Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale and on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen, I want to share with
you how to make a really simple, easy and comforting chicken and wild rice soup!
It's creamy, it's delicious, it's full of flavor, it's a one-pot-wonder of course!
And it's perfect for this time of year when it's still so bitter cold here in Jersey,
or on the East Coast.
But, you know, it's just delicious anytime of year but extra delicious right now.
The list of ingredients is very short and sweet but it's all the right ones.
You've got your usual soup suspects here, you've got your carrots, celery, onion, I've
also got garlic and some baby bella mushrooms that I have just chopped, I've got some fresh
thyme, I've also got, this is a combination of long grain rice and brown rice, it's got
a little bit of bullion powder mixed in it.
This is what I find in my local grocery store, but just wild rice works perfectly here, but
this happens to be what I find and it's delicious, so I'm using that.
I've got a combination of milk and chicken stock here, you'll also need some chicken
breast, a little bit of flour, salt and pepper and some butter with a little bit of light
olive oil or a flavorless oil.
In this big heavy-bottomed pot, I've got some light olive oil preheating over about medium
heat, and to it I'm going to add my chicken and I'm going to season this with salt and
pepper, now I'm using chicken breast here because it works really well and it's going
to cook for about an hour so it's going to get really tender and delicious but chicken
thighs would work even better and they're half the price, twice the flavor, but chicken
breast, if I have it on hand, and that's typically what I tend to use - it's typically what I
have on hand I should say.
So that's what I tend to use, but chicken thighs would be perfect.
I'm going to let those sear, develop a little bit of color and I'm going to take these out
to a clean plate and move forward.
That looks good enough!
Remove the chicken, now obviously this is going to get a lot more cooking and some pieces
might not be all the way cooked through yet but that's fine.
You just need a little bit of color because color makes it better.
Am I right or am I right?
Now I still have a little bit of - oopsie!
I still have a little bit of cooking oil - oopsies I lost one - in the bottom of the pan, but
this is the time I want to add a good amount of butter, I know, don't let it scare you!
But this soup will feed a good eight people, I mean it makes a lot!
And I'm also going to add my veggies, and I'm going to let this cook for a good ten
minutes or until the veggies really sweat down, develop a little color, you know just
get that flavor going.
Oh it's going to be so good and like I said, this really will feed a crowd, but I just
want to give you a big tip.
When you add the starch, like potatoes, rice or pasta to a soup, you know that as it sits
in the fridge, that starch will swell and it will thicken the soup a lot.
So if you're going to make a big pot of this but you don't want to serve it all today,
what I would do is I would cook the wild rice separately, and scale back on the cooking
liquid by a couple of cups, that way you can add your cooked wild rice, you can reheat
your soup, add a scoop of your cooked wild rice to it and eat that throughout the week
and you don't have a really swollen thick soup that you have to reheat and keep adding
liquid to it throughout the week.
So, I'm just going to let these cook and I'll show you what they look like when they're
done.
Veggies look good, I'm going to add a little bit of flour now, you don't need a lot but
it kind of helps thicken the soup just a little bit and gives you a really creamy velvety
delicious, delicious result.
And now we're going to add the chicken back in and any of it's juices that have collected.
I've also seasoned my veggies with some salt and pepper, and now we're going to add in
the stock and milk mixture.
Good!
Give that a really good stir, and you're going to add in your fresh thyme.
Now what you're going to do is you're going to - so, rewind!
My wild rice mixture takes about twenty five minutes to cook, but I want the soup, my base
to cook for about forty minutes before I add that to it because in total I really want
this to simmer for a good hour, so I'm going to bring this to a boil, pop the lid on and
let it simmer for about forty minutes and then I will show you what it looks like before
we add in the rice.
But you're really going to have to check the rice you're using to make sure that you're
giving it plenty of cooking time, but in total your soup should simmer for about an hour.
Alright, it's been about forty minutes, it's been simmering.
Now I'm going to add the rice, and this is going to take another twenty minutes or so,
like I said - my daughter does that, Mia, that's her new thing when she wants to say
a word and it's not coming out she goes bla bla bla.
Like mother like daughter.
Now as I mentioned, the wild rice that I'm using is a blend that I purchased at my local
grocery store that has long grain rice and some wild rice and some seasoning in there
that's kind of like a powdered boulion cube, it is really delicious but if you can't find
it just regular wild rice works perfectly, you will just have to tailor the cooking time
according to the kind that you're getting.
And I know that a lot of them take about forty minutes to cook so just keep an eye on that
and that way you'll know you won't over cook it or under cook it so what I'm going to do
now is keep my eye on this and let it simmer until the rice is done.
Get rid of the sprigs of thyme.
This is done and look how gorgeous and thick and delicious, it's not thick enough to be
a stew, but it's not as thin as a brothy soup, it's creamy it's delicious, and if you want
to make it a little bit more creamy indulging you can add about four ounces of softened
cream cheese at the very end, really to kick up that creamy delicious yummy-ness of the
soup.
This is perfect like this, and I think adding just a couple of tablespoons of flour really
helps get that really creamy consistency without having to add the cream cheese but hey, you
the boss apple sauce, you do you.
Mmm!
The rice is so lovely and nutty, and it's got such good texture, the flavors of the
soup are actually incredible, it's so delicious, there are no words for it, it's just, I don't
even know how to explain it, it's full of flavor, the mushrooms make it really just
rich, you know what I mean?
Chicken is super tender, I mean it is delight in a pot!
Go to LauraintheKitchen.com, get the written recipe, I hope that you've enjoyed spending
time with me, I promise you this will be a new go-to soup for you because it's that easy
but that delicious!
I'll see you next time, bye!