Chicken and Rice Soup
Everyone needs a delicious, easy Chicken and Rice soup recipe in their repertoire. And, while I highly recommend making your own broth and cooking your own chicken, sometimes, I love an easy and fast chicken soup. Well, here you go!
Made with store-bought chicken broth (if you don’t have your own homemade) and rotisserie chicken, it comes together in under one hour. Hard to beat that!
This recipe begins by cooking the rice. Some recipes add the rice to cook in with the soup but I find that the rice will absorb much of the broth and will end up being too thick, almost like porridge. It won’t be as good reheated. So, cook the rice at the start of the recipe and set it aside until you need it.
If you have leftover rice from a meal earlier in the week, you could use that. You can also buy the frozen, pre-cooked bags of rice. They work beautifully!
For the soup, begin by sautéing onions, shallots and celery together until they are softened and translucent. Add the garlic and Italian seasoning and cook just for 30 seconds or so.
All that’s left for the soup is to add broth, carrots, bay leaves, minced fresh rosemary, turmeric (mostly for its beautiful color) and salt & pepper. Simmer this for twenty minutes. Remove the bay leaves once the carrots are softened.
Finish the soup by adding rotisserie chicken, rosemary, cooked rice and chopped spinach.
See how simple this is? And, I’m telling you, it’s mouthwatering! So tasty and hearty! This is a great soup to freeze in quart containers for a quick lunch or to take to a sick friend (or a healthy one that’s in the mood for Chicken and Rice Soup).
Enjoy!
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Chicken and Rice Soup
Makes: 10 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 23 minutes
Total Time: 53 minutes
Ingredients
For the Rice:
- 1 cup uncooked jasmine (or other long-grain) rice
For the Soup:
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 medium shallots, finely chopped
- 4 medium stalks celery, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
- 3 medium cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 10 cups low-sodium chicken broth, more if needed
- 12 ounces carrots, thinly sliced (halved lengthwise if large)
- 2 medium-size bay leaves
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp kosher salt, more to taste
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
For Finishing:
- 2 cups diced rotisserie or leftover chicken
- 2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1-2 cups tightly packed fresh spinach, finely chopped (optional)
Instructions
For the Rice:
Cook jasmine rice according to package instructions and set aside to cool.
For the Soup:
Heat the butter and oil over medium heat in a large Dutch oven or soup pot until the butter is melted and bubbly. Add the chopped onion, shallots and celery and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently, until veggies are softened. Add the garlic and Italian seasoning and cook for another 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
Add the chicken broth, carrots, bay leaves, turmeric, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce to a steady simmer and cook for 20 minutes, uncovered. Try one of the carrot slices. If it’s not nice and tender cook for another 3-5 minutes or until tender (the size of your carrot slices will determine how low it takes to cook).
Remove the bay leaves then add the rotisserie chicken, rosemary, cooked rice and finely chopped spinach (if using). Cover and allow the soup to sit for 10 minutes for the flavors to meld. Taste and season with more kosher salt and black pepper, if needed. If soup is too thick, add more chicken broth. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe by The Cafe Sucre Farine
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