1/4 tsp black pepper, ground (6 peppercorns if using whole spices)
1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground (1/8 piece of nutmeg if using whole spices)
1/8 tsp cloves, ground (2 cloves if using whole spices)
Roux
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp butter (Salted Kerry Gold works well)
Broth
4cchicken stock
1cmilk
1/4chalf and half or heavy cream
1/2 tsp white balsalmic vinegar (or champagne vinegar or white wine)
1/2 tsp agave nectar (or honey)
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt (+ salt to taste at the end)
Instructions
Prep & roast the chicken
Dry brine the chicken by sprinkling salt on top of the skin and allowing at least 30 minutes for it to permeate the chicken. Best to do this in the morning or night before.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF (This is for skin on, bone in chicken breasts. If using boneless/skinnless chicken, chop into small pieces and skip roasting as it will be added to the soup at the end).
Spread olive oil on the skin of the chicken and roast in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 160 to 165ºF at the thickest part of the breast.
Remove from the oven. Once cooled slightly, remove the skin and bone and chop into 1/4 inch pieces.
Cook the wild rice
Cook the wild rice according to the package. Add the olive oil and salt to the boiled water to prevent the rice from sticking and flavor the rice.
Prep the vegetables and fresh herbs
Finely dice the onion, garlic and celery. The smaller the easier it is to hide from kids!
Chop the carrots into 1/4 inch bite size pieces.
Finely chop the fresh parsley.
Herb & spice mix
Use a spice grinder or old coffee grinder to create a power with all spices and herbs together, including the thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary, bay leaf, black pepper, nutmeg and cloves. Alternatively, chop the rosemary, use the bay leaf whole and rub the remaining dried herbs between your clean hands so they are small bits. Sometimes they come pretty chopped up and this step can be skipped.
If doubled or tripled, store the herb mix in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Cook the vegetables
Heat a heavy bottom pot over medium-high heat. Once hot, add a Tbsp of butter and fully coat the bottom of the pan.
Add the onion and cook for 6 to 10 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic, celery and carrots and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the herb and spice mix and let it cook for 1 more minute.
Make the roux and broth
Make the roux by lowering the heat to medium, and moving the veggies over to the side.
Add the butter to the pot until mostly melted, then start sprinkling the flour in slowly. Mix constantly to incorporate. Let it cook for a couple of minutes. Mix in with the veggies if needed.
Then slowly at first, start adding the chicken broth and mix often to let it thicken and cook. Once about a cup of chicken broth is incorporated, the rest of the chicken broth can be added in quicker.
Add the white balsamic vinegar. This is your acid, but can be substituted with champagne vinegar or white wine if needed.
Add the agave nectar. This doesn't make the broth sweet, it just balances the flavor. This can be substituted with honey or sugar if needed.
Finish cooking carrots and add remaining ingredients
Let it come to a boil, then turn down to simmer until the carrots are softened, around 10 minutes, but taste a carrot to ensure the texture is to your liking.
Add the chicken. If using roasted chicken, let it come back to a boil before moving to the next step. If using raw chicken, cook it until ensure the internal temperature of the chicken has reached 160ºF.
Add the cooked wild rice, milk and half and half. The half and half gives it a nice creaminess, more can be added to your liking.
Salt & adjust flavors to taste
Now that all the ingredients have been added, taste the broth knowing it hasn't been salted yet so it will be bland. This trains your palate to know when your food needs salt.
Add salt slowly and stir to incorporate, then taste again. Repeat until you start to taste the salt and the flavors pop.
Heat the soup almost to a boil and remove from the heat. Don't boil the milk or it may split (seperate). It will still be eatable, but best to not walk away to avoid it.
Top with chopped parsley & serve.
Prep Time:15 minutes
Cook Time:1 hour 15 minutes
Category:Main Course, Soup
Cuisine:Healthy American
This Chicken Wild Rice soup recipe is so heart warming with it’s roasted chicken and subtle spices that really pull out the flavors. This version is not the thick gloppy mess you’ll get from the grocery store, but has a nice smooth thickness and creaminess that is deeply satisfying. I have been making this soup religiously for two decades and I dare say it’ll become one of your family staples as well!
How to get a great result with Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Chicken Wild Rice soup is a great way to use up leftover roasted or rotisserie chicken! You can of course roast your own chicken for this recipe, but consider doing it earlier in the week for dinner and making extra for soup to get an additional dinner for your efforts.
When roasting your own chicken breasts, buy bone in, skin on chicken breast & dry brine (sprinkle salt on it earlier in the day) it to protect it from drying out. See the Oven Roasted Chicken Recipe for more tips on juicy chicken breast.
If you already have skinless, boneless chicken breast, skip the roasting and just cut it up into small pieces. This will be added at the end, same as the roasted chicken, but you’ll have to cook it a few minutes longer to ensure it’s cooked through. The soup will be delicious either way, but the roasting adds that browned savory chicken flavor.
Salt to taste at the end once all ingredients are added. Train your palate to be able to salt to taste by tasting it knowing it needs salt, then adding a little bit at a time until you start to taste the salt and the flavors of the dish pop.
Salting to taste is an incredibly important skill to get the soup (or any dish) to taste good. Just using a quantity of salt without tasting and adjusting means there’s a good chance the salt will be off. Unless of course you’re using the same type and brand of salt as the author and happen to have the same salt preference. I nerd out on why here if you’d like to learn more and up your cooking skills!
How to speed up Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Roasting the chicken and cooking the wild rice while you’re prepping the other veggies is an efficient way to speed up the process. Or you can cook these two the night before for dinner and double the recipe so there’s enough for soup the next day!
If you have a big enough pot, consider doubling the recipe and freezing half. That way next time you don’t have the energy you cook, you can easily pull out the soup and defrost it. I like these Pyrex 11-cup glass containers for freezing food, so I can pop it straight into the microwave or oven. I’ve had them for about 9 years and haven’t had one break yet!
If you have time right when you get home from the grocery store, go ahead and dry brine the chicken by sprinkling 3g of salt per lb on the chicken. I typically sprinkle salt on all meat I purchase right away so I get this step out of the way and it has ample time to work it’s magic. This can also be done the night before or morning before cooking if you forget after the grocery store. Whenever you have a minute to sprinkle salt, but the earlier the better, trust me you will be rewarded!
This recipe does call for a lot of garlic, so it’s a great opportunity to use a frozen garlic cube! This is a time saving hack I use often.
Consider doubling or tripling the Ultimate Soup Herb & Spice mix and storing in an air tight container as it can be used for future Chicken Noodle Soup batches, Chicken Wild Rice Soup or even quick roasted veggies.
Onion and celery seem to be the scary items for kids in this dish, so I recommend chopping them finely. That way they disappear into the dish once they’re cooked. My kids didn’t even know there was onion and celery and gobble up the soup no problems. Also, the dried herbs and spices can be made into a powder with a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. This also hides it in the dish, so they get all the flavor without the scary green bits.
If this is a new dish for your kid, one bite today is a win! You can pick out some of the cooked carrots and chicken and separate them on the plate if they are really apprehensive. Remember, it can take an average of 12 tries before a kid (and even some adults) will start to like the flavor. By exposing them to new flavors slowly (meaning low quantities) but often, they will start to get used to the new flavor and may even start to love it! For more tips check out this article on 10 Strategies to Encourage Picky Eaters.
1/4 tsp black pepper, ground (6 peppercorns if using whole spices)
1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground (1/8 piece of nutmeg if using whole spices)
1/8 tsp cloves, ground (2 cloves if using whole spices)
Roux
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp butter (Salted Kerry Gold works well)
Broth
4cchicken stock
1cmilk
1/4chalf and half or heavy cream
1/2 tsp white balsalmic vinegar (or champagne vinegar or white wine)
1/2 tsp agave nectar (or honey)
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt (+ salt to taste at the end)
Instructions
Prep & roast the chicken
Dry brine the chicken by sprinkling salt on top of the skin and allowing at least 30 minutes for it to permeate the chicken. Best to do this in the morning or night before.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF (This is for skin on, bone in chicken breasts. If using boneless/skinnless chicken, chop into small pieces and skip roasting as it will be added to the soup at the end).
Spread olive oil on the skin of the chicken and roast in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 160 to 165ºF at the thickest part of the breast.
Remove from the oven. Once cooled slightly, remove the skin and bone and chop into 1/4 inch pieces.
Cook the wild rice
Cook the wild rice according to the package. Add the olive oil and salt to the boiled water to prevent the rice from sticking and flavor the rice.
Prep the vegetables and fresh herbs
Finely dice the onion, garlic and celery. The smaller the easier it is to hide from kids!
Chop the carrots into 1/4 inch bite size pieces.
Finely chop the fresh parsley.
Herb & spice mix
Use a spice grinder or old coffee grinder to create a power with all spices and herbs together, including the thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary, bay leaf, black pepper, nutmeg and cloves. Alternatively, chop the rosemary, use the bay leaf whole and rub the remaining dried herbs between your clean hands so they are small bits. Sometimes they come pretty chopped up and this step can be skipped.
If doubled or tripled, store the herb mix in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Cook the vegetables
Heat a heavy bottom pot over medium-high heat. Once hot, add a Tbsp of butter and fully coat the bottom of the pan.
Add the onion and cook for 6 to 10 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic, celery and carrots and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the herb and spice mix and let it cook for 1 more minute.
Make the roux and broth
Make the roux by lowering the heat to medium, and moving the veggies over to the side.
Add the butter to the pot until mostly melted, then start sprinkling the flour in slowly. Mix constantly to incorporate. Let it cook for a couple of minutes. Mix in with the veggies if needed.
Then slowly at first, start adding the chicken broth and mix often to let it thicken and cook. Once about a cup of chicken broth is incorporated, the rest of the chicken broth can be added in quicker.
Add the white balsamic vinegar. This is your acid, but can be substituted with champagne vinegar or white wine if needed.
Add the agave nectar. This doesn't make the broth sweet, it just balances the flavor. This can be substituted with honey or sugar if needed.
Finish cooking carrots and add remaining ingredients
Let it come to a boil, then turn down to simmer until the carrots are softened, around 10 minutes, but taste a carrot to ensure the texture is to your liking.
Add the chicken. If using roasted chicken, let it come back to a boil before moving to the next step. If using raw chicken, cook it until ensure the internal temperature of the chicken has reached 160ºF.
Add the cooked wild rice, milk and half and half. The half and half gives it a nice creaminess, more can be added to your liking.
Salt & adjust flavors to taste
Now that all the ingredients have been added, taste the broth knowing it hasn't been salted yet so it will be bland. This trains your palate to know when your food needs salt.
Add salt slowly and stir to incorporate, then taste again. Repeat until you start to taste the salt and the flavors pop.
Heat the soup almost to a boil and remove from the heat. Don't boil the milk or it may split (seperate). It will still be eatable, but best to not walk away to avoid it.
Top with chopped parsley & serve.
Prep Time:15 minutes
Cook Time:1 hour 15 minutes
Category:Main Course, Soup
Cuisine:Healthy American
Variations
If you have leftover turkey after Thanksgiving, this is the perfect use for it! This soup can also be made with potatoes instead of wild rice. Then if you thicken the sauce up with more roux and less broth, it can then be made into chicken pot pie!
The herb & spice mix is also delicious on chicken, fish, and roasted veggies. Make a big batch and have fun with it!
Let us know how it turned out and if you tried any variations in the comments!
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