There is nothing like a warm, comforting bowl of soup on a foggy, rainy or chilly day. My creamy Chicken or Turkey Wild Rice soup has been in our rotation a long long time. This week, making this soup was spurred by chicken being on a rocking sale at my local Ralph’s. As with many things in my kitchen, recipes are pulled up / remade and shared with family based on what is on sale or looks good at the grocery or what I found at the farmer’s market. This week it was bargain basement priced chicken!
Can I really interchange Chicken and Turkey?
Yes, yes, yes ! I have made this soup – essentially the same way for years and years using either chicken / chicken stock or turkey / turkey stock. You can make your own stock using my recipe found here, or buy your stock. Obviously making your own bone broth or stock will include more vitamins and bone marrow — providing needed collagen (yes please!), amino acids for gut health, electrolytes for fluid balance, Iron and other antioxidants. It will also be cheaper, and include less preservatives than purchasing stock.
I know chicken stock is readily available but did you know – TJ’s seems to have Turkey broth near Thanksgiving – so if you aren’t going to use your Thanksgiving Turkey Carcass to make some stock – definitely buy an extra container or two of turkey broth. Then you can use leftover turkey and your TJ’s broth to make this soup! Another tip – look at the expiration date on the stock when you buy it… I believe it lasts almost a year in your pantry – so you’d be good to buy a couple while there!
Are you going to use Chicken or Turkey today ?
Are there other variations I could try ?
You can customize this soup to your needs and your pantry. I’ll provide the recipe in the way that I like to make it – but by all means please consider your family and friends and what you have on hand and adjust as you like.
#VegItUp
No reason not to increase the veg in this soup. Vitamins are good for you, bulk up the food in your belly for few calories and help you to get the fibre you need. I like to start with a pot about 1/3 full of veggies. Using my measurements below will give you a good amount of vegetables in your soup. Obviously – you can use more or less…
Making Stock – Utilizing the Carcass – or Not…
I really like to use this recipe after Thanksgiving. It makes me feel good to utilize all parts of the bird / reuse the roasted carcass and have a different way to use up leftover turkey. It also makes me happy to know I’m providing nutrition to my friends and family in just the way I know my Grandma did… Again, my stock / bone broth recipe is interchangeable Turkey / Chicken — and that recipe is here.
If you don’t have time or the inclination to make your own stock – then by all means – use the broth you bought from TJ’s or wherever !
Changing up the Herbs
I’ve tried this recipe with all different herbs – but I found that I like Rosemary the best. My brain seems to think that poultry seasoning or even just Thyme would be better – but it isn’t – for my palate. Of course I recommend the rosemary – as I just said – but if you have a rosemary hater in the family, by all means substitute Thyme or Poultry seasoning !
Brothy vs. Cream soup
Yep – that’s another option – if you are needing to be dairy free – you could exclude the creamy (milk + flour) directions and go straight to dinner excluding those steps.
Cooking rice separate vs. in the pot with the soup
You could cook the rice separate, while you are sautéing the veg (or even use left over rice from a different recipe) to save time. Although I like to have the rice cook IN the soup – adding additional thickening and depth of flavor. (Like when you add pasta water to your pasta dishes…) It does take more time as written, tho.
White Rice vs. Brown Rice vs. Wild Rice
Did you know wild rice has fewer calories than brown rice and 2X the protein??? Also – Wild Rice isn’t actually a rice, but is rather a semi-aquatic grass that is grown near the great lakes… Lastly it is one of the two native grains to the US. I didn’t know all that…did you? Go for the wild rice unless, of course, you don’t have any. (ha ha) Then use what you have. Timing for cooking brown rice and wild rice should be about the same. If you only have white rice it will take up less water (broth) and will be quicker to cook. So – just set a timer and check on your rice if you change it up.
Maybe you should make some bread to go along with this creamy chicken or turkey wild rice soup?
So, you’re cooking soup and wild rice takes an hour to set. It’s a chilly, rainy or cold day outside so why not also make some bread or rolls to go with your soup? I have several bread recipes on the site. The rolls I made are posted here. Here’s a teaser…
OK Ok stop drooling over the buns… and let’s get back to the soup! Not only is this soup delicious, but it also serves as a warm hug on a cold, foggy or blustery day and is also quite nutritious. Wild rice is a great source of fiber and protein, while chicken/turkey is a great lean protein and the vegetables (#VegItUp) add plenty vitamins and minerals.
I’d love to hear from you – please leave a comment below with your thoughts on this recipe or any variations you tried!
Creamy Chicken or Turkey Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
Main Components
- 4 C Chicken – or Turkey meat, in bite sized pieces
- 8 C Stock – Chicken or Turkey
- 1½ C Wild Rice – I used slightly more than 1.5 C last go… could go up to 1¾C or so easily.
Vegetables
- 1 Tbl Butter – or olive oil
- 6 Large Carrots – or about 1.5 – 2 C Diced
- 6 Large Stalks Celery – or about 1.5 – 2 C Diced
- 1 Large Onion – or about 1 C Diced
- 4 Large Garlic Cloves – or about 1.5 Tbl Minced
- 2 tsp Fresh Rosemary – minced
Creamy Bits
- ⅓ C Flour
- 2 C Half and Half – can use heavy cream
- ¾ C Milk – can use all half and half or any combo really
Finishing Soup
- ¾ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Pepper
- 1¼ tsp Vinegar – or lemon juice
Instructions
- Organize your Ingredients.
- Clean and Chop all your Vegetables.
- Saute the Celery, Onion and Carrot in a large pot with some butter or olive oil stirring for a few minutes. Add some S&P to the veg.
- Partially cover veg, and sweat for about 10 minutes.
- Add the Garlic – and cook for 1-2 min till it smells all nice and garlic-y
- Add the rosemary and stir till you smell the rosemary. (1-2 min)
- Add the broth, meat, and rice. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer. Simmer about 1 hour 15 min – and then check your rice and continue cooking based on texture of the rice. (This is assuming it's wild rice. If using other types of rice check much earlier for white (20 min) or brown (30 min))
- Mix up your preference and amounts of heavy cream, milk, 1/2 and 1/2 etc. to make 2 ¾ C total. In a bowl whisk the milk / cream with the flour.
- Add the creamy bits to your soup. Simmer for 8-10 minutes till thick and warm. Taste the soup – how is the S&P ? Do you need more? Add the vinegar / acid to the soup and re-taste and see how it changes with just that little bit!
- Serve to your friends and family !!! (Do you have fresh rolls or bread to share?)
