Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
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This Chicken Wild Rice Soup Recipe is simply the best! Loaded with chicken and veggies and done in under an hour! Easy and delicious!
Soup is obviously one of our favorite meals and we are absolutely obsessed with our Lemon Chicken Soup and Chicken Pot Pie Soup.
This Chicken and Wild Rice is such a hearty soup that is so comforting and loaded with protein and veggies!
You can make this delicious soup in your crockpot or on the stove! It’s a MUST MAKE!!
Why We Love this Chicken Wild Rice Soup Recipe!
You can never go wrong with a bowl of warm soup! Here are a few reasons why we love it so much:
- Quick and Easy to Make – This soup only requires one pot for all the ingredients. It couldn’t be easier!
- Lean protein – We use boneless skinless chicken breasts in this recipe, which are lean and high in protein!
- Loaded with spices – I use a few spice cabinet staples in this recipe which helps amp up the flavor without adding extra calories.
Wild Rice Chicken Soup Recipe Ingredients
To make chicken wild rice soup you’ll need:
- olive oil
- celery, onion, carrots, garlic
- salt & pepper
- dried parsley, dried thyme, bay leaves
- chicken breasts
- chicken broth
- wild rice
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded box.
How to Make Wild Rice and Chicken Soup
- In a large pot, heat olive oil in the pan and sauté celery, onion + garlic until fragrant and softened. Once cooked, stir in carrots and spices (including bay leaves).
- Place whole chicken breasts on top of vegetables. Cover with chicken broth. Stir in wild rice.
- Cover pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer over low-medium heat for 30 minutes. Then remove bay leaves and discard. Shred chicken breasts.
- Add shredded chicken back to the pot. Stir to combine and enjoy!
Pro Tip: To avoid soggy rice: Instead of cooking the rice in the soup, cut the broth down by 1 cup. Add cooked rice to a bowl. Serve soup on top of the rice. This prevents the rice from absorbing broth and turning mushy
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR CHICKEN WILD RICE SOUP
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders. If you have leftover turkey, try our Turkey Wild Rice Soup.
Veggies– Feel free to add more veggies! the more the veggies the more nutrients. You can add chopped zucchini, kale, crushed tomatoes, or spinach to this recipe too!
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any soup recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Vegetarian: You could substitute beans for chicken in this recipe and it would be delicious. You’d also need to sub for vegetarian broth.
To Make it Lower Carb: You can substitute wild rice for cauliflower rice.
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup Recipe FAQ
This recipe does not call for the rice to be cooked ahead of time. If you do use precooked rice, I would add the rice to your individual bowls and then ladle the soup on top.
It is typically a good idea to wash wild rice before cooking. It helps keep the rice from sticking together.
The rice should be chewy, not crunchy, with some grains burst open.
If you overcook wild rice, it becomes mushy.
Yes, wild rice is lower in calories and higher in nutrients than white rice.
Yes! Chicken broth is allowed on whole30, but make sure to check the ingredients. We love to make our own chicken broth!
Fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, and parsley add loads of flavor to the soup. Salt and pepper can also help to add flavor! If you are looking for another soup that’s loaded with flavor, try our Buffalo Chicken Soup.
Yes, you can put raw chicken directly into soup. If you are going to be boiling the soup or cooking it for an extended period it’s totally fine to put raw chicken into it. Chicken breasts need to cook for at least 15 minutes. I’d cook them for at least 30 in a soup.
How do you keep rice from getting mushy in soup?
To avoid soggy rice: Instead of cooking the rice in the soup, cook the rice separately.
When ready to eat, add cooked rice to a bowl. Serve soup on top of the rice. This prevents the rice from absorbing broth and turning mushy.
What to serve with this chicken and rice soup:
This recipe is so filling and comforting on its own! We love enjoying it with a:
- fresh bread – this is our favorite one!
- salad – we love this Kale Quinoa Salad or Easy Lemon Kale Salad!
- veggies – Green Beans Almondine or Shaved Brussels Sprouts
- even Healthy Chicken Tenders
How to Store Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Storing: This soup keeps for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
If you are storing this soup, see our tips above to avoid soggy rice!
Can you freeze this soup?: This soup freezes very well and will last for months in the freezer! I love these containers for freezing soup.
Check out this post on How to Freeze Soup.
Reheating: When you’re ready to eat, defrost the night before in the refrigerator. You can also heat in the microwave or on the stove directly from frozen.
More Soup Recipes You’ll Love
Looking for other soup recipes? Check out these 40+ Healthy Soup Recipes. Click here to grab our free healthy soup cookbook.
Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup celery chopped finely
- 1 cup onion chopped finely
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced- about 5 cloves
- 2 cups carrots sliced in small circles
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 4 bay leaves
- 1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts about 3 chicken breasts
- 8 cups chicken broth low or no salt-1.5 quarts
- 1 cup dry wild rice
Instructions
StoveTop Instructions
- Chop all vegetables (I prefer to put mine in the food processor!) In a large pot, heat olive oil in the pan and sauté celery, onion + garlic until fragrant and softened (about 5-10 minutes)
- Once cooked, stir in carrots and spices (including bay leaves).
- Place whole chicken breasts on top of vegetables. Cover with chicken broth.Stir in wild rice.
- Cover pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer over low-medium heat for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove bay leaves from the broth and discard. Remove chicken from the pot + shred on a cutting board with forks or in a mixer.
- Add shredded chicken back to the pot. Stir to combine and enjoy!
CrockPot Instructions
- Chop all vegetables (I prefer to put mine in the food processor!) In a large pot, heat olive oil in the pan and sauté celery, onion + garlic until fragrant and softened (about 5-10 minutes)
- Once cooked, add to crockpot base. Stir in carrots and spices (including bay leaves).
- Place whole chicken breasts on top of vegetables. Cover with chicken broth. Do not add the rice.
- Cover pot and cook for low for 4-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours (low is recommended)
- 30 minutes before you're going to eat- remove bay leaves from the broth and discard. Remove chicken from the pot + shred on a cutting board with forks or in a mixer.
- Cook rice according to package directions in a separate pot.
- Add shredded chicken back to the pot. Add cooked rice to the pot. Stir to combine and enjoy!
Video
This is simply the BEST chicken soup. This my go-to soup for enjoying at home and for sharing with others. As suggested, I cook the rice separately. Thank you so very much for this delicious recipe!
Another one of my favorites!
Perfect comfort soup that doesn’t need a winters’ day to eat it. I used an organic whole chicken and used that broth and chicken. I cooked the wild rice in my instant pot and froze what I didn’t need for the soup. I did put the rice in the bottom but honestly not sure if it made a difference cuz I scarfed it 🤭 The extra portions i put the rice in the bottom and the soup on top to freeze. I will add more broth to it next time as I love that part as well! 🥰 And I think the rice did absorb the broth once it was pre frozen and then thawed.
I’m glad you liked it Nancee! Making your own broth is the best – it makes such a flavorful soup!
After looking at your pictures and reading about soggy wild rice, I realized this is not actually just wild rice. It is a blend. Real wild rice is a grass that grows and is harvested from lakes and does not get soggy. It would be good to clarify this, as your recipe calls for wild rice, and I was ready to use only that. I think the taste and consistency would be much different if you only used wild rice than in using a blend. I am getting ready to make this and am sure it will be delicious, so I’m giving 5 stars, however, this should probably be clarified.
Delicious
Wonderful
This was easy to assemble and then I let the crockpot do all the work. The house smells amazing and the soup was super tasty.
If you wanted to sub the rice for cauliflower rice, how would you cook this recipe? Also, in the slow cooker what would the temp/time be? Thanks so much!
I haven’t tried this so I’m not sure how it would really affect the recipe. You’d probably need 1 cup less broth since regular rice absorbs broth. The cook time won’t really change, you need to cook it for the same amount of time so the chicken is cooked completely. I’d probably follow the recipe as is, just use 1 cup less broth, and add the cauliflower rice 1 hour before serving. It doesn’t really need very long to cook.
For crockpot cooking, do you sauté vegetables in a pan and then add to crockpot?
Yes, that’s what the recipe says under ‘crockpot instructions’
Do you have instant pot directions for this? Can’t wait to make this!
Sorry but I don’t. I tried it, but couldn’t figure out how to cook the rice with everything at the same time. It kept getting over cooked!
Made this for dinner in my crockpot and made the rice on the side. It was so delicious! I think making the homemade broth just took it over the top! Highly recommend!
THIS WAS AMAZING! I never attempted to make Chicken soup before and this is the perfect recipe for a beginner like me!
I followed the recipe to the t except for the broth. I purchased 1 broth full sodium and one no sodium. Let me tell you that was the perfect balance of sodium taste! Made this in my Le Creuset pot on the stove and it was truly perfect! Served it with a side salad and fresh Italian bread!
WOW! This was an excellent, easy and quick Chicken soup recipe!
Followed everything according to recipe.
Love that the chicken was juicy too!
Hello-
The recipe says stir in Wild Rice but then it says cook the rice according the package and add?
Crockpot way are we adding rice with everything and letting it cook for the recommended time?
Thanks for clarifying!
Thanks for pointing this out – I apologize for the typo and just fixed it! If you’re making this in the crockpot, I recommend cooking the rice on the side and adding it to pot at the end. Thanks!