It's Decided: This Creamy Midwestern Chicken Soup Will Be Keeping Me Warm All Winter Long

This chicken and wild rice soup is a hearty meal ideal for a chilly day.

By
Liv Dansky
Liv Dansky
Freelance Recipe Tester/Developer; Food News & Deals Writer, Commerce
Liv Dansky has worked with Dotdash Meredith since 2019 as a recipe tester and developer and, more recently, as a writer for the commerce team. Her work can be found across brands like Food & Wine, Southern Living, Real Simple, Eating Well, and Serious Eats.
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and
Leah Colins
A studio portrait of editor Leah Colins.
Senior Culinary Editor

Leah is the Senior Culinary Editor at Serious Eats, and was previously a recipe developer and editor with America's Test Kitchen for almost 9 years. She has developed recipes for and edited over 20 cookbooks ranging in topic from bread baking to plant-based eating to outdoor grilling and so much more. While there, she also developed recipes and articles for Cooks Illustrated Magazine, Cooks Country Magazine, and ATK's digital platform.Before her life as a recipe developer, she cooked in 5-star and Michelin-starred fine dining establishments from coast to coast such as The Herbfarm and Aubergine Restaurant at L'Auberge Carmel; she also treasures her time flipping burgers on flattops in her teenage years, and baking and boxing cookies and pies at a wonderful family-owned German bakery in her early professional life.

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Published September 30, 2024
Bowl Chicken and Wild Rice soup on a terrazo surface, with napkin, spoon, sparkling water and second bowl

Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

Why It Works

  • Simmering aromatics with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs creates a flavorful chicken broth for the soup.
  • Fennel, lemon zest, and lemon juice brighten the soup and complement the earthy wild rice.
  • Adding a small amount of baking soda helps break down the tough fibers in the wild rice and reduces the cooking time.
  • Finishing the soup with heavy cream adds body and richness.

When sunlight is in short supply, winds are biting, and spirits are flagging, a batch of hearty homemade chicken soup can provide a much needed morale boost. For me, homemade chicken soup is a vital self-care strategy during chilly fall and winter months. One of my favorite new spins on classic chicken soup is this deeply savory and earthy chicken and wild rice soup recipe from our test kitchen colleague Liv Dansky. Dansky simmered batch after batch of chicken and wild rice soup to come up with this ultimate home-cooked version.

The foundation of this soup is homemade stock, which relies on bone-in chicken thighs for a richness and body. The broth is then boosted with celery, carrots, fennel, garlic, and thyme before earthy wild rice is added and simmered until the grains are cracked open and tender. The simmered chicken thighs are shredded and folded back into the soup before it’s finished with a bit of heavy cream for body and lemon juice and zest for brightness. It’s rich, nutty, and bright all at the same time—way more interesting than a basic chicken soup.

What Is Wild Rice?

Our editorial director Daniel Gritzer points out in his wild rice salad recipe that while many people are quick to note that wild rice isn’t real rice, the truth is that both "real" rice—i.e. the Asian cereal we call rice—and wild rice are the grains of aquatic grasses. The shortest answer for how wild rice is different from what we normally call rice (which includes all forms of rice, including white and brown rices) is that wild rice is a cereal native to the Americas and belongs to the genus Zizania in the family of grasses named Poaceae. Asian rice, on the other hand, is native to Asia (or, at least, it was domesticated in Asia), and belongs to the genus Oryza, which is also in the family Poaceae. ​​They're both grains from plants that belong to the same family of grasses. Wild rice was historically and remains a critically important grain for many Native American and indigenous communities, particularly ones in the Midwestern United States and in Canada.

Beyond these geographical and biological differences, wild rice’s firm texture, nutty flavor, and long black grains set it apart from its white and brown counterparts. Its signature firm chewy texture is due to its intact bran layer and the way it's processed through parching. Parching is the process of drying the grains over a fire and it gives wild rice its signature caramel-like, nutty, and smoky aromas. This process makes the hull more brittle and dry enough for long term storage. The resulting thick hull and rigid texture mean that wild rice requires a longer cooking period than white and brown rices. With its subtle floral, earthy, nutty flavor, wild rice is wonderful on its own as a simple side dish, in pilafs, salads, and dressings, and—of course—simmered in soups, as in this chicken and wild rice soup.

How to Guarantee a Hearty Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Use bone-in chicken thighs for a rich homemade stock. Skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs provide enough fat and flavor for a rich homemade stock but they're easier to work with than a whole chicken. The thighs provide ample flavor for the broth, and the simmered meat is also shredded and folded back into the soup for substance before serving.

Add some aromatics. Simple aromatics like celery, carrot, leek, and thyme further infuse the broth with flavor. If you don’t have a leek, you can substitute with one large onion, peeled and diced. 

Cook the wild rice in the stock. Instead of cooking the wild rice separately and adding it to the finished soup, simmering the wild rice directly in the prepared stock infuses a deeper, savory flavor into the grains. Cook the grains until swollen and cracked; this is when they have what I find to be the most pleasant chew—they're tender but retain a bit of their signature toothsomeness. 

Add baking soda to tenderize the wild rice. Due to its thick hull and firm texture, wild rice can take a very long time to cook until tender. One way to speed up the cooking process and to guarantee the grains soften is to add a small amount of baking soda to the soup as the grains simmer. Baking soda will slightly elevate the pH, and in a high-pH cooking environment pectin (the polysaccharide found in the cell walls of plants) breaks down and dissolves more quickly, leading to softer textures as the cell walls fall apart more readily. Just a small amount is added to ensure the flavor is not altered by it. We do not recommend adding more than the listed amount of baking soda to the recipe, as too much can make the soup bitter. If you prefer, you can omit the baking soda, just note that it will take 15 to 30 minutes longer to cook the rice.

Finish with cream. The homemade stock combined with the wild rice, chicken, and aromatics build a rich and hearty soup, but to turn it into a true stick-to-your-ribs meal, Dansky finishes the soup with a half cup of heavy cream. Make sure to add the heavy cream off the heat after the soup has finished cooking to ensure the cream doesn't split when you add it. The cream adds body to the soup, while a hint of lemon from juice and zest balances its richness.

Recipe Details

It's Decided: This Creamy Midwestern Chicken Soup Will Be Keeping Me Warm All Winter Long

Prep 15 mins
Cook 2 hrs 15 mins
Total 2 hrs 30 mins
Serves 6 to 8
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

For the Chicken Stock:

  • 3 pounds (1.35Kg) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

  • 3 quarts (2.8L) water

  • 2 medium celery stalks (about 2 1/2 ounces; 70g each), roughly chopped

  • 1 large carrot (6 ounces; 170g), roughly chopped

  • 1 large leek (7 ounces; 198g), washed and rinsed well of grit, white and light green parts halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 2 1/2 cups sliced)

  • 3 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume

  • 4 fresh thyme sprigs

For the Soup:

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 ounces; 56g)

  • 4 medium celery stalks with leaves (about 2 1/2 ounces; 70g each), sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 2 cups sliced), leaves reserved for garnish

  • 1 large carrot (6 ounces; 170g), halved and sliced 1/4-inch thick

  • 1 medium fennel bulb (8 ounces; 226g), chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

  • 3 medium cloves garlic (15g), minced

  •  2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

  • 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume

  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce; 30g)

  • 1 cup uncooked wild rice (about 6 1/4 ounces; 175g)

  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, optional

  • 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream

  • teaspoon grated lemon zest plus 2 tablespoons (30ml) lemon juice from 1 lemon

Directions

  1. For the Chicken Stock: In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, combine chicken, water, celery, carrots, leek, salt, and thyme sprigs. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, adjusting head as needed to maintain gentle simmer, until chicken is cooked through and tender, about 40 minutes.

  2. Using tongs, carefully remove chicken from pot and transfer to a medium bowl. Let chicken sit until cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes. Discard skin and finely shred meat. Set shredded meat aside and return bones to pot with stock. Continue to simmer until stock is flavorful and rich, 30 to 40 minutes.

  3. Using a fine-mesh strainer, strain stock into a heatproof bowl or large measuring cup. Wipe pot dry. Discard solids and use a ladle or large spoon to skim off any fat on surface of the stock. Set aside.

    Straining stock through a fine meshed sieve

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

  4. For the Soup: In the now-empty large soup pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add celery, carrots, fennel, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

    Vegetables cooking in a large pot

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

  5. Sprinkle flour over vegetables; cook, stirring frequently, until evenly coated and flour begins to stick to bottom, about 2 minutes.

    Vegetabled cooking in pot, with flour added and beginning to stick to the bottom of pot

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

  6. Slowly pour in the reserved chicken stock, whisking until the flour is fully incorporated. Stir in the rice and baking soda, if using, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until flavors meld and wild rice has split open and is tender but still retains a bit of chew, 40 to 50 minutes. Return shredded chicken to soup and simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in heavy cream, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

    4 imame collage.Top Left: Adding vegetables and rice into pot with broth. Top right: Adding shredded chicken into pot. Bottom Left:Adding cream into pot with broth. Bottom Right: Soup fully cooked in pot

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

  7. Divide soup evenly among serving bowls and top with reserved celery leaves.

    Bowl Chicken and Wild Rice soup on a terrazo surface, with napkin, spoon, sparkling water and second bowl

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

Special Equipment

Large soup pot or Dutch oven, tongs, fine-mesh strainer

Make-Ahead and Storage

The stock can be made, strained, and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. Shred the chicken and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Allow soup to cool to room temperature before storing in an airtight container. The soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days. To reheat, microwave or simmer in a saucepan until warmed through. Avoid bringing to a rapid boil to ensure the cream does not separate.

The soup can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. To defrost, thaw soup in fridge overnight before reheating in the microwave or on the stove until warmed through.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
529Calories
35gFat
15gCarbs
43gProtein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6 to 8
Amount per serving
Calories529
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 35g45%
Saturated Fat 14g71%
Cholesterol 250mg83%
Sodium 1166mg51%
Total Carbohydrate 15g5%
Dietary Fiber 2g9%
Total Sugars 3g
Protein 43g
Vitamin C 6mg30%
Calcium 81mg6%
Iron 3mg15%
Potassium 686mg15%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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