Chicken Wild Rice Soup!
I like soup no matter what the weather and it is a good thing, because we have good weather in Florida pretty much all the time… and if I waited for a cold snowy day, I would never have soup!
I am not complaining, mind you! 🙂
This recipe is a favorite of mine that was given to me years ago by my Aunt Lucy.
At that time, (40 years ago) Aunt Lucy made it on top of the stove and the wonderful aroma of steaming soup could drive anyone crazy…well, not any more so than we already were! 🙂
Another difference was Aunt Lucy did not use wild rice. She used white rice and she cooked a whole chicken.
As I have stated many times before, nothing went to waste living in the Midwest.
Aunt Lucy could make one chicken into several meals.
She would save some of the broth and chicken pieces to make Chicken and home made egg noodles, ….that she would roll out on the counter to dry. (I will share that recipe in a later post)
However, all the other ingredients in this soup remain the same.
I have adapted this recipe to include wild rice and put it all in a crock pot for stress free cooking.
I really like my crock pots…I use them all the time. I like to set it and forget it and then enjoy it!
I hope you enjoy this printable recipe!
Me
- 1 cup uncooked wild rice
- 4 medium sized chicken thighs* (can substitute 2 chicken breasts)
- 2/3 cup chopped onion
- 2/3 cup chopped celery
- 2/3 cup chopped carrots
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 Tablespoons of butter
- 4-6 Tablespoons of flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- additional milk or water, if needed
- Rinse the wild rice and add the following ingredients into a crock pot
- Wild rice, chicken, celery, carrots, onion, chicken broth, salt and poultry seasoning
- Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours.
- The chicken should be cooked through and the rice should not be hard.
- Remove the chicken thighs and allow to cool slightly.
- Shred or chop the chicken into small chunks, tossing the skin if not using skinless
- Return the chicken to the broth mixture in the crockpot.
- To thicken the soup, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour and let the mixture boil for about 1 minute. Slowly add in the whole milk, stirring until thickened.
- Add the thickening mixture to the chicken and rice in the crock pot.
- Add extra milk (or water) to desired consistency, if needed.
- Season with additional salt and pepper.
- Serve with crusty french bread
- *you can substitute chicken breasts, I prefer the flavor added by using thighs. I like to cook with the skin on and discarding when chopping the chicken.
- **If cooking on top of the stove, follow the same instructions, cooking about 20 minutes before shredding the chicken. Add chicken back into the pot and continue cooking until the rice is soft and the ingredients are tender. Thicken and serve.
- There are two schools of thought when making chicken and rice soup. To thicken or not to thicken. It is a matter of personal preference. I like the richness that a thick soup brings to the table...so to speak..:) Yummy good!
Please comment, I'd love to hear from you.