low-sodium, be sure to use less salt in this recipe or season after it’s prepared. You won’t want to make the soup too salty.
- Wild rice – The key to the perfect chicken and wild rice soup, wild rice!
- Shredded cooked chicken – This is the perfect use of leftover chicken or a delicious rotisserie chicken. Got leftover turkey? That’s a perfect substitute!
- Garlic powder and Salt – Use these seasonings to give the soup flavor. You can adjust to your preference.
- Half and half – Feel free to use milk, just keep in mind that the soup base won’t be as creamy and rich. You can also use heavy cream to make it each richer.
- Parsley – This is used for garnish and is totally optional.
Helpful Tools
How to Make Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Begin by preparing the wild rice according to package instructions. You’ll need two cups of cooked wild rice for this soup.
- While the wild rice cooks, melt butter in a dutch oven or large saucepan and then stir in the onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms.
- Saute the veggies in butter for 5-7 minutes until they are tender. Then slowly whisk in the flour.
- Gradually add the broth while whisking and stir constantly until the soup comes to a boil. Boil for one minutes.
- Then stir in the prepared wild rice, shredded chicken, garlic powder and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes and then slowly blend in the half and half. Heat for another 10 minutes, then garnish with parsley and serve.
How to Store Leftover Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
FRIDGE: Transfer leftovers to an airtight container and allow it to cool completely. Then store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
FREEZER: Leftover soup can be frozen for up to 3 months when stored in an airtight container. Allow to thaw completely before reheating.
How to Reheat Leftovers
When reheating leftovers, the soup may be a little thick since the rice will still soak up some of broth. Feel free to add extra broth and half and half to the soup to make it more brothy. You can reheat leftovers on the stovetop or in the microwave.
What to Serve with Chicken Wild Rice Soup
This delicious soup goes well with some flavorful garlic bread or air fryer garlic bread. My cheesy garlic bread is also so tasty to pair with a soup. You could also pair it with something like breadsticks or homemade dinner rolls.
You can also simply pair it with your favorite crackers or chips, or grab some fresh bread from the grocery store. It’s great to pair with a hearty crunchy bread.
Should you cook rice before adding it to soup?
You can add cooked rice or uncooked rice to a soup. Just keep in mind that if you add uncooked rice, you’ll need more liquid in the broth. Cooked rice won’t soak up as much of the liquid in the broth of the soup.
Will rice in soup get soggy?
Properly cooked rice will not get soggy in soup. However, the longer the leftovers sit the more they will probably get a bit soggy. Just keep that in mind and try to eat your leftovers as quick as possible!
Pro Tips for the Best Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Make sure you shred the chicken into small enough pieces so that each bite of soup has plenty of chicken.
- Add fully cooked rice to the soup so that it doesn’t soak up all of the broth in the soup.
- For extra creamy goodness, serve each bowl of soup with shredded cheese!
This delicious recipe is a game changer for the chilly winter months! You’re going to love it.
More Easy Soup Recipes!
Soups are the perfect dinner or lunch on a cold day. Here are a few more of our favorite soup recipes!
- Lasagna Soup – Loaded with Mafalda pasta, beef, diced tomatoes and seasonings plus topped with Mozzarella just like your favorite lasagna!
- Chicken Pot Pie Soup – Hearty soup recipe full of vegetables and chicken that’s completely homemade.
- Crock Pot King Ranch Chicken Soup – Your Favorite King Ranch Chicken Casserole Flavor Turned into a Comforting Soup Made in Your Slow Cooker!
- Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup – have a pressure cooker? Use it to make wild rice soup!
Did you make this? If you snap a photo, please be sure tag me on Instagram at @julieseatsandtreats or #julieseatsandtreats so I can see your yummy treat!
Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- ½ c. butter
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 carrot peeled and finely chopped
- 1 celery rib finely chopped
- ½ c. chopped mushrooms
- ½ c. all-purpose flour
- 3 c. low sodium chicken broth
- 2 c. cooked wild rice
- 2 c. shredded cooked chicken
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 c. half and half
- Parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven melt butter. Stir in onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms. Saute vegetables in butter for about 5-7 minutes or until they are tender.
- Slowly add flour stirring as you add it so it does not clump together. Gradually whisk in broth. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute.
- Next, stir in prepared wild rice, chicken, garlic powder, and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Slowly blend in half and half; heat to serving temperature for about 10 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Roxanne Lorentzen says
Hi Julie! I love the sound of your Wild Rice Soup recipe!! But, “Wild Rice” is not a grain, nor is it “rice”; it’s actually a wild grass seed!!😁 I just recently learned this while researching a “grain free” diet. I guess it’s called “rice” because it looks like rice. It’s definitely healthy to eat!! I just thought I’d pass this along to you and others for dietary interest. Thanks for sharing another terrific recipe!!!!❤️
Julie says
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed this one!
Danielle Schmidgall says
If you’ve been on the hunt for an easy, creamy, deliciously flavored wild rice soup, then you can stop searching because THIS IS IT! This recipe truly is the best creamy chicken wild rice soup EVER!
Julie says
Thanks Danielle! I’m so glad you loved it!
Tara says
I picked up a rotisserie chicken to save time. This was wonderful!
Julie says
Perfect! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Robin says
Thanks, such a hearty creamy chicken soup. We all loved it.
Julie says
I’m glad it was a hit!
Camila Rojas says
With the cooling weather I can’t think of a better dinner than this soup!!!
Thank you so much for this delicious soup!
Julie says
You’re welcome!
Nellie Tracy says
This soup makes a great fall/winter dinner recipe! Love this!
Julie says
YES!! It’s perfect for those blustery fall days!
Malinda Linnebur says
This was so good and it was just what we needed to warm us up! Thanks for a great recipe!
Julie says
You’re welcome! So glad it could warm you up!
Danielle Green says
Wild rice soup is hard to beat on a cold, dreary day or any day for that matter. This looks delicious!
Julie says
It is one of my FAVORITES!