The Best Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
This creamy chicken and wild rice soup is hearty, flavorful, and easy to make with simple ingredients. A perfect weeknight dinner for soup season!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’ve made a lot of different chicken and wild rice soup recipes and this one is a keeper. Thank you!! -Kelly
How to Make Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
This stovetop chicken and wild rice soup is incredibly easy to make! The recipe calls for cooked wild rice and cooked chicken, which makes it so quick and simple to make on a weeknight (but it’s delicious enough to serve to company – I’ve done so many times!).
- Cook the carrots, celery and onions in a soup pot until tender.
- Add flour and cook until sizzling.
- Stir in chicken broth or stock and simmer until slightly thickened.
- Add cooked wild rice.
- Stir in milk or half-and-half (see the recipe for an important note about if you want an even thicker soup at this point!).
- Cook until thick and creamy.
- Stir in the chicken and heat through.
This soup is hearty, ultra-creamy, and perfectly thick with the best texture from the nutty wild rice and veggies. Keep in mind that the soup will continue to thicken as it cools.
A Few Quick, Important Ingredients Notes
While the ingredients for this soup are straightforward and simple, here are a few notes that will make this chicken and wild rice soup even more foolproof:
- Butter: As an alternative to butter for cooking the vegetables, you can sub in olive oil.
- Carrots + Celery + Onion: I recommend dicing the carrots into 1/4-inch pieces and chopping the celery and onions into smaller/finer pieces.
- Flour: The flour is used to thicken the soup. You’ll note in the recipe that there is an optional step to thicken the soup even further, if desired. See the note below for a gluten-free option.
- Wild rice: Wild rice or a wild rice blend will work well in this recipe. Avoid using wild rice blends or packages that have additional seasonings or excess salt. My go-to method for cooking wild rice is to use the Instant Pot. Add 1 cup wild rice and 1 1/4 cups water to the insert of an Instant Pot. Secure the lid. Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release.
- Cooked chicken: The meat from a rotisserie chicken works well in this recipe. You can also use canned chicken or leftover, cooked chicken. If you don’t have cooked chicken, dice chicken breasts or chicken thighs into bite-size pieces, season with salt and pepper, and cook in olive oil or butter in the pot at the beginning of the recipe. Once cooked through, remove to a plate and set aside to add back to the soup at the end.
- Milk or Half-and-Half: I recommend using 2%, whole milk, or half-and-half for a creamier soup.
Gluten-Free Option: For a gluten-free alternative, don’t add the flour. Proceed with the recipe. Before adding the milk/half-and-half, whisk 3 tablespoons cornstarch into the milk/half-and-half and stir the mixture into the soup. Simmer for a few minutes to thicken.
Make-Ahead Tips + Reheating Leftovers
- Plan ahead: Cook the wild rice and chicken and chop the vegetables in advance. Refrigerate separately (for up to several days ahead of time!) until you’re ready to make the soup.
- Expect a thicker soup: The rice absorbs the liquid in the soup as it cools, so soup that has been made ahead and refrigerated will be quite a bit thicker than when the soup was first prepared.
- How to reheat: Warm the soup over medium-low heat (or in a slow cooker set to low), and stir occasionally until heated through. Because the soup will likely be much thicker if made ahead, add milk, broth or half-and-half to adjust consistency, if desired. To keep the soup smooth and creamy, avoid boiling the soup when reheating.
Pro Tip: The soup can be kept warm in a slow cooker for several hours prior to serving. The soup may thicken during this time but can be thinned with milk or broth right before serving, if desired.
So simple. So hearty. So absolutely comforting. This cream chicken and wild rice soup is like a hug in a bowl…one of our favorite soups of all time!
The Best Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup diced carrots
- ½ to 1 cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced onion
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth or chicken stock
- 3 cups cooked wild rice or wild rice blend (see note)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (see note)
- 1 cup 2% milk or half-and-half
Instructions
- In a 6-quart pot set over medium heat, add the butter and cook until melted. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Stir to combine. Cover the pot, and continue to cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and moderating heat as needed to prevent sticking, until the vegetables are crisp-tender.
- Add the flour and stir to coat the vegetables evenly. Cook, stirring constantly, for 30 to 60 seconds.
- Slowly add the chicken broth, stirring or whisking constantly to avoid lumps.
- Stir in the rice, salt and pepper.
- Bring the soup to simmer over medium heat, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until the soup is slightly thickened.
- NOTE: Before adding the milk/half-and-half, assess whether you would like the soup thicker. If so, whisk the milk/half-and-half with an additional 2 to 4 tablespoons flour before adding to the soup.
- Stir in the milk/half-and-half. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often and moderating the heat to prevent sticking.
- Add the chicken. Stir and heat through. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve warm. The soup will thicken considerably as it cools.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from my friend, Machele
Recipe originally published October 2016; updated November 2026 with new recipe photos, recipe notes, etc.
One of the Hubby’s favorite soups! I added a bit of Herbs de Provence seasoning for a little more flavor and added slivered almonds – yum!
SO delicious and cozy on a winter day. Love the flavors! Thank you, MEL!
I loosely followed this recipe (I measure with my heart when making soup haha) and it was delicious and easy! I just put the uncooked rice in after I added the chicken broth, brought it to a boil, covered and reduced to a simmer for about 30 minutes. I did add a little extra broth since the rice soaked up a good bit. Worked perfectly and avoided an extra dish!
I love this soup! The only change I make every time is adding kale or spinach or beet greens. Yummy!
It was chilly today, and this soup hit the spot! I wasn’t sure it would be seasoned enough, but it was perfect! I might add more carrots next time.
I personally like creamier soups so I only use ~2 cups of chicken broth and whole milk. The only other wish I have is that there were more spices since it’s kind of bland. But nonetheless it’s still really good!
So delicious and homey on chilly nights. A wonderful, easy weeknight meal; made easier by the fact that it calls for items that I always have on hand.
So delicious and homey on chilly nights. A wonderful, easy weeknight meal; made easier by the fact that it’s made with items I always have on hand.
Pretty good! I added thyme and some italian seasoning blend. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. Oh wait, I was out of wild rice but I had a precooked microwave pouch of wild rice that I just dumped in, along with some leftover jasmine rice. Everyone loved it and it was such an easy dinner to whip up! Thanks!!
I made this for my family and they LOVED it. My husband put it on the list of favorite dinners! I was wondering if it could be made in the crock pot after the roux is added?
I haven’t tried that, but you could experiment. I think it could work ok as long as the slow cooker doesn’t over-heat the soup.
Hi Mel.
Can you freeze this soup? It is divine!
Hi Amy, it might be a bit grainy after freezing and defrosting because of the dairy, but it’s worth a try!