Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup
Great for a cold day with fresh bread. This is a variation on one of the many copy-cat recipes you can find online for Panera Bread’s Chicken and Wild Rice soup.
Equipment
- Dutch Oven
- saute pan
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter
- 4 large Carrots, chopped
- 4 stalks Celery, chopped
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 large pieces Cooked chicken breast, chopped
- 4 cups Milk
- 1 box Uncle Ben's Long Grain & Wild Rice
- ⅓ cup flour
- 4 cup Chicken Broth
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a dutch oven place the chicken broth, rice and chicken and bring to a boil and let simmer after boil. This will cook the rice and bring everything to temperature when you combine.
- Melt the butter, and cook the chopped carrots, celery and onion until tender in another pan large enough to hold everything.
- Add flour and flavor packet from rice mixture to ensure that vegetables are coated with it and the flour has a chance to cook a little.
- When that happens add the milk. Keep stirring until it is bubbling.
- Slowly add the other mixture in until combined. Let simmer 15 minutes.
Notes
- Milk can be any variation 2% works well, whole milk will give you a creamier taste. 1% is a little watery. The original recipe called for cream. We found it too rich.
- I tried using olive oil instead of butter, but it lacked a creaminess, sometimes I will cut the butter in half and use olive oil when I use whole milk.
- I have added cooked broccoli in addition which is a fun flavor addition. We prefer the recipe as given.
- The original recipe I found called for less veggies, we like the vegetables, so I doubled it.
- Often I make it the day after roasting a whole chicken. We have one meal out of it, and the rest goes into the soup (which I double the recipe here), take the bones and make the broth.
- I do not add salt, but do add ground pepper