This copycat Chicken and Wild Rice Soup recipe skips the little to-go cup for a full pot of your own, built with a whole rotisserie chicken, a wild rice blend, and a from-scratch roux instead of a can of soup. If you’ve been hunting for a chicken wild rice soup recipe that actually tastes like Chicken Salad Chick’s version, this is it. No mystery seasoning, either, since I finally tracked down the one herb that had me stumped for months!
My Chicken Salad Chick Obsession
I first tried Chicken Salad Chick in Franklin, TN, about four years ago, and I was hooked. When a location finally opened a few miles from us here in Colorado, that was it. Game over. I’ve been making copycat recipes ever since, like Classic Carol Chicken Salad and Sassy Scotty. Because why not?!
The soup though. I ordered it more times than I care to admit, and something in that broth kept nagging at me. Slightly bland, but with this background flavor I couldn’t put my finger on. It finally hit me: marjoram. Once I knew what I was chasing, poultry seasoning was the perfect shortcut. It already has the marjoram, sage, and rosemary I wanted. I just bumped the thyme a little and nailed it.
I also noticed CSC never gave me more than two small pieces of chicken per cup. Not enough! I used a whole rotisserie chicken, light and dark meat both. The dark meat adds a richness the restaurant version is missing, and you actually get chicken in every bite.
My readers voted this one their most-wanted restaurant soup copycat, and my hubby declared the final version “perfect, print it,” then went back for two more bowls.
Why You’ll Love this Chicken Wild Rice Soup Recipe
- The seasoning mystery is solved. Poultry seasoning plus a little extra thyme gets you that background marjoram note Chicken Salad Chick’s broth has, without buying a spice you’ll only use once.
- More chicken than the original. A whole small rotisserie chicken, light and dark meat both, means every bowl actually has enough chicken in it. No more digging for that second piece!
- No canned soup, no shortcuts. The creaminess comes from a real roux made with butter, flour, milk, and cream, so you control exactly what’s in your bowl.
- Better the next day. This soup thickens overnight and reheats beautifully, making it one of the easier make-ahead dinners in my rotation.
- Freezer-friendly. Because it’s roux-thickened rather than stirred with cream at the end, it holds up in the freezer much better than many copycat versions that warn you away from freezing.
- One pot, mostly hands-off. The vegetables, rice, and chicken simmer together while you make a quick roux on the side, so you don’t have to juggle multiple pans.
Creamy Wild Rice Soup Ingredients
For the soup base:
- Olive oil and butter: Using both gives you a higher smoke point from the oil and the flavor of the butter, for the best of both when sautéing.
- Yellow onion, celery, carrots: The classic soup trio. Dice them very small. Chicken Salad Chick’s veggies practically disappear into the broth, and a small food chopper makes quick work of it.
- Garlic: Fresh, not jarred, for the best flavor. Press or mince it fine.
- Poultry seasoning: This is the flavor fix! It’s got the marjoram, sage, and rosemary the restaurant broth is built on.
- Dried thyme: A little extra on top of what’s already in the poultry seasoning; crush it gently between your fingers to wake up the oils before it goes in the pot. You can also use fresh herbs here.
- Chicken stock or broth: Use a good-quality, low-sodium broth or bone broth, since it does a lot of the flavor work here.
- Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base: My go-to trick to prevent a flat-tasting broth; totally optional but recommended.
- Wild rice blend: Not pure wild rice. Use a blend (like Lundberg) which cooks up with a nicer mix of textures. Rinse it well before adding.
- Rotisserie chicken: About 3 cups, light and dark meat both. Hint: It’s easier to pull off the chicken when it’s warm. Raw chicken breast or thighs work too; see the variations below.
- Kosher salt and black pepper: Season in layers, then adjust again at the end.
For the roux:
- Butter: The base of your roux, I used salted butter, but you can use unsalted too.
- All-purpose flour: Whisked into the melted butter to thicken the soup; a quality 1:1 gluten-free blend works too.
- Whole milk and heavy cream: Using both gives you a rich but not overly heavy soup.
- Apple cider vinegar: Just a teaspoon, stirred in at the very end. It doesn’t add any vinegar flavor; it just brightens up all the other flavors so the soup doesn’t taste flat. Or replace with lemon juice.
Get the full recipe in the recipe card below.
Watch Kathleen make this creamy soup
How to Make Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Step 1 | Prep Your Ingredients
Rinse the wild rice blend in a fine-mesh sieve under cold water for about a minute, then set aside. If you’re using rotisserie chicken, pull and roughly chop the meat. You’ll need about 3 cups. Finely mince the onion, and dice the carrots and celery into small bite-size pieces.
Step 2 | Sauté the Vegetables
In a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat on the stove, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the onion, celery, and carrots (called mirepoix), and season with a little salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just starting to caramelize, 7–10 minutes.
During the last two minutes, stir in the rinsed rice, garlic, thyme, poultry seasoning, and Better Than Bouillon. Stir until fragrant, about a minute or two.
Step 3 | Simmer the Soup
Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer, cover with lid, and cook until the rice is tender, 45–55 minutes (high-altitude cooks, plan for the longer end). Start checking at the low end of whatever your rice package recommends.
Step 4 | Make the Roux
When the rice has about 10 minutes left, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 1–2 minutes to cook off the raw flour taste. Slowly whisk the milk into the flour mixture, then the heavy cream. Keep whisking, it thickens quickly. Bring it to a gentle bubble, then take it off the heat.
Step 5 | Bring It All Together
Once the rice is tender, stir in the chicken. Slowly pour in the roux while stirring constantly until fully incorporated. Stir in the apple cider vinegar. Don’t skip this step, it brightens everything without leaving any vinegar taste behind. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.
Return to a low simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and let the soup rest 10 minutes before serving. It’ll look a little brothier the day you make it and thicken up as it sits.
Tips and Variations for Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Keep the heat gentle once you add the roux. A hard boil after you’ve added the milk and cream can cause the soup to break instead of staying smooth and creamy, so keep it at a low simmer from here on out.
- Dice small on purpose. This is what gives the soup that Chicken Salad Chick look and texture. The veggies should blend into the broth rather than stand out as separate bites. A food chopper makes this fast.
- No poultry seasoning on hand? Combine ¼ teaspoon each of dried thyme, sage, marjoram, and rosemary to make your own approximation, scaling up as needed.
- Using raw chicken instead of rotisserie: Sear seasoned chicken breasts or thighs in the pot for 3–4 minutes per side, remove, then continue with the recipe. Once the broth is simmering, return the chicken to cook through, then chop and add it back with the roux.
- Add mushrooms or extra vegetables. Chopped mushrooms added in the last 5 minutes of sautéing add depth; shredded zucchini melts right in, and diced sweet potato, turnip, or rutabaga all work nicely if you want to bulk it up.
- Gluten-free: Swap in a quality cup-for-cup GF flour blend and use a plain, unseasoned wild rice blend, since some seasoned blends sneak in gluten-containing ingredients.
- Vegetarian: Swap in vegetable broth and a mushroom-based bouillon, and use white beans or firm tofu instead of chicken, added just before serving.
How to Serve Creamy Wild Rice Soup
This wild rice and chicken soup is hearty enough to be a full meal, with just a little something on the side. A few of my favorites:
Bread:
- French Bread: A chewy, crisp-crusted loaf that’s perfect for soaking up every last bit of broth.
- Sweet Buttermilk Cornbread: A slightly sweet contrast to the savory, herby broth.
On the side:
- Chopped Italian Salad, Chicken Salad Chick Broccoli Salad, or this Chicken Salad Chick Grape Salad: Something crisp and fresh to balance the soup’s richness.
- A handful of crackers alongside the bowl, restaurant-style. Make this Chicken Salad Chick pimento cheese to go with those crackers too!
How to Store Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Refrigerator: Cool completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. This soup is genuinely better the next day, once it’s had time to thicken up. For longer storage, see below.
Freezer: Because this soup is thickened with a roux rather than stirred with cream at the end, it freezes better than many creamy soups. Portion it into Souper Cubes or another freezer-safe, airtight container, and freeze for up to 3 months.
To reheat: Thaw overnight in the fridge if frozen, then warm gently in a saucepan over low heat, adding a splash of stock or water as needed to loosen it back up. Avoid microwaving straight from frozen or reheating at a hard boil, since either can cause the dairy to separate. If you microwave, do it slowly on 50% power, stirring between heatings.
Chicken Wild Rice Soup FAQs
A butter-and-flour roux whisked into warm milk and cream is the classic way to thicken this soup, giving it body without any graininess. The wild rice itself also naturally thickens the broth a bit as it releases starch while it simmers.
Yes, especially when it’s thickened with a roux rather than just stirred with cream, since that base holds up better in the freezer. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and reheat gently over low heat to keep the texture smooth.
Wild rice isn’t a true rice at all! It’s the long, dark seed of an aquatic grass native to North America, which gives it a chewier bite and nuttier flavor than white or brown rice.
Most flat-tasting broth comes down to under-seasoning or skipping a concentrated flavor booster; a spoonful of Better Than Bouillon and the poultry seasoning blend in this recipe are both built in specifically to solve that problem.
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Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter for sautéing
- 1 small yellow onion finely minced
- 1 cup celery finely diced (3 ribs, or 4-6 if using hearts)
- 1 cup carrots finely diced (2 medium)
- 4-5 cloves garlic pressed or minced fine
- 1 to 1½ teaspoons poultry seasoning
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme crushed gently between your fingers
- 6 cups chicken stock bone broth or broth, low-sodium, not concentrated
- ½ teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Chicken
- 1 cup wild rice blend rinsed well, no seasoning (Lundberg or Rice Select Royal)
- 3 cups rotisserie chicken roughly chopped; or 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs, cooked and chopped (see variations for how to in notes)
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt plus more to taste
- ½ to 1 teaspoon black pepper plus more to taste
For the Roux:
- 5 tablespoons butter I used salted
- ½ cup all-purpose flour or a quality GF 1-to-1 blend
- 1½ cups whole milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
Prep
- Rinse the rice in a fine mesh sieve under cold water for about 1 minute; set aside. If using rotisserie chicken, pull and roughly chop the meat now. You'll need about 3 cups; freeze any extra for another recipe.1 cup wild rice blend, 3 cups rotisserie chicken
- Finely mince the onion. Peel the carrots, slice them in half lengthwise, then chop small. Dice the celery the same way; you want everything fine enough that the veggies nearly disappear into the soup, just like the restaurant version.1 small yellow onion, 1 cup carrots, 1 cup celery
Sauté the vegetables
- In a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter and add the olive oil. Add the onion, celery, and carrots, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to caramelize, 7-10 minutes.1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 tablespoons butter
- During the last 2 minutes of sautéing, stir in the rinsed rice, garlic, thyme, poultry seasoning, and Better Than Bouillon. Stir until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.4-5 cloves garlic, 1 to 1½ teaspoons poultry seasoning, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, ½ teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Chicken
Simmer
- Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover, and cook until the rice is tender, 45-55 minutes. *High altitude cooks, plan for the longer end; 55 minutes is typical at 5,280 feet. Be patient here; chewy rice is no fun. Start checking at the low end of whatever your rice package recommends.6 cups chicken stock
- Using raw chicken breasts instead of rotisserie? See the variations section below.
Make the roux
- When the rice has about 10 minutes left, melt the 5 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk constantly for 1-2 minutes to cook off the raw flour taste. Slowly pour in the milk while whisking, then add the heavy cream. Keep stirring; it will thicken quickly. Bring it to a gentle bubble, just a few slow bubbles, then remove from heat.
Finish the soup
- Once the rice is tender, stir in the chicken. Slowly pour in the roux while stirring constantly until fully incorporated. Add the apple cider vinegar and stir to combine. Don’t skip this; it just brightens everything up without any vinegar taste. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed, using the amount given as a guide.
- Return to a low simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let the soup rest for 10 minutes before serving. It will look a little brothier the day you make it and thicken beautifully overnight.
Notes
- Raw chicken variation: Sear seasoned chicken breast or thighs in the pot with a little oil for 3–4 minutes per side; remove to a plate, then continue with the recipe. Once the broth is simmering, return the chicken to cook through to 165°F, then chop and stir it back in with the roux.
- Gluten-free: Use a quality 1:1 gluten-free flour blend in the roux and a plain, unseasoned wild rice blend, since some seasoned blends sneak in gluten.
- Vegetarian: Swap in vegetable broth and a mushroom-based bouillon, and use white beans or firm tofu in place of the chicken, added just before serving.
- Storage: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Freezes well for up to 3 months thanks to the roux base. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat gently over low heat.
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