Creamy chicken and wild rice soup is packed with vegetables, creamy broth, and flavorful herbs. It’s the perfect soup for simmering on chilly evenings.
I love making a roasted whole chicken, then saving the leftover chicken for later meals like southwest chicken salad, sourdough chicken pot pie with biscuits, or a quick soup like this one.
During the fall and winter months (also known as soup season around these parts!), you will often find a pot of hearty soup bubbling away on the stove all day long.
We eat it for lunch and dinner. If someone is hungry between meals, they can grab a ladle of soup.
This chicken and wild rice soup regularly makes its way into our dinner rotation this time of year, and is a favorite soup of mine for a cold day. You will want to print the recipe off to make it over and over again!
There’s so much flavor packed into this rich, creamy, chicken soup. Notes of bright lemon mixed with the savory taste of tender chicken and delicious herbs, makes this meal hard to resist! It’s perfect and filling on its own, but I highly recommend serving it with a side of homemade sourdough crusty bread.
Nothing beats dipping warm sourdough bread, smothered with homemade butter, into your hot soup. Nothing.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Nutritious – This creamy soup is packed full of nutritious whole ingredients like chicken, wild rice, celery, carrots, lemon and an assortment of herbs. This delicious soup is a great way to get a nutrient dense meal on the table for your whole family to enjoy!
Simple – Although there are a handful of ingredients that make up this recipe, they are all simple and come together quickly into the best homemade soup.
Cold weather recipe – The best part about the cooler months is making warm, comforting meals to cozy up with during those chilly days. This recipe is a great one to add to your cold weather recipe collection.
Ingredients
Wild rice blend – If you do not have wild rice you could also substitute with white rice or brown rice.
Chicken stock – I like to use homemade bone broth because it is inexpensive and has a lot of health benefits. Check out my post on homemade bone broth to learn how to make your own.
Herbs – For the rosemary, thyme, celery seed and bay leaves, you can opt to use fresh herbs if you have them, or grow them in your garden.
Chicken breasts – You can also substitute skinless chicken thighs, a pre-made rotisserie chicken, or any leftover shredded chicken you may have.
Lemon – Consider opting for organic lemon since you will being using the lemon zest in the soup.
Whipping cream: You can also use heavy cream or light cream.
All purpose flour – You could also make this gluten free by making a cornstarch slurry out of water and cornstarch.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Modifications and Variations
To make creamy chicken and wild rice soup in a slow cooker:
Add all of the ingredients (except for the flour, butter, cream, and milk) to the slow cooker. I would recommend leaving the chicken breasts whole. Cook on low for five hours. Take out chicken and shred. Add it back to the slow cooker. Create the roux in a separate pot and add it to the slow cooker. Add the cream and stir until soup has thickened. Serve.
To make creamy chicken and wild rice soup in an instant pot:
Press the sauté setting. Add butter, carrots, celery and leek (or onion) and cook until the vegetables are tender.
Add the chicken broth, diced chicken, wild rice, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, celery seed, and bay leaf.
Place the lid on, and lock. Select High Pressure. Adjust time to 5 minutes cook time and start.
Allow the pressure cooker to cook and then when the timer goes off, allow it to natural release for 5-10 minutes. Switch to venting to quick release the rest of the pressure.
Create the roux in a separate pot. Turn the instant pot to sauté, add to the flour mixture to the simmering soup. Whisk until dissolved.
Turn off the instant pot and add remaining ingredients.
How To Make Creamy Chicken And Wild Rice Soup
Step 1: In a large pot, cook carrot, celery, and onion in the melted butter over medium heat until the vegetables are tender.
Step 2: Season with salt and pepper. Add the wild rice, chicken stock, rosemary, thyme, celery seed, and bay leaves.
Step 3: Raise the heat slightly to allow soup to simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
Step 4: Add chicken pieces, simmer for approximately 20 minutes more until chicken is cooked and rice is tender.
Step 5: To finish the soup, add zest of one lemon and lemon juice, whole milk, and cream. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.
Step 6: To thicken the soup, melt 1⁄4 cup of butter in a separate small pot and whisk 1⁄4 cup of flour into it and stir for a minute or two.
Step 7: Add this flour and butter paste to the soup to thicken.
Step 8: Bring the soup back up to temperature and serve with fresh thyme sprinkled on top.
Tips
- The longer the soup sits, the more the flavors develop. If you’re able to make it earlier in the day and have it sit for several hours before reheating it, the lemon flavors really come out best. Store in the fridge or continue to simmer on the stove.
- Be sure to zest the lemon lightly, getting just the bright yellow skin off and not going into the white part of the skin. This keeps the zest from being bitter.
- Make a double batch to have leftovers all week.
Recipe FAQs
To make a stock from scratch in the instant pot; take water, chicken bones, whatever veggies scraps you have on hand, some seasonings and apple cider vinegar. Combine them into the instant pot and cook it on low pressure for 240 minutes and then again for 240 minutes. To see detailed instructions and measurements, see my post on how to make bone broth in the instant pot.
If you plan to meal prep this soup, I would recommend cooking the rice separately from the soup to keep it from becoming mushy as it sits in the fridge Then add in as much rice as you want in each bowl.
Yes. Instead of making the flour and butter roux, create a corn starch slurry. You’ll need 1-2 tbsp of cornstarch with a few tablespoons of cool water. Stir until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add a little bit of the cornstarch slurry to the bubbly soup a few minutes before serving. Stir and allow it to come to a simmer, and watch it thicken. Keep adding a little more slurry until it reaches the thickness you prefer.
Store this soup in an airtight container for up to three to five days. Store the rice in a separate container from the soup and add it when you are ready to serve. You can freeze this soup up to three months, being sure to freeze the soup and rice in separate containers.
More Soup Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe From Scratch
- Easy Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
- Tomato Soup From Fresh Tomatoes
- Homemade Creamy Chicken And Gnocchi Soup
- Easy Zuppa Toscana Soup
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Creamy Chicken And Wild Rice Soup Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Dutch Oven or large pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups carrot, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 2 large onions, sliced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup brown rice or wild rice blend
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 2 bay leaves, optional
- 2 chicken breasts, about 12 oz, cut into bite sized cubes
- Zest of one lemon
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups whipping cream
To Thicken
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup flour
Instructions
- In a large pot, cook carrot, celery, and onion in the melted butter over medium heat until the vegetables are tender.
- Season with salt and pepper. Add the wild rice, chicken stock, rosemary, thyme, celery seed, and bay leaves.
- Raise the heat slightly to allow soup to simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
- Add chicken pieces, simmer for approximately 20 minutes more until chicken is cooked and rice is tender.
- To finish the soup, add zest of one lemon and lemon juice, whole milk, and cream. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.
- To thicken the soup, melt 1⁄4 cup of butter in a separate small pot and whisk 1⁄4 cup of flour into it and stir for a minute or two.
- Add this flour and butter paste to the soup to thicken.
- Bring the soup back up to temperature and serve with fresh thyme sprinkled on top.
Notes
- If you do not have wild rice, you could also substitute with white rice or brown rice.
- I highly recommend using homemade bone broth for superior flavor and nutrition.
- For the rosemary, thyme, celery seed and bay leaves, you can opt to use fresh herbs if you have them, or grow them in your garden.
- You can also substitute skinless chicken thighs, a pre-made rotisserie chicken, or any leftover shredded chicken you may have.
- Be sure to zest the lemon lightly, getting just the bright yellow skin off, and not going into the white part of the skin. This keeps the zest from being bitter. Consider opting for organic lemon since you will being using the lemon zest in the soup.
- You can use light cream or heavy cream in place of whipping cream.
- You could also make this gluten free by making a cornstarch slurry out of water and cornstarch.
- The longer the soup sits, the more the flavors develop. So if you’re able to make it earlier in the day and have it sit for several hours before reheating it, the lemon flavors really come out best. Store in the fridge or continue to simmer on the stove.
- Make a double batch to have leftovers all week.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The soup was so good! I made it tonight and it was a hit! I really enjoyed the lemon flavor, it was not too strong, just the right amount. The herbs really made this soup stand out, it was a very good blend! Absolutely making this again!
Amazing! Everyone loved it.
Delicious! I only had Jasmine rice but still turned out wonderful! Served w a slice of sourdough- yum!
If I make a day ahead of time should I hold off thickening it until day of?
Also can this be made in an instant pot?
I would wait to thicken it until the day of.
Best soup ever!! And it’s not a complicated recipe. Thank you, Lisa.
I made this for my family for dinner tonight. It was a hit! I was a bit skeptical about adding lemon to a cream based soup but it totally worked and added a lot of flavor.
Could this at all be modified for a slow cooker recipe?
I’ve never tried it, but I would think so.
Your timing is impeccable, Lisa! I was just going to look this very recipe up for dinner tonight!
Love that! Hope you enjoy the updates!
I don’t see leek in the ingredients but Instructions 1. states to cook leek with carrots etc. I just wanted to be sure of amount because I’m not very familiar with leek and cooking it (ha, not much of a cook). I’ve seen them in store though so not all hope is lost. Thank you for the clarification in advance and can’t wait to make this!
You can use leeks instead of onions in the recipe or a combination of both! The recipe calls for two large onions, so you would just want to eyeball about that amount of a mixture of the two or just of leeks. It’s honestly a taste preference!
Thank you, it is a staple at our home now.