Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

• servings: 6 servings
• total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil

1 small white or yellow onion, peeled and diced

2 medium carrots, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

6 cups chicken stock (or veggie stock)

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts*

8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, diced

1 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed and drained

1 tablespoon finely-chopped fresh rosemary

2 bay leaves

2 cups plain milk (cow’s milk or plant-based milk)

2 large handfuls fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped

fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper

Directions

Sauté the veggies.

Melt butter or oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add carrots, celery and garlic and sauté for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the flour and sauté for 1 more minute, stirring frequently.

Add in the next round of ingredients.

Gradually pour in the chicken stock, stirring the soup frequently as you pour so that the clumps of flour can melt into the broth. Add the chicken breasts, mushrooms, wild rice, rosemary, bay leaves and stir to combine.

Simmer.

Let the soup continue cooking until it reaches a simmer. Then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer, cover, and cook for 40-45 minutes or until the wild rice is tender — being sure to stir the soup every 5-7 minutes so that the bottom of the pot does not burn.

Shred or dice the chicken.

Use tongs to carefully transfer the chicken breasts to a clean plate. Then you can either dice or use two forks to shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces, and stir it back into the soup.

Add the remaining ingredients.

Stir in the milk and baby spinach until combined.

Season.

Remove and discard the bay leaves. Taste and season the soup with however much salt and black pepper you think it needs.

Serve.

Serve warm and enjoy!