Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

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This was a last minute kind-of impromptu meal! The weather here has been crazy…one day its 70 and less than 24 hours later the high is in the 40’s.  It’s really been freaking my body out! Hot-cold, hot-cold, hot-cold! Make up your mind! I mean I don’t want to complain, because quite honestly I’m not a big fan of cold weather, but I just want it to stay one way or another… preferably towards the 70 degree end if at all possible!

Anyways, My original dinner plan for the evening was to make a chicken casserole that I had made awhile back, but all I really wanted was a hearty soup… I spent some serious quality time in class (oops!) searching for recipes, I finally the perfect recipe.

I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous making this one.I mean at first it seemed fine, start by cooking the chicken and cutting it in to small pieces, chop and sauté the vegetables you’d like to add, so far so good…and then came the serious part. Make the roux.  What the heck’s a roux you ask? I had no idea either (that shows you how new I am to this whole cooking thing!) Well, i did the research and it’s used to thicken sauces and soups… here’s an article from allrecipes.com that explains how to make a roux.  You’ll be happy to know that I rouxed (not sure if this is really  word, but now it is!) away and the soup turned out delicious! Now whether or not I rouxed properly is an entirely different issue 🙂

Here’s the recipe, enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
  • 1 cup cooked brown rice (or white!)
  • 1/2 cup diced carrot
  • 1/4 cup diced celery
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 4 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1-1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsp white whole wheat flour
  • 4-5 cups chicken broth/stock
  • 1/2 cup light sour cream
(Because this recipe was so last minute, I didn’t have too many vegetable options, but the original recipe called for broccoli as well and I bet that would’ve been delicious in here!)
Instructions: 
1. Prepare rice and chicken if not already using leftovers:
One cup dry, rice prepared with 1 cup water and 1 cup chicken stock adds depth of flavor. Follow package directions for cooking time. Saute chicken seasoned with salt and pepper in a small amount of oil over medium-high heat just until golden. Remove from heat and shred or chop into small pieces. Set aside.
2. Saute vegetables:
Heat a small amount of oil to medium and saute carrot, celery and onion just until tender. Add garlic. Saute one minute more and remove from heat. Set aside.
3. Make the roux.
In the same pan the vegetables were sautéed in, add oil and flour. Over medium heat, scrape cooked bits of vegetables (and chicken) from pan and incorporate into roux. Cook the roux until golden.  Depending not the type of flour you use the roux may be lighter (white flour) or darker (wheat flour).
4. Make the broth.
Add chicken stock a half cup at a time to roux and stir continuously until roux is incorporated into stock. Continue cooking and stirring over medium heat until slightly thickened and bubbling. Add sour cream and incorporate.
5. Add all the important stuff. 
Add shredded chicken, 1 cup of rice, and sauteed vegetable mixture in to broth. Simmer until desired thickness, 20-30 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to desired taste.

2 thoughts on “Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup”

  2. Your soup sounds delicious! I really only know what a roux is/how to make it because I’ve watched my mom make it a thousand times to make gravy, soup, cream sauce, etc. Pretty simple and it works wonders!

    Reply

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