It’s Soup Season! (Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup)

November 17, 2014

written by Cathy Baker, mom of two sweet middle schoolers, living life in the Missouri Ozarks

Photo from allrecipes.com

True Story. My friend texts me and asks for my Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup recipe. I text back, I don’t have a recipe for that. She’s like, yes you do, you made it several years ago and it’s amazing. So, I finally got off the couch and went to my recipe box. And guess what? Right in front of me, filed under soups was a Cream Chicken and Wild Rice Soup Recipe, and it even has ‘food stains’ on it from previous cooking.

One look at the recipe and I knew I had to make it again. It sounded amazing.

And a second look at it clued me into why I hadn’t made it in quite awhile — it requires more than one pan and does have more than 5 ingredients. (The kitchen is not my favorite place to hang out!)

So yes, this soup does have some prep work, but let me tell you, as I made it, I couldn’t wait to taste it again! Just one bite, and the warmth and joy of this soup all came back to me. I will definitely be making this more than once this winter.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

The recipe comes from allrecipes.com — The only thing I changed is that I didn’t save the chicken stock and reuse it – I had cooked my chicken previously and so I used 3 cans of chicken broth instead.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups wild rice

1 (3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces

7 cups water

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules

3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup margarine

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups milk

3/4 cup white wine

Direction

Cook the wild rice according to package directions, but remove from heat about 15 minutes before it’s done. Drain the excess liquid, and set aside.
In a stock pot over high heat, combine the chicken and the water. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked and tender. Remove chicken from the pot, and allow it to cool. Strain the broth from the pot, and reserve for later. When chicken is cool, remove the meat from the bones, cut into bite size pieces, and reserve. Discard the fat and the bones.
In the same stock pot over medium heat, saute the celery and onion in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, and cover. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is tender. Return the broth to the stock pot, and add the partially cooked wild rice. Stir in the bouillon, white pepper and salt; simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt margarine in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour until smooth. Whisk in the milk, and continue cooking until mixture is bubbly and thick. Add some of the broth mixture to the milk mixture, continuing to stir, then stir all of the milk mixture into the broth mixture.
Mix in the reserved chicken meat and the white wine. Allow this to heat through for about 15 minut