Chicken & Wild Rice Soup (No Heavy Cream)

A classic fall soup that hit ya in all the right places! I’ve made mine on the healthier side with no heavy cream and more specifically oat milk. You can use whatever kind of milk you prefer or substitute with heavy cream if you don’t care about the amount of fat or dairy.

Of course this soup includes chicken and rice, but I also added veggies like onion, celery, mushrooms, multi-color carrots and kale.

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 T butter

• 1 T olive oil

• 3 chicken breasts

• 1/2 c yellow onion, chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 c celery, sliced (about 5 stalks)

• 1 1/2 c carrots, sliced (about 5 carrots)

• 8 oz white mushrooms, sliced

• 1 t salt

• 1/2 t pepper

• 1/2 t thyme

• 1 T fresh curly parsley

• 1 chicken bouillon packet

• 1 1/2 c wild rice

• 1/2 c dry white wine (optional)

• 8 c broth

• 2 T lemon juice

• 2 c milk

• 1/4 c corn starch

• 4 cups/handfuls kale, chopped

Directions

1. In a large pot on medium to medium-high heat, melt the butter with the olive oil. Then add in the chicken breasts and sear both sides. About 3 minutes each side and then remove from the pot.

2. Add in the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Then add in the celery, carrots, mushrooms, salt, pepper, thyme, parsley, and bouillon. Cook for until veggies are tender, about 5 minutes, mixing occasionally.

3. Then add the rice, wine, broth, lemon juice and your chicken. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes. You can then add the milk, corn starch and kale and remove the chicken from the pot. Cook for 5 more minutes while you shred your chicken.

4. Add the chicken back in and serve topped with fresh parsley.

Notes

Gluten-free: This recipe is gluten-free

Dairy-free: This recipe is dairy free if you use dairy-free milk. I personally used oat milk.

Butter: Feel free to substitute with coconut oil.

Chicken: I recommend substituting with white peas or chickpeas if you are looking for a meatless option. You could also try tofu.

Vegetables: be creative with what veggies you use. Use up what you have in the fridge or add in your favorites. I’ve made a version where I included butternut squash one time.

Curly Parsley: You can use dried parsley, but I always like to have at least one fresh herb in my soup, so I grabbed a bunch of fresh.

Wild Rice: Feel free to substitute with another type of rice if you prefer.

White Wine: You can use a dry white wine (I used Chardonnay) or white cooking wine.