Warning: I am using a copycat recipe. If you have ever tasted Marge’s Chicken and Mushroom Wild Rice soup at Grand Casino, you understand. It is simply the best wild rice soup. I could not make it better if I tried, other than I used chicken thighs I cooked myself to get fresh stock, instead of store-bought cooked chicken. Seriously! TRY This!!!
The other night my hubby wasn’t feeling well and asked for grilled cheese. I made some for the both of us, using rye bread from the pantry. I thought “hey, I have left over wild rice soup I should warm up also. The flavors paired so well together, I wanted to recreate it from scratch and blog it. Here we are. Instead of the classic grilled cheese and tomato soup comfort, I am serving up Chicken Wild Rice Soup with Grilled Cheese on Rye.
Because I am using a recipe from a Minnesota casino, with Minnesota wild rice, I thought I’d go full Minnesotan on the other main ingredients. I sourced my bread at Backwards Bread Company, a local beadmaker that is absolutely spectacular. I love their bread and treats! My favorite local cheese for melting is Bongard’s. It gets so creamy. I use it in my scrambled eggs several times a week.
Once I had my recipe planned, I decided to make this for Halloween night. We love this holiday and try to make it as festive as we can each year. Our youngest was planning to have some buddies over to go trick or treating. I figured they could use a warm meal before heading out. Typically, it’s chilly here for Halloween, sometimes snow. This year was no exception. It wasn’t 1991 level, or even close to it. But still, cold. I also made them a healthy snack after school, to try to get some nutrients in them before the candy hailstorm I knew was coming. Below are photos of the Creepy spider oranges they enjoyed. Wasn’t perfect, I would have preferred black licorice, but Wally world was all out. Chocolate twizzles seemed to work ok.
I also had some fun this year with the candy I HANDed out. We don’t get a lot of trick or treaters. Not enough lights on our street to make many want to come down. I end up giving a lot of handfuls of candy out, just to get rid of it. This year I thought I give actual HANDs full of candy. HAHAHA. I think I am funny.
Back to the soup. If you haven’t tried chicken wild rice soup, you must! As a kid I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the way wild rice looked. I was dumb. I definitely missed out. It’s so yummy! I love the rustic nutty flavor. It’s rich. It’s filling. It’s warm. It’s nutritious. It’s comfort. I love the flavor profile combining this soup with Rye bread. I used marble rye on Halloween, but I like full rye better. It adds another layer of flavor!
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked wild rice (easier to make the day before, it usually takes longer than the package says)
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ onion, diced
- ½ cup carrots, shredded
- 2 cups celery, diced
- ¼ teaspoon kitchen bouquet
- 1 ½ teaspoons natures seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
- ¾ cup flour
- 6 cups liquid (I used my stock from cooking the chicken and supplemented with cold water to get 6 cups total)
- 6 chicken bouillon cubes
- 3 cups cooked chicken (I used 6 boneless chicken thighs, boiled in water with the bullion cubes ahead of time)
- 2 ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- In stockpot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat.
- Saute onions, carrots, celery, and seasonings for 3-4 minutes
- Add mushrooms and sauté another handful of minutes.
- Slowly start adding your flour. Stirring as you go. You can use more, the original recipe did, but I found it to be too much and get lumpy. Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring often.
- Add your chicken base/water combo. My stock was about 3.5 cups so I added 2.5 to get 6 total.
- Add the cooked chicken and wild rice. Cook until chicken is heated through.
- Add the cream, heat, and serve.
The grilled cheese is self-explanatory. I did use a griddle this time, because I was making so many at once. I prefer stove top. But…it is what it is. Improvising. I also used Halloween cookie cutters on the bread. A little bit goes a long festive way.
Happy Comfort Food Season!
