Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

My love affair with soup has been well documented on this blog. My love affair with chicken wild rice soup started the summer after I graduated HS and would call Einsteins Brother's every Friday to see if their version was being served that day.

I have a good friend that owns a catering business and my kids constantly BEGGED me to get some of her Turkey Wild Rice soup - which isn't always available - but I would stock up when I could. So - our expectations were extremely high.

I've made different recipes over the last few months and asked for comments from the peanut gallery. Mr 15 said it needed more long grains and wild rice. Mr V said more chicken. Girls said more veg. I thought it needed to be just a touch creamier.

I FINALLY perfected Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. I'm super stoked about it!

As usual - when I make soup I make an absolute ton. Great for freezing and/or sharing. I did both. Shared with a sick neighbor and put 2 quarts in the freezer. It's what I call a "bonus" dinner - same amount of work/time but 3 or 4 dinners out of it! So awesome especially during this crazy sports season. THIS RECIPE MAKES 6 QUARTS! So if you aren't going to share or freeze - make changes accordingly.

I've also included a BUNCH of my *quick cheats* to make this a delicious soup that tastes like it cooked all day - in 20-30 minutes.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
1/4 c butter
medium onion, diced*
1/4 c flour
1 c carrots (shredded/thinly sliced) I bought pre shredded
5-6 c chicken stock (depending on how thin/thick you want it)
1 1/2 lbs cooked chicken**
2 6.2 oz boxes Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice fast cook w seasonings included -cooked***
2 1/2 c heavy cream
1 can corn
1 cup frozen peas
Salt and pepper

Get your rice going in the microwave. Then, get your butter going in your soup pot on about medium/low.

Add diced onion and let cook for a couple minutes - not translucent. Add shredded (or thinly sliced) carrots and cook until the onions are finally translucent. Add flour and let the uncooked flour taste cook out - stir frequently to make sure the onions and carrots are coated in that roux - just a couple minutes. Add chicken stock a cup at a time to marry the roux with the stock.

Add cooked chicken. Add salt and pepper. I recently heard on some food show that you need to season with S&P through every step of the cooking process - if you wait until the end everything just tastes overly salty and peppery. I love salt - but I'm taking baby steps to see if this method can work for me.

Let simmer for about 10 minutes. If you are in a hurry - 5 minutes with the lid on - that will trap the heat and create steam warming things up more quickly.

Add rice. This will bring the temperature of the soup down a bit. So simmer for another 2-3 minutes before adding the heavy cream 1/2 c at a time. You just don't want to introduce the cold cream to the hot pot too quickly.

Traditionally, this soup has all the ingredients listed above - but is heavier on the carrots and includes celery (which I LOVE). BUT - I have a child that is allergic to celery (I know!) so I omit it. If I were going to include celery - I would add it at the same time I added the onion so it would have enough time to get soft. I added corn and peas to bump up the veg - but next time I make it I'll omit the peas - although a couple of my kids really liked it with the peas. Personal preference I guess.

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