This Chicken and Wild Rice Soup from our Savoring the Seasons cookbook is so perfect in so many ways. Ultimate comfort food? Check. Tons of delicious leftovers? Check. Uses up all sorts of Thanksgiving-y foods? Check. Perfect food for a chilly fall night? Check. Taking dinner to a friend? Having company over? Sunday dinner? Weeknight meal? Check, check, check, check. This is a recipe you need in your arsenal.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Butter
- Onion
- Garlic
- Carrots
- Celery
- Poultry seasoning
- Artichoke hearts – Marinated and jarred. Find these at the grocery store by the pickled foods and condiments or near Italian foods near Mediterranean ingredients like olives.
- Chicken broth – You’ll need 8 cups, which is 2 boxes of broth.
- Wild rice – Wild rice gives this soup a hearty bite. In a pinch, white rice will work.
- Chicken – This is a perfect place to use a rotisserie chicken, or even leftover turkey from Thanksgiving!
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- All-purpose flour
- Milk
- Portobella mushrooms
How to Make Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
- Melt some butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, celery, and poultry seasoning and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add artichoke hearts and chicken broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Add rice and chicken, reduce heat, and simmer for 50-60 minutes or until the rice is tender. When the rice is tender, remove from heat and add salt and pepper.
- When the soup has about 10 minutes left, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour to make a roux. Slowly add the milk, about 1/2 cup at a time, whisking constantly to remove any lumps, until smooth and thickened to the consistency of a thin pudding. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the soup and stir until combined. Simmer 4-5 minutes or until slightly thickened and serve.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store cooled soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
- Freeze individual portions for an easy meal on busy days.
- Because this soup takes a little extra time to cook, you can save time by doing a lot of the legwork earlier in the day–add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and poultry seasoning to a large Ziploc bag, the chopped chicken in a smaller bag, and after you chop the artichoke hearts, you can return them to the jar they came in. That way, when dinnertime rolls around, it comes together in just a few minutes and then it can simmer away and you don’t even have to think about it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use white rice?
I love the earthiness that wild rice brings to this soup, but yes, you could use white rice in a pinch. I would recommend letting the broth and vegetables simmer for at least 30 minutes before adding your white rice, as the rice will cook much faster than wild rice.
If I don’t have a rotisserie chicken, can I cook chicken right in the soup?
Yes. Feel free to add a few chicken breasts to the simmering pot in the last 15-20 minutes. Be sure the chicken reaches 165 °F before removing, shredding, and returning to the soup pot.
Can I make this dairy-free?
Sure! Use olive oil in place of butter and swap the milk for your favorite non-dairy alternative.
Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
This hearty chicken soup is prefect alongside some crusty bread. It's also easy to use up leftovers if you swap the chicken for leftover Thanksgiving turkey!
Servings servings
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons butter divided
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup carrots, 2 medium chopped
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 12-ounce artichoke hearts, marinated, jarred drained and chopped
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup wild rice
- 12-16 ounces chicken, cooked, chopped one whole rotisserie chicken. or leftover turkey
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup portobella or baby bella mushrooms chopped
Instructions
- Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, celery, and poultry seasoning and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add artichoke hearts and chicken broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Add rice and chicken, reduce heat, and simmer for 50-60 minutes or until the rice is tender. When the rice is tender, remove from heat and add salt and pepper.
- When the soup has about 10 minutes left, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour to make a roux. Slowly add the milk, about ½ cup at a time, whisking constantly to remove any lumps, until smooth and thickened to the consistency of a thin pudding. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the soup and stir until combined. Simmer 4-5 minutes or until slightly thickened and serve.
Notes
- Store cooled soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
- Freeze individual portions for an easy meal on busy days.
- Because this soup takes a little extra time to cook, you can save time by doing a lot of the legwork earlier in the day–add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and poultry seasoning to a large Ziploc bag, the chopped chicken in a smaller bag, and after you chop the artichoke hearts, you can return them to the jar they came in. That way, when dinnertime rolls around, it comes together in just a few minutes and then it can simmer away and you don’t even have to think about it.
Nutrition
Calories: 223kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 14g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 46mg, Sodium: 929mg, Potassium: 405mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 2416IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 86mg, Iron: 1mg
Calories: 223kcal
Cost: $10
Did You Make This Recipe?Snap a picture, and hashtag it #ourbestbites. We love to see your creations on our Instagram @ourbestbites!
Questions & Reviews
Funny, I came to your site looking for your 1 hour roll recipe to go with a chicken and wild rice soup I was already making–and now I’ll have to consider artichokes for my next batch of soup. Thanks.
In the description and the instructions it says there are mushrooms in it but the list of ingredients has no mushrooms. What kind of mushrooms and how much goes actually should go in this recipe?
This soup is restaurant-quality, absolutely delicious! I would never have guessed, when eating it, that part of that amazing flavor came from marinated artichokes! I use canned chicken breast, which works great for me.
❤️❤️❤️Thank you so much!!
Making this now! Just wanted to let you know your recipe doesn’t specify a mushroom amount. Ill figure it out but just letting you know!
It’s a cup—thanks for the heads up, I’ll fix it! 🙂
Still missing the mushrooms ?
They’re there, they’re just at the bottom of the ingredients list because it won’t let me put it in where they actually go 🙁
When I look for wild rice in the store, it usually comes as a blend with pasta in it. Is the that the kind I need for this recipe or is it 100% wild rice?
I got as close to wild rice as I could find…but whatever happens happens, haha.
I’ve never had this soup before! It looks amazing!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
I LOVE this recipe! We actually just ate it for dinner (I use the recipe from the cookbook) – before I realized you had posted it on the blog. Thanks for sharing!
How would you adjust this to cook it in the Instapot? Is that possible?
I’m sure it’s possible, I’m just not exactly sure the timing or settings, haha. So whole lot of help I am, right??
I think they best use of the instant pot with this recipe (I make wild rice soup pretty frequently) is to cook the wild rice in advance of making the soup using the guide that came with the instant pot. Wild rice takes forever to cook, so it ends up being a huge time saver.
I love this soup and so does everyone I have made it for. So yummy!
I’ve seen this recipe in the cookbook, but never got around to making it. I’m definitely going to! It really looks delicious!
I also wanted to say I’m so excited to be able to print again (Ive had issues withe the print function in the past). I also just noticed the option to adjust the servings, that’s a nice touch! So handy! You gals are the best!
❤️❤️