chicken and wild rice soup

Surprise!!

No - that's not the recipe- but it is the inspiration.  It's one of Campbell's best soups. It's my husband's favorite.  

This is my second try at duplicating it.  The first time I was out of celery, which adds a lot of flavor. 

This time, I think it tastes very close to Campbell's, but fresher and homemade.

Darla's Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

4 stalks celery,diced

1 onion,diced

1 1/2 cup diced carrots

1 to 2 cups cooked chicken, diced

chicken broth (about a quart)

1 cup white rice (long grain, jasmine, or basmati)

1 small box wild rice ( I believe this was a 3 or 4 oz. package)

bay leaf

parsley

salt

pepper

The wild rice takes a long time to cook, so I began cooking it separately, using the package directions, before I started dicing the veggies.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in your soup pot and saute diced veggies until tender. 

Add diced chicken, chicken broth,and spices.  Go easy on the salt for now...you can always add more later.

Bring to a boil and stir in uncooked white rice. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is tender.

Add cooked wild rice, and more broth if needed. (The white rice will have absorbed a lot of broth)

Simmer another 10 minutes or so.  Taste and add salt if necessary.  Maybe a couple of splashes of hot sauce.  

My broth was a bit fatty as you can see by the shine.  I used broth that I had in the freezer from cooking a turkey breast.  Ordinarily, I would have used chicken soup base paste.

My husband really liked it. It's a filling soup - but not too heavy.  

This makes a big batch but should be okay to freeze some for later.