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A big bowl of this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is sure to warm you up on a cold night! This creamy, one pot soup, is full of shredded chicken, mushrooms, carrot, celery, wild rice and will quickly become a family favorite.
This recipe and photos have been updated since the original post on 11/03/2014
This chicken and wild rice soup is one of my favorite soups. My mom used to make it and now the minute it’s cool enough to start making soup again, I always make a big pot of it.
It’s a hearty and filling soup unlike some that leave you hungry an hour later. It’s also creamy, without being over the top. Some creamy soups are so thick and rich I can only eat a few bites before I’ve had enough. This chicken and wild rice soup has the perfect balance.
Ingredients Needed to Make Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Yellow onion and garlic
- Carrots
- Celery
- Cremini mushrooms
- Fresh thyme
- Flour
- Dry white wine such as pinot grigio
- Low sodium chicken broth
- Cooked chicken breasts or rotisserie chicken
- Wild rice blend
- Half and half
How to Make Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
This recipe for chicken and wild rice soup is quite easy to make and is all done in one pot. Start by sautéing the onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms and garlic in olive oil. Season them with salt and pepper. Once they’ve softened a bit pour in the wine and stir everything together. Sprinkle the flour into the pot and stir everything together and cook for another minute.
Add in the wild rice and sprigs of fresh thyme, then slowly pour in the chicken broth. Stir as you pour so you don’t get any lumps from the flour. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and cover with a lid and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the shredded chicken to the soup then let it simmer another 10-15 minutes or until the rice is tender. Turn off the heat and stir in the half and half. Taste the soup for seasoning and then it’s ready to serve.
Ingredient Substitutions for Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Chicken breasts– If you don’t have any leftover cooked chicken breasts on hand, rotisserie chicken is a quick and easy replacement. You can also omit the chicken if you don’t have any or would prefer to make this a vegetarian soup.
Flour – If you need this recipe to be gluten free, simply replace the all purpose flour with a 1:1 gluten free flour. Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flour both have gluten free flour blends that work great for this.
Cremini Mushrooms – If you can’t find cremini mushrooms, also called baby bella mushrooms, white mushrooms or any assorted mushroom blend would work well.
Wild Rice – Any variety of long grain brown rice or white rice can be used as a substitution for wild rice. I prefer the texture and nutty flavor of the wild rice blend the best for this soup, but any rice will work. If using white rice the cooking time will be much shorter. I would cook for 10 minutes and then add the shredded chicken in and cook another 10 minutes, give or take.
Half and Half – I like to use half and half for this soup because you still get plenty of creaminess and rich flavor, but with a more modest amount of fat. Whole milk could also be used for a lighter soup and heavy cream if you’re looking for extra creamy richness.
More Recipes Using Wild Rice
If you love wild rice as much as I do, be sure to try out some of these other recipes.
- Sweet Potato, Wild Rice and Arugula Salad
- Lentil, Wild Rice and Cranberry Stuffed Squash
- Broccoli, Chicken and Cheese Wild Rice Casserole
- Southwest Sweet Potato, Black Bean, Wild Rice Salad
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- 2 cloves of garlic grated or minced
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms sliced
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 3 cups cooked and shredded chicken breasts
- 1 cup wild rice blend
- 1 cup half and half
Instructions
- In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add in the diced onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms, thyme and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add in the white wine and cook for another minute. Stir in the flour until it is completely incorporated, about 2 minutes.
- Pour in the wild rice and gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and any lumps have dissolved. Bring the soup to a boil then cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.
- Add in the shredded chicken and simmer another 10-15 minutes or until the rice is tender. Pull out the stems of the thyme and pour in the half and half. Stir together then taste for seasoning. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Soup Recipes
Southwest Chicken and Rice Soup
Lemon Chicken, Spinach and Orzo Soup
Would you have a suggestion for making this in a slow cooker with raw chicken instead of precooked ? Thank you
Is there a way to make the broth thicker/heartier?
You can use cream instead of half and half and you can also increase the flour to 1/3 cup to thicken it more.