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Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
This Chicken and Wild Rice Soup recipe is creamy, comforting, and delicious. We’ll walk you through each cooking step and ensure it turns out as a crowd-pleaser soup that freezes well, too.
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, divided (I love Kerrygold brand.)
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced celery, leaves and all
- 1 cup peeled and diced carrots
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 teaspoon pre-minced garlic)
- 1 quart (32 ounces) store-bought or homemade chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 – 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (sub: boneless chicken thighs)
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (sub: all-purpose flour or gluten-free baking flour)
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups cooked wild rice blend (I recommend Lundberg Organic Wild Rice Blend–see notes in article above.)
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Instructions
Make It Now:
(Note: Be sure to cook your wild rice blend and chop all your veggies ahead of time.)
- Saute Veggies: In a large Dutch oven or pot, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, just until the vegetables are tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic for the last 30 to 60 seconds.
- Start the Soup: Stir in the broth, poultry seasoning, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and the chicken breasts.
- Braise the Chicken: Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 12-15 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked. (Stir the chicken breasts around occasionally for even cooking.) Remove and set aside the chicken to a cutting board to rest.
- Make the White Sauce: While the chicken cooks, make the white sauce that will thicken the soup. In a medium pot, melt the remaining 7 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until bubbly. Slowly pour in the milk while continually whisking. Increase the heat to medium-high and whisk constantly until the milk mixture thickens to the consistency of thin gravy. Usually takes 3-5 minutes.
- Add It All Together: Add the white sauce* and prepared wild rice to the soup pot, stir, reduce the heat to medium low. Using two forks, shred the chicken. Return the chicken to the pot and heat until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. (Freezing instructions begin here.)
*Note: The white sauce will continue to get thicker the longer it sits, so it’s important to add it right away. Thin out the soup with more broth, if needed.
Freeze for Later: Cook and cool the soup completely. Freeze in a freezer bag or container, squeezing out all excess air and sealing tightly. Tip: You can also freeze soup in individual servings in 2-cup Souper Cubes, 2-cup Pyrex containers, or 16 ounce mason jars. Be sure to leave 1 inch of head room for expansion at the top of the jars or the glass may break in the freezer. I usually do this for my lunch and the kids’ lunchboxes.
To Prepare from Frozen: Thaw in the refrigerator. Warm over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Add 1-2 more cups of chicken broth if too thick.
Notes/Tips
Gluten-Free Version: Instead of wheat flour for the white sauce, use gluten-free 1:1 baking flour (like Bob’s Red Mill brand). I’ve tested this option and it works fine.
Can I Make This Dairy-Free? This probably won’t work well but you can try. I’ve tested it with plain almond milk instead of whole milk (but I did keep the butter for flavor and richness). The result was a thinner and less rich-tasting soup but still had good flavor. You could try using a plant-based “butter” in place of the butter, but I haven’t tested that option.
Where We Get Our Chicken: We get our meat from ButcherBox. The chicken is organic and curated from small, trusted farms. We highly recommend this service to source healthy meat–like uncured bacon, wild salmon, and grass-fed beef–and have used it for years ourselves.
Find it online: https://thrivinghomeblog.com/chicken-and-wild-rice-soup/