Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Mushrooms

Fall is definitely here and this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Mushrooms is one of the best comfort dishes to eat at this time of the year. It’s creamy, it’s cozy, and it’s comforting! All the best combinations for a heartwarming dinner.

Fun Fact! I come from Minnesota where wild rice grows in abundance. However, I only really started cooking with it when I moved to Germany. Strange how life works sometimes.

Ingredients for Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Mushrooms

Vegetables and herbs – potatoes, carrots, onions, and mushrooms.

Wild rice – either pure or mixed with other rice types.

Chicken meat – I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts. This is also a good soup to use up left over chicken. Just skip cooking the chicken breast in the soup and add the left over chicken (chopped) at the end.

Flour and cream – to thicken and make this soup creamy.

Seasonings & Spices – Salt, pepper, bay leaf and fresh dill and basil (can also use frozen or dried).

Step by Step Recipe

1. Chop carrots, onions, potatoes and slice the mushrooms. Chop the basil and the dill.

2. Measure out your rice and wash it.

3. Bring 2 cups of broth (any kind) and 3 cups of water to a boil. Add the chicken breast, rice, and bay leaf. After 5 minutes add the chopped potatoes. Cook everything for another 15 minutes. (You can cook everything together from the beginning if you wish, but the potatoes were too soft for my taste when I did that).

4. While the soup is cooking, sauté the onions, carrots, and mushrooms in two tablespoons of olive oil.

5. Once the water from the mushrooms cooks out, add a tablespoon of flour to the sautéed vegetables and mix until well-incorporated.

6. Take out chicken from the pot using kitchen tongs. Set it on a cutting board and let cool off until easy to handle. Or use tongs to hold it and cut the chicken into small squares.

7. Add the sautéed veggies to the soup pot and mix well. Add the chicken meat back in, pour in the heavy whipping cream and add the dill and basil and salt and pepper.

Add another cup of water if you would like to dilute the soup a bit as it will still have a thick consistency at this point. Add as much or as little water as you want.

What to serve with Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Mushrooms?

Bread – one of my favorite things to eat with the soup is just bread. We love sourdough when we can get it around here (haven’t made my own yet), but any kind of bread would do. Homemade dinner rolls would be awesome here, too.

Biscuits – If you have time to make these yourself, biscuits would be great with this soup.

Simple Salad – something like a garden salad or my Arugula Salad would work great here. Just toss some greens with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Use any additional veggies you might like.

Sandwich – any kind. Grilled anything would taste awesome here.

What kind of wild rice to use?

You can use any kind of wild rice that you like for this soup. I used a mixture of wild rice, brown rice, and normal rice. Something like this here (Amazon non-affiliate link). This Wikipedia page has a lot of information on wild rice in general if you’d like to learn more.

How to cook wild rice?

I cook my wild rice directly in the soup. Twenty minutes is enough time for it to become soft and chewy. It doesn’t make sense to cook the rice separately since you would need an extra pot for that, but that is also something you can do, if you like. Here is a post from The Spruce Eats on how to cook wild rice, if you need directions.

What kind of chicken to use for the soup?

I used skinless, boneless chicken breast in this recipe. You can also use chicken thighs or chicken tenders.

Tips for cooking soup

1. Throw in the potatoes five minutes after the rice and chicken have been cooking in the broth. This will ensure that you don’t have mushy potatoes in the end.
2. Remove soup from heat as soon as you add the cream so that it doesn’t separate.
3. Re-heating the soup is not a problem. Just heat it on medium heat until it’s warm. It tastes even better the next day.

Other Comforting Soup Recipes to try:

In addition to this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Mushrooms, here are my other favorite soups to try that are just easy to make and so comforting at this time of year:

Easy Recipe for Chili con Carne

Sausage Stew with Broccoli and Barley

Creamed Zucchini Soup with Bacon

Lastly, if you make this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Mushrooms, make sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating here! I’d love to hear back from you and will do my best to answer and respond to every comment. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram if you make this recipe. I’d love to see the photos of the recipes you have made!