Thirteen ingredients and an hour and ten minutes, and the rice takes most of it.
The chicken comes out of the pot after browning and goes back in at the very end. It is fully cooked before it ever leaves, and forty more minutes of simmering would only dry it.
Why This Recipe Works
- Browning cubed chicken first leaves fond the vegetables soften into.
- A wild rice blend needs thirty-five minutes covered before it is tender.
- Broccoli added in the last five minutes stays in florets rather than dissolving.
- A separate butter-and-flour base thickens without lumping into the soup.
- Returning the chicken off the boil keeps the cubes tender rather than tightening them.
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken breast in 3/4-inch cubes
- A pound, cubed rather than shredded.
- Wild rice blend, rinsed
- Three quarters of a cup. Rinsing matters: unrinsed blends cloud a soup that is meant to be creamy and pale.
- Small broccoli florets
- Two cups, in for the last five minutes only. The title covers them as 'veggies'; they are one of the defining things in the bowl.
- Butter, flour and half-and-half
- Two tablespoons each of butter and flour with a cup of half-and-half. Made up in a small pan of its own, not tipped into the soup.
How to Make It
Chicken cubes browned to 165°F, then set aside
Heat oil in a soup pot and cook chicken cubes until lightly browned and 165°F; transfer to a plate.
Onion, celery and carrots cooked five minutes
Cook onion, celery, and carrots 5 minutes.
Rice and broth, covered thirty-five to forty minutes
Add rice and broth; simmer covered 35 to 40 minutes until the rice is tender.
Broccoli in for five minutes
Add broccoli and cook 5 minutes.
A butter-flour-half-and-half base made separately and stirred in
Melt butter in a small pan, whisk in flour, then whisk in half-and-half; simmer until slightly thickened and stir into the soup.
Chicken returned and heated through without a hard boil
Return the cubed chicken, season, and heat through without boiling hard.
Two Pans, and the Small One Decides the Texture
This soup is CREAMY - that is the point, not a preference - and creaminess here comes from a thickener that is built somewhere else entirely. Almost everything happens in the soup pot, but the step that makes the difference between a smooth pale broth and a lumpy one happens in a small pan alongside it, in the last few minutes.
The soup pot
- Step 1
1 lb of chicken breast in 3/4-INCH CUBES, browned in 1 tbsp of oil UNTIL LIGHTLY BROWNED AND 165°F, then TRANSFERRED TO A PLATE. Fully cooked already - the safe temperature is reached here and nowhere else. It comes out because there are forty more minutes of simmering ahead and they would do nothing for it but dry it out. The chicken stays cubed rather than shredded.
- Step 2
1 diced ONION, 2 sliced CELERY ribs and 2 diced CARROTS, cooked 5 minutes in the fond the chicken left. All three are visible in the bowl and the title covers them only as 'veggies'.
- Step 3
3/4 cup of RINSED WILD RICE BLEND and 5 cups of broth, SIMMERED COVERED 35 to 40 MINUTES UNTIL THE RICE IS TENDER. This is the long stretch and the reason the recipe takes over an hour. Rinsed matters in a soup meant to look pale and creamy: the starch and dust on an unrinsed blend clouds it.
- Step 4
2 cups of small BROCCOLI FLORETS, and only 5 MINUTES. Late on purpose. Broccoli in from the start would be forty-five minutes in liquid and would collapse into the broth; five minutes leaves the small florets the photograph shows.
The small pan, alongside
- While the broccoli cooks
2 tbsp of BUTTER melted, 2 tbsp of FLOUR WHISKED IN, then 1 cup of HALF-AND-HALF whisked in after it, and the whole thing SIMMERED UNTIL SLIGHTLY THICKENED. The order is the entire point. Flour dispersed in fat first cannot clump; flour thrown into 5 cups of hot broth hydrates on contact and sets into lumps that no amount of whisking recovers. Thickening it here also means you can see how thick it is before it disappears into the pot.
The two meet, and then nothing boils again
The thickened base is STIRRED INTO the soup, and the cubed chicken goes back in - RETURNED, SEASONED AND HEATED THROUGH WITHOUT BOILING HARD. Two reasons for the gentle finish, and they are separate. Half-and-half held at a hard boil can split into grains and a thin liquid, which no stirring undoes. And the chicken has already been to 165°F once; a second hard boil tightens the cubes. Off the heat is where this soup ends.
Success Tips
- Rinse the rice blend or the finished soup goes cloudy and grey.
- Leave the lid on for the full rice simmer; a wild rice blend needs the trapped steam.
- Never let it boil hard after the half-and-half goes in — it can split.
Serving Ideas
Six bowls of thick creamy pale broth heavily flecked with dark wild rice, holding cubed chicken, cubed carrot, small broccoli florets, sliced celery and diced onion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why make the cream base in a separate pan?
Flour whisked into melted butter and then into half-and-half goes in smooth. Flour tipped straight into a pot of hot broth sets into lumps that will not whisk out.
Why does the broccoli go in so late?
Five minutes is all it needs to be tender. Added with the rice it would spend forty minutes cooking and break down into the broth.
Why take the chicken out and put it back?
It reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit in the first five minutes. Leaving it in for the forty-minute rice simmer would only make the cubes dry.
