Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
A homemade pot of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is the ultimate comfort food!
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Just over a week ago, I packed up my bags, grabbed my broom and loaded into the car with a couple of other guys to head out to a curling tournament. Yes, a curling tournament (called a bonspiel in curling lingo). I’ve mentioned before that I curl in the winter months at the Schenectady (NY) curling club, but this was the first time I’d been to an out-of-town bonspiel.
My wife dropped me off at the club on Wednesday afternoon so that I could carpool with the other guys. I’m not gonna lie. It felt a little bit like Mom dropping me off at summer camp. “Have fun, honey. Be good, and I’ll see you in a week!”
Ok, the tournament only lasted 5 days, but it was an action-packed 5 days. By rough count, there were about 100 games played over the course of the tournament. Our team only played in 5 games, and we ended up with 2 wins and 3 losses once the dust settled. I’ll take it. We could have done better, but we could have done worse. But what counts is we had a lot of fun!
By the time we made it back home late Sunday afternoon, I was ready for some tasty home-cooked comfort food. No offense to the food at the bonspiel, but it was what you might expect with catered fare for 175+ guys. It’s still pretty cold here in upstate New York (although still no snow at least!), so I decided a nice homemade soup was in order.
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup has always been one of my favorite comfort foods, so I grabbed a rotisserie chicken from the store and a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Wild + Brown Rice Blend. I often use a rotisserie chicken when making soup because (1) it’s easy, and (2) I also use the chicken to make some of the chicken stock needed for the recipe.
I’ve loved wild rice ever since I was a little kid. My Mom would serve wild rice alongside all sorts of meals, and I always saved the rice for last. Yup, I’m one of those people who saves the best part of the meal for the end. (This logic also explains why I’d eat all the way around the edge of my hamburgers when I was young. The best part was the middle, so I saved it for last!)
After college, it wasn’t unheard of for me to make just wild rice blend for dinner. Bob’s Red Mill Wild and Brown Rice Blend is now my go-to wild rice. We keep at least one or four bags of it in the pantry at all times. (Click here to find Bob’s Red Mill products near you.)
I’ll tell you what. After being on the road for several days, this Chicken Wild Rice Soup recipe hit the spot. My wife and I ate this soup for lunch all last week, and it was delicious! It’s hard to top a hot lunch in the winter, and this soup is a staple in our house during curling months (uh, I mean winter).
The taste of this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is absolutely amazing – add some saltine crackers on the side, and the flavor is winter comfort food at its best! There’s just something magical about long grain rice, shredded chicken and vegetables simmering on the stovetop.
To reheat leftovers of this soup, just place several ladles in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until soup is hot.
Did you make a batch of this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog) – I’d love to see your version!
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large deli rotisserie chicken meat removed and shredded (bones reserved)
- 5 cups water
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 large white onion diced
- 4 stalks celery cut into ¼” slices
- 4 medium carrots peeled and cut into ¼” slices
- 1½ tsp minced garlic cloves
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp Herbs de Provence dried thyme or dried rosemary can be substituted here
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 8 cups low-sodium chicken stock see note below
- 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Wild and Brown Rice blend
Instructions
- After removing meat from rotisserie chicken, place bones into a large pot filled with 5 cups of water. Simmer uncovered for about 1 hour over medium-low heat. Strain this stock into a clean bowl and discard bones. (Note: This will reduce to ~4 cups of stock after simmering.) Set stock aside.
- Using a large stock pot, add olive oil and place over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic; sauté, stirring occasionally, until onions begin to soften (~3-4 minutes). Add the salt, Herbs de Provence, black pepper and cayenne pepper; stir well.
- Add the reserved stock (from Step 1), additional 6 cups of chicken stock and rice. Stir and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, cover with a lid and simmer for 45 minutes, or until rice is tender but not overcooked.
- Stir in shredded rotisserie chicken and serve hot.
Notes
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Bob’s Red Mill.
The opinions and recipe are all my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Spiced!
Looking for more tasty soup recipes? Check out these other favorites, too:
Sounds like you had a blast at that curling tournament…sorry bonspiel (weird name btw). And congrats on your 2 wins, you should be proud of yourself!
BTW; I suggest that at the next bonspiel you ask to be the caterer for the event (I bet you could make some good money). And just imagine if you’d serve this legit Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, you’ll win raves and they might even let you win a couple of games. Ha!
#WolfpackBonspiel
Bonspiel is definitely a strange name. It sounds like some sort of science fiction event. Or maybe that’s what it really was…and curling was just my secret front. Haha! You know what’s funny? I’ve been approached by some folks at Schenectady Curling Club to make food. But when you put the pen to the paper, it’s really hard to make money catering. I might do it just once for fun, but it would be a lousy hourly pay! But if they let me win a game or two? Well then I’m in! When you coming up to curl with me?? 🙂 #WolfpackBrotherhood
Curling! Nope…never done it. But I would love to give it a try. I would even settle watching one of those tournaments. How fun. This soup looks delicious. Great idea using a rotisserie chicken. I am always drawn to those chickens in the store…they smell so good.
The tournaments are a lot of fun, Kathy! Although, to be fair, there is only so much curling you can watch before you get tired and start wandering out to local breweries in the city. I mean, I don’t speak from experience here or anything. 🙂 Rotisserie chickens are the best for quick and easy soups. They have great flavor, and I justify the slightly extra cost by using the chicken to make some of the stock for the soup, too.
David! David! David! I am in love with this recipe, your pictures are so beautiful, just makes me wanna dive into a big bowl of your beautiful soup 😉
Thank you so much, Gaila! Hey, let’s do this. I’ll make a giant vat of soup, and then you can legitimately dive into it. Sounds like fun, right? (Just kidding!!) 🙂
Ah I know what curling is, just Googled it, it´s quite famous here in Spain and I´ve seen it on the Olympics! How cool is it that you participate in it!! This wild rice soup looks amazing! Perfect!
ps. Me too, I also fell in love with wild rice as a child – Mom use to make tomato stew on top of wild rice or stampmielies (samp). I so miss that!
I had no idea that curling was popular in Spain! Yup, it’s definitely that sport that people only think about during the Olympics. But you know what? It’s really fun!! I get sad that it’s only in winter months, but then again I was feeling some aches and pains last night from playing so much. So now I need the summer months to recover. Haha! And it’s a pleasure to meet another wild rice lover out there! I seriously could eat wild rice like 3 or 4 times a week and not get tired of it!
WOA – Duuuude – CONGRATS!!!! 2 wins and a BOATLOAD of fun sounds pretty darn amazing! Next, we might see you curling away at the Olympics! BTW – when you said you took your broom…I began to picture all sorts of Nanny McPhee type shenanigans – apparently my mind can go from sane to weird in 10 seconds!
By the way – awesome soup to come home and hunker down with – I bet this was EPIC after all that tournament fare!
Hah! You will most definitely not see me anywhere close to the Olympics. Those guys are insanely good…well at least the Canadians are. I’n not gonna lie, I had to google Nanny McPhee. But hey, I kinda like that persona. Maybe next tournament, I’ll dress up as Nanny. 🙂
Hi David! I have that same bag of rice in my pantry. I quite often make a rice side to go with dinner, but as you’ve shown soup utilizes it wonderfully! Chicken soup is my go to when I’m under the weather. I was watching a British mystery series the other day and there was a curling challenge! I wondered if you had your own broom!? It’s a very interesting and intense sport and looks like a lot of fun!
I love whipping up a quick batch of wild rice as a side dish for dinner! But it was still a little cold here last week (not this week!), and I was craving a hearty soup. So this soup was born! So I’m curious about what British mystery series you were watching? If it references curling, I want to see it! Also, I do indeed own my own broom. And shoes. And gloves. Like any sport, there’s way too many things you want to get to “help your game” (also known as “look like a real curler”). 🙂
Hi David! The British series we were watching is “Murdock” and it’s on Netflix. Gary is big on British mystery/detective shows and I really did enjoy this series. Hope you have Netflix! What’s nice is he can watch one thing on TV and I can watch something else on my laptop. 🙂 It was in the last series, around episode four I believe.
Interesting! We do indeed have Netflix, so I’ll have to check this one out. The only problem now is finding time when both Laura and I can watch tv together… 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation!!
David this soup looks so delicious!! I love love chicken noodles soup but never really thought of swapping noodles for rice!! Great idea!!
I love a good chicken noodle soup, too, Ami…but wild rice has always been one of my favorites! One time, my mom got my a can of chicken soup with noodles instead of rice. Note the key phrase there: “one time.” Haha! This homemade version beats the heck out of the stuff in cans, too!
wow David, I didn’t even know what curling was, until I read your post! but I just google it and it sounds fun! Congratulations on winning 2 games, that is amazing! The soup look very comforting!
I was only vaguely aware of curling before we moved up here a few years back. When we drove by the curling club on the way to do some errands one day, I just started laughing. And then we joined. And now I’m addicted to the sport. It’s so much fun! And it’s a sport you can play your entire life…so bonus points for that one. 🙂
I’m 100% certain that I’ve never been curling and it sure sounds like you guys had a great time! There’s nothing better than coming home though and this soup looks perfect for a cold day meal! I heart chicken and rice soup and now I want to try it with wild rice!
Hey, you guys have a curling club down there in Charlotte! It’s pretty new, and some of the guys from our club just went down there for a tournament. You should check it out. Then join and start curling. Then come up to Schenectady for a tournament. I’ll make you soup. 🙂
That’s such a weird coincidence, because I used to sing backup in a band called The Outta Town Bonspiels. We only gigged in the winter. I love the idea of turning a rotisserie chicken into soup. Bravo. It looks delicious. And like you, I could easily eat a bowl of rice for dinner.
Jeff! I almost believed you for a minute there. And then I remembered who I was talking to. Hah! Although I do hear that wild rice makes a great meal between sets when you’re on tour with the band.
David, this looks fabulous! Can I use basmati rice instead of wild?
Thank you so much,, Rahul! You could certainly use basmati instead of wild, but I feel like wild rice brings flavor to this soup that you might not get with basmati. But I’m sure this soup would still be delicious either way! 🙂
I’ve been eating chicken soup for 3 weeks now, David! I don’t know what’s going on, but this is that kind of soup I’m craving for now. It’s always simple yet delicious and hearty! Answering your question, I was on the local news. That happened a number of years ago, when I was living in Russia and working at the museum, 3 times. But that was a professional thing. Do you count it? And yes, I’m that guy who saves the most delicious/favorite food for the end. It’s not that obvious these days I guess, but when I serve 2-3 kinds ice cream in one bowl, I always put a scoop of my favorite on the bottom haha:)
Wait, you were on local tv? You’re a superstar, and you’ve never told us about it, Ben! And 3 times?? Now I say you need to get on the local news in Canada. Then you could consider yourself an international superstar. Wouldn’t that be great? You could sign all of your emails as “Ben, the International Superstar”!
“grabbed my broom ”
Hi David Potter.
That is so mad that you spent 5 days at a tournament!!!! I can only imagine how over the mass cooking you must have been and luckily had this beauty which legit screams comfort- I grew up with rice in my soups (Obviously invented by the Persians lol)
Oh, you young ‘uns and your Harry Potter this and magical spell that. Haha! This soup was definitely what the doctor ordered after 5 days of mass catered food. It was easy to make and legit good! 🙂
I work with someone who is on a curling team. He really loves it. I have watched it on tv a long time ago, but I guess I don’t really know too much about it. One thing I do know is your chicken wild rice soup looks amazing. I could eat all week for work too.
Hey! Someone else who not only knows about curling, but actually has a connection to it! (I totally count your coworker as close enough to count as a connection here.) It’s a strange sport for sure, Dawn…but it’s really quite addicting to play. Easy enough to learn, but so very difficult to master. In my book, that’s a good sport. You don’t want a sport that’s too easy, but you need to be able to play. Anyways, let’s make (another) giant pot of soup for lunch this week, ok? 🙂
Curling isn’t really a big thing over here, but I always like watching it on the TV. I would love to give it a go.
We have been adding wild rice in to a lot of our soups to bulk them up a bit – so comforting.
Yeah, I don’t watch a ton of curling (probably because I’m either curling myself…or taking care of little Robbie), but I don’t recall seeing much about the British curling team. Don’t worry, though, the U.S. curling team takes a backseat to our Canadian neighbors. The Canadian government actually commissions studies about how to curl better. No wonder they are so darned good up there! And yes, yes, yes to wild rice in soups. My favorite for sure!
Way to go on the 2 wins! Love the curling lingo and your take of mom dropping you off. Pretty funny picture there.
Next time maybe bring something like this for your team and see how well you guys do. Glad you added that cayenne at the end, too. Looks killer buddy #WolfpackCurler
Haha…thanks, Kevin! We had a blast out there in Rochester. I’m thinking a batch of homemade soup definitely needs to go in the trunk next time we head out of time…along with the chips and beer. 🙂
WOW! I am in love with the recipe. looks so delicious. I can finish off in no time 🙂
We totally did polish it off in no time, Kushi…this soup made some excellent lunches last week! 🙂
Seems very healthy recipe. I can try this without chicken … Hope for the best.. Fingers crossed..
I bet it would still be a pretty tasty soup even without the chicken, Priya! Wild rice brings a ton of flavor! 🙂