Recipes from Let's Cook, Ya'll

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

A delicious and easy creamy chicken and rice soup. I often cut this in half for the two of us (see notes)

CourseLunch / Dinner
CuisineAmerican

Ingredients

6tablespoons butteror use olive oil
3tablespoons green onionschopped (See notes)
1/2cup flour
3 cups chicken brothfor a half batch, I use one can
2cups cooked wild rice
1/2cup cooked chickenor you can substitute ham
1/4cup finely grated carrotsor diced (See notes; I saute onions and carrots)
3tablespoons slivered almondsSee Notes: I just use for garnish
1/4teaspoon white pepper
1/4teaspoon salt
1cup half and halfSee Notes; I often sub canned evaporated milk
2tablespoons dry sherrySee Notes for sub

Instructions

ORIGINAL RECIPE (See Notes for my changes): In large saucepan, melt butter and saute onions. Blend in flour; gradually add broth. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Boil one minute.
Stir in wild rice, chicken (or ham), carrots, almonds, pepper and salt; simmer five minutes.
Blend in half and half and sherry
Heat to serving temperature.

Recipe Notes

Stacy’s Notes:

I’ve been making this soup since 2000! I don’t even remember where I got the recipe, but I have always loved it. It often meets with mixed reviews at our house (depends on whether or not Tim is in the mood for a creamy soup and if he’s in the mood for rice).

I usually cut this in half for the two of us and use 1 cup chopped chicken, about 1.5-1.75 cups of rice (rather than the half of 1 cup, because I love rice), and I use one can or about 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth (half of the 3 cups the original recipe calls for). I don’t always have green onions on hand, so I just sub white onion and saute both the onion and carrots at the beginning (rather than adding the carrots at the end, as the recipe calls for).

The original recipes calls for adding slivered almonds into the soup mixture as it heats through. The first time I made this soup, I did that and neither of us liked it (and in fact, Tim refused to eat it). These days, I omit the almonds from the soup and just garnish my serving with sliced almonds and leave them out entirely for Tim.

In addition to the white pepper and salt, I often add other seasonings, including Mrs Dash chicken seasoning. (In our Youtube video, I added a mushroom umami and some onion salt as well).

I don’t always have half and half in the house, so I often sub canned evaporated milk. If I have fat-free half and half on hand in the fridge, then I use that, but often add a bit of a cornstarch slurry to help thicken the soup. You can add as much or as little half and half or milk as you like – it depends on how thick and creamy you want your soup, or add more if you like it a bit thinner or more broth-y.

I don’t ever have sherry and when I first started making this soup, I used cooking sherry. I no longer buy cooking wines or cooking sherry, so I substitute a splash of a good white wine vinegar for the sherry.

I have never tried this with the ham, but I’m sure it’s good. I love the combination of chicken and rice!