Quick-To-Fix Creamy Chicken, Mushroom & Wild Rice Soup

It’s that time of year again – when a steamy cup of soup just seems to warm the heart. This Chicken, Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup is an easy dinner recipe that delights your senses. It’s loaded with fresh veggies, wild rice and lots of chicken…all in a flavorful, piping hot, creamy soup base…mmm…

Top 3 reasons this Chicken, Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup is a dinner winner:

1. Speed. We love how quickly this soup comes together. Use rotisserie chicken and a quick-cooking rice to speed prep time. Then, it’s basically “chop and drop!” Turn on the stove and before you know it, dinner is bubbling away.
2. Flavor. This recipe tastes good as-is, but can be so easily tailored. Tons of chicken, veggies, and wild rice…this is fuel for the soul! Don’t like mushrooms? Leave them out. Want some different veggies? Pop them in! Our recipe below is a great guideline – start here and make it your own.
3. Ease. We’re often buzzing off to one commitment or another, and sometimes need to prep a recipe ahead of time. If you’re like us, pull out the slow cooker! Use this same recipe (below), but transfer all components to the bowl of a slow cooker instead of a soup pot. (You’ll probably still want to do step 2 using a saucepan, then transfer the thickened soup to the slow cooker.) Boom. A delicious dinner is ready when your family is ready.

How to make homemade soup in the slow cooker:

What a challenge it is to get dinner on the table some evenings! That’s what we love about this Chicken, Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup…and all homemade soups. Once you get the hang of building a soup base, the options are endless – and so easily customizable for your family.

We typically use the same method to prep all soups (and stews, curry-types, and chilis) this time of year.

1. Prep all ingredients. After a good wash, we rough chop the veggies/meat/any ingredients that need a chop. Tip: a larger chop will retain texture better with a longer cook time, but we always aim to keep pieces bite-sized.
2. Saute the mirepoix (your trifecta of homemade soup aromatics – onion/celery/carrots) until the veg is sweating and onion is translucent. When done, transfer the veg to the slow cooker bowl. Tip: we like to add chopped fresh garlic to the mirepoix party for a little extra oomph – this gets sauteed with the onion/celery/carrots.
3. Decide about your mushrooms. If the soup isn’t spending much time in the slowcooker, we like to saute mushrooms separately to get them nicely browned, and then add them to the pot – it’s just habit. But, if you prefer, you can add the mushrooms to the slowcooker raw. It’s up to you.
4. To make a creamy soup: you don’t need to pull out a can of “cream of” soup (we’re not being snooty). If you’re making this Chicken, Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup or another creamy soup, simply add a few tablespoons of butter and flour (in equal amounts) to the saute pan, then stir and cook until the mixture looks like wet sand – this is a “roux”. Then add half of the chicken stock (slowly) to the saute pan and cook until thickened. Once finished, pour this mixture into the bowl of your slow cooker. Tip: don’t let the roux cook in the saute pan so long that it gets brown. The idea of cooking the roux is that you want to “cook out” the flavor of the flour. (Note: there are certainly other ways to build viscosity/thickness in soup. But this is our favorite method for this recipe. 😉 )
5. Add the remainder of your ingredients to the bowl of the slow cooker – the rest of the stock, milk, chopped rotisserie chicken, cooked rice, seasonings, etc. Then, set your slow cooker to LOW heat and let is simmer away until you’re ready to eat!
6. Serve soup with a hunk of crusty bread and feeeeeel the comfy.

Soup for a friend?

This time of year, it seems illness is an unwelcome guest in too many of our homes! And when we’re sick, is there anything better than a cup of piping hot, wonderfully aromatic soup? No. Make someone’s day and whip up a little care package for a sick friend. Here’s how.

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Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Author Mary

Ingredients

• 2-4 Tbs Butter Divided
• 2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1-1/2 c. Chopped Carrots
• 1-1/2 c. Chopped Celery
• 1-1/2 c. Chopped Onion
• 3 cloves Fresh Garlic Minced
• 3 Tbs Flour
• 2 c. Chicken Stock
• 1 c. Whole Milk (Can sub skim or lowfat)
• 1 lb Fresh Mushrooms Washed and Chopped
• 1-1/2 c. Cooked Wild Rice
• 2 c. Cooked Chicken Breast Chopped
• To taste Fresh Thyme Chopped
• To taste Kosher Salt
• To taste Cracked Black Pepper

Instructions

1. In a saute pan over medium heat, melt the 1 Tbs of butter and olive oil. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to the pan, and cook a few minutes until vegetables have softened slightly and onion is translucent. (Stir frequently so the garlic doesn't burn!)  Sprinkle flour over the vegetables, and stir to coat. (Add an extra 1 Tbs. butter if needed.) Cook for 1 minute, then transfer flour-coated vegetables to a large saucepan. 

2. Put saucepan on medium heat and slowly add chicken stock and milk. Cook and stir until soup thickens. Add thyme, salt, and pepper. Continue to simmer soup while finishing the recipe.

3. Add remaining 1 Tbs butter to the saute pan, and melt. (Add an extra 1 Tbs. of butter if needed.) Over medium heat, saute the mushrooms until fragrant and nicely browned. Transfer mushrooms to the soup. 
   

4. Add wild rice and chopped (cooked) chicken breast to the soup. Simmer soup until ready to serve! Enjoy with crusty bread.

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