Creamy chicken and rice soup

A comforting cold weather soup. Handy to make with leftover chicken, as you’re likely to have the other ingredients on hand.

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow onion, diced
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 cups diced chicken breast (raw or cooked)
• 3/4-1 cup white or brown rice (3/4 cup makes a looser soup)
• 8 cups chicken stock or broth
• 4-5 drops Worcestershire sauce
• 6 drops Tabasco sauce (or to taste)
• A shake of cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk

Directions

1. Heat olive oil on medium heat in Dutch oven or other large pot. Saute onions until tender.
2. Add celery, carrots and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
3. If using raw chicken: Add raw diced chicken. Saute until chicken is no longer pink.
4. Add chicken stock and rice. Cover, bring to a boil and then reduce heat and let simmer until rice is cooked. White rice cooks faster than brown (approximately 20 minutes for white vs 40 for brown). Add 1 cup of water if the rice absorbs all the liquid.
5. In separate saucepan, prepare roux. Melt butter on medium heat. Add flour and stir with a wire whisk. Let cook a minute, stirring constantly.
6. Add milk slowly, whisking constantly to smooth out lumps. After milk is incorporated, continue cooking a few minutes, whisking occasionally, until thickened and bubbly.
7. Add milk mixture to soup. Stir.
8. If using cooked chicken: Add diced chicken.
9. Add Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and cayenne pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Notes

• Can add some roasted fingerling potatoes as a garnish, or parmesan cheese toasts would be great also.
• Add water when reheating leftover soup to loosen it up.
• Venus’s creamier version: Venus sautes onions in 8 tablespoons of butter, then slowly adds 1/4 cup flour, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes. She then proceeds to add carrots, celery, rice and broth as outlined in steps 2-4 above. After rice is almost cooked, she adds 1 cup of cream and 1/2 cup of sour cream before adding cooked chicken and final seasonings.

Link back to Creamy chicken and rice soup.