Heather says:
This creamy soup is quite rich, perfect for a chilly evening spent calling Midwestern family and asking, “Hey, how’s the weather up there?” (It was -2F yesterday, sorry about that)
Yields: approximately 8 cups of soup
Ingredients:
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup wild rice (If you aren’t a huge fan of the texture, reduce this to 3/4 or 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 onion diced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 3 strips of bacon
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups half and half (Feel free to substitute milk, but it won’t be as rich)
- 2 cups cubed, cooked chicken (2 breasts with the skin removed)
- 1/2 teaspoon sage
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp celery salt (optional)
- salt* and ground black pepper to taste
- parsley if you want to take pictures 🙂
*If you use canned broth be very careful adding salt as the sodium content may already be pretty high.
This recipe requires two pots, the only reason I still give it a thumbs up is one pot is pretty much ignored the entire recipe. In the first (and smaller pot) heat the 5 cups of stock and the wild rice. Bring to a gentle simmer and proceed to pretty much ignore for the next 30 – 40 minutes. Entertain yourself for twenty minutes, then meet me back in the kitchen.
Ready to get started?
While the rice continues to simmer, cook 3 slices into small pieces and cook over medium low heat. When the bacon is done remove it from the pan, and set aside. Do not drain the grease.
Reduce the heat to low and add the 2 TBSP of butter to the pan. As soon as the butter has melted add the onion and cook until soft, then add the garlic.
Yes, I know if you are a long time reader, these steps seem quite familiar. I am capable of cooking dishes without onion and garlic, I just choose not to.
As the onions get soft, add the thyme, sage, and if you’re using it celery seeds.
There will be brown, bits on the bottom of the pan, this is actually a good thing. Those bits are packed with flavor. Add the flour and stir until it all comes together into a clumpy paste. It’s not going to be perfectly smooth due to the onions, just make sure that it has been stirred until no more white flour shows.
Check the setting of your burner, it should be on low. Very slowly stir in the half and half (or milk). The texture might look a little scary when you stir in the first few splashes. For a moment it might even look like dough. Don’t freak out, just keep slowly stirring and adding milk after the previous splash has been incorporated into your mix. I find it easiest to focus on incorporating a small part of the liquid into the roux, in a tight circle, before widening my stirring to the rest of the pot.
Once both cups of the half and half have been added your mixture should look and feel like a very thick soup.
Check your wild rice, it should be done. Slowly add the chicken broth and wild rice to your soup. Don’t add it all at once, pour some, stir some, just like when you added the half and half.
Once all of the broth has been added, turn the heat up to medium low and add the chicken, bacon crumbles, salt, and pepper.
Heath through and serve.
Enjoy!
:::::Waiving:::::Hi Heather!
This soup looks scrumptious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yummy:) The pictures are
great.
Julieann
yum I love this stuff… and -2 would be a warm front these days:) My car has not started for a few days, it is protesting the cold. We are still plotting our move south, what the heck were we thinking?
Yum!
This sounds amazing!
This soup looks delicious. I’m going to give a try. The perfect thing for a cold day.
Wow, this looks yummy and healthy!…I’m gonna try it. 😀
Take it from a Minnesotan, Wild Rice soup is a staple in our house during the cold months (OK the frozen months). Maybe we should plot to move south too.
Hi from Minnesota, Heather! Yes, it is pretty chilly up here! And a soup like Wild Rice & Chicken is just the thing to take the edge off the cold! I also make Wild Rice & Ham, & it is my husband’s favorite. I think I will have to try your soup recipe….always good to have plenty in my repertoire. :o)
Heather-My "Meatatarian" husband loved this soup, his only comment it was the first soup he'd had to chew…LOL. I told him to consider it a stew! I only used 1/4 cup of wild rice and cooked it a long time just to make it burst, and then included 1 cup of long-grain rice. I also included 8 oz. of diced mushrooms to the pot with the onions, it is delicious thank you.