Recipe Review: Chicken, Wild Rice, and Mushroom Soup

Nothing is better than a warm, filling soup on a chilly day. Not that we have days like those around here often, but every time I get the chance I make a comfort soup! Typically, we go for thicker, heartier soups like curried butternut squash (upcoming!) or roasted tomato, but I ran across several variations of this recipe and just had to try it.

(Personal photo)

There's several easily accessible variations of this soup, for example here, here, or here. Mostly, these are similar soups with tiny differences (mushroom choice, or whether to add a cream-of-mushroom soup to the mix). I took my favorite parts of all of these ideas and melded a super-soup of convenience and taste.

Ingredients: 
2 8-oz packages of microwaveable Uncle Ben's Wild Rice mix
4 tbsp butter, margarine, or olive oil
1 8-oz package of sliced Portabella mushrooms
1-2 shallots, chopped
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. whole-wheat all-purpose flour
8 c. low-sodium chicken broth
2/3 c. half-and-half
Dash white wine
2 chicken breasts, seasoned, cooked and chopped
Optional handful of shredded sharp cheddar


Preparation: 
Microwave the packages of Wild Rice mix, and set aside.
With butter, margarine, or olive oil, saute the mushrooms and shallots until tender and shallots are translucent. Remove from heat and set aside.
In large Dutch oven or pan, melt butter. Add flour gradually and stir until a golden roux is formed. Slowly stir in 8 c. low-sodium chicken broth, continuing to stir to incorporate the roux. Then add in half-and-half and white wine to taste, and finally rice mix, mushroom mix, and chicken. Voila - easy soup! If you're a cheese enthusiast like me, add a sprinkle of sharp cheddar on top (T says you don't need it, but I think it adds a little something delicious). Serve with toasted French bread and a spinach salad.

Successes:
- For me, the whole thing was a success. The wild rice mix gives the soup a great depth of flavor with spices you don't have to add individually. I added a decent amount of garlic powder, onion powder, and sea salt as I was sauteing the mushroom mix and the pre-cooked chicken, which melded nicely with the rice, but no additional flavoring was necessary.
- This is so convenient - microwave some rice, saute some veggies, and cook chicken, and you've got the whole thing prepped days in advance if you want to! It doesn't take much time to do the night of either. I'm not typically a fan of packaged foods like Uncle Ben's rice, but you really can't argue with the ease of popping those little packages in the microwave and getting a delicious soup in half the time.
- Reheatability is fantastic. I was just as excited to eat this soup for lunch the next day, and it held its flavor well. Microwaving did not ruin the texture or the taste.

Failures:
- Our roux wasn't very effective at thickening the soup - I think we accidentally added too much flour (and I've adjusted for this in the ingredients list). For T, the soup was a bit too thin, although I thought that was part of its charm! Next time, we'll cook the roux a bit longer and experiment with proportions to make it thicker.

BullsBistro Rating: A+
If you like mushrooms, rice, and/or chicken, make this soup. ASAP. Put your own twist on it - add in carrots, or marinated garlic bulbs, or even toss some spinach straight into the soup if you want some variation.