I love a good hearty, stick to your ribs kind of soup in the winter, and while spring is approaching it hasn’t quite made it to Alberta in the way I want yet. Those groundhogs here were bound and bent that we were getting another 6 weeks of winter.
Any time that I have rotisserie chicken or a roast chicken, I know I am going to have left overs and this is the perfect recipe to use those up! If I am craving this soup, I have also been known to grab the prepackaged chicken at the grocery store from the day before’s rotisserie chickens.
Ingredients
- 3 cups of chicken broth (or 3 cans – I’m pretty sure it works out to be about the same amount, I don’t usually have canned chicken broth on hand, I use 3 cups of water and 3 heaping tablespoons of chicken bouillon).
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup uncooked wild rice – I use the Uncle Ben’s Garlic and Olive Oil Wild Rice
- ½ cup finely chopped green onions
- ½ cup butter
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon Thyme
- Salt and Pepper to your desired amount.
- 2 cups half and half
- 1½ cup cubed or shredded cooked chicken or turkey
- 1/2 – 2/3 cup of bacon bits I use the Kirkland variety.
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large saucepan, combine chicken broth and water. Add wild rice and onions. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30-45 minutes (until rice is cooked, there is going to be extra broth DO NOT GET RID OF IT! If you do you are tossing out your soup!
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter, stir in flour, salt, seasoning, and pepper. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly.
- Gradually stir in half and half with the butter/flour mixture and cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.
- Add this creamy mixture back into the saucepan with the rice/broth.
- Add remaining ingredients (chicken, bacon). Heat on low, stirring every once in a while, for at least a half an hour. Do not boil. The mixture will look thin, but the longer you heat the soup, the more the flavors marry and the more it will thicken.
This soup is best served after gently heating for an extended period of time (even a few hours) or the next day! For added flavor try a bit more add a few more herbs for seasoning (put a bit of poultry seasoning in!) and/or MORE bacon.
This soup freezes incredibly well and reheats fabulously! I usually have a container of this in the freezer for the nights I have no desire to cook anything!
This recipe is tweaked a bit from one found over at Pinch of Yum, I just changed a couple of ingredients to better suit my taste ( and my desire to not have to cook and chop bacon)
Cheers!
Marissa