Thank God for Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Hey friends- I hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am so grateful for you taking the time to share this love of food with me. I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes with you. This soup is AMAZING and such a crowd pleaser. My family makes this soup for everyone- family, guests, and I am sure if Barack stopped by this would be on the menu. It truly warms the soul. The entire time it is cooking you cannot wait for the first spoonful. It is one of those recipes that you can brag about but is totally do-able!
Major shout-out to Cooking Classy blog for posting this soup: http://www.cookingclassy.com/2014/02/creamy-chicken-wild-rice-soup/
If I don’t have lemon zest sometimes I skip that and sub insome lemon juice, but make sure not to skip the heavy cream! It takes the soup from delicious to incredible!
Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Yield: About 5 servings
Ingredients
3/4 cup uncooked wild rice blend*
1 cup chopped yellow onion (from about 1 small onion)
1 cup diced carrots (from 2 medium)
1 cup diced celery (from 2 – 3 stalks)
7 Tbsp butter, diced, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (measured from 3 14.5 oz cans)
1/4 tsp of each dried thyme, marjoram, sage and rosemary
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts halves
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp lemon zest
Directions
Prepare rice according to directions listed on package.
Halfway through the rice cooking, in a separate large pot, melt 1 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery and saute until slightly tender, about 4 minutes, adding in garlic during last 30 seconds of sauteing. Add chicken broth, thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Increase heat to medium-high, add chicken and bring mixture to a boil. Cover pot with lid and allow mixture to boil 12 – 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (rotating chicken to opposite side once during cooking for thicker chicken breasts – if they don’t fully immerse in broth). Remove chicken and set aside on cutting board to cool 5 minutes then shred into small bite size pieces. Meanwhile reduce heat to low and add cooked rice. Add shredded chicken to soup.
In a separate medium saucepan (I just rinsed and wiped out the rice pan), melt remaining 6 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook 1 1/2 minutes, whisking constantly. Then, while whisking vigorously, slowly pour milk into butter/flour mixture. Cook mixture, stirring constantly until it thickens. Add milk mixture to soup mixture in pot and cook about 5 minutes longer, or until soup is thickened (at this point, you can simmer the soup for a longer period of time if you want the rice to soften more, just cover with lid first and stir occasionally. You can also add what’s left in the remaining can of chicken broth). Stir in heavy cream and lemon zest and serve warm.
*I used Lundberg Wild Blend Rice which I recommend for this recipe if you can find it.
Recipe Source: Cooking Classy
Depending on how thick you like your soup you can always add in more chicken stock- I like thinner soup so I always add in lots of stock. You can serve this soup with a nice piece of bread or my personal favorite a grilled cheese or simply by itself.
What are your favorite crowd pleasing recipes? Happy Eating!
Liv