Cozy High-Protein Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
This recipe was created before I started documenting my recipes online, so there isn't a photo or video for it yet. But I've made it, loved it, and wanted to share it with you anyway. 🤎
A big cozy bowl of tender chicken, wild rice, vegetables, and rich homemade broth.
This is the kind of soup I want simmering on the stove when the weather finally starts cooling down.
Tender chicken, earthy wild rice, carrots, celery, onion, and herbs all tucked into a warm, savory broth. It's filling enough to be dinner, cozy enough for a rainy afternoon, and makes the best leftovers.
Basically, it's a blanket in a bowl.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs
- 1 cup uncooked wild rice blend
- 1 tbsp olive oil or butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 carrots, diced
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup milk or half-and-half
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp cold water
- Fresh parsley, for serving
Make It
- Heat the olive oil or butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat.
- Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook for 5–7 minutes, until they begin to soften.
- Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Add the chicken, wild rice, chicken broth, thyme, parsley, rosemary, bay leaf, salt, and pepper.
- Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover.
- Simmer for 35–45 minutes, until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove the chicken and shred or chop it. Return it to the pot.
- Whisk together the cornstarch and cold water.
- Stir the milk or half-and-half into the soup, then slowly add the cornstarch mixture.
- Simmer uncovered for another 5–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens slightly.
- Remove the bay leaf, taste, and adjust the seasoning.
- Finish with fresh parsley and serve warm.
A Little Soup Tip: If you know you're going to have leftovers, the rice will continue absorbing broth as it sits. Add an extra splash of chicken broth when reheating to bring it back to that cozy, soupy consistency.
My Gym Girlies 💪
This is one of those meals where the protein doesn't need to be hidden in some weird "fitness" ingredient. Chicken is doing the work.
Want to make it even more protein-forward? Use extra chicken, choose chicken breast, or stir in a little extra Greek yogurt when serving for a creamy boost.
And don't be afraid of the rice. If you're training hard, those carbohydrates are part of the meal too. Pairing your protein with carbs makes this a much more satisfying post-workout dinner than trying to turn soup into a bowl of plain chicken and vegetables.
For meal prep, portion it into individual containers and add a little extra broth when reheating. Cozy food can still support your goals.
My From-Scratch Girlies 🌿
Oh, this is a use-what-you-have kind of soup.
Use your homemade chicken broth. Pull carrots, onions, celery, and herbs from the garden. Use leftover roasted chicken from yesterday's dinner. Add mushrooms if you foraged or preserved some.
And if you have jars of homemade broth tucked away in the freezer or pantry? This is exactly why you made them.
You can even cook a whole chicken, pick the meat, save the bones for broth, and turn the leftovers into this soup. That's the kind of cooking I love—one meal naturally becoming the ingredients for the next.
You don't need everything to be homemade. Maybe the wild rice came from the grocery store. Maybe your chicken did too. But your broth and vegetables came from your own kitchen. That's still from scratch.
For Both Girlies 🌿💪
This is the kind of meal where your two worlds don't just coexist—they actually make sense together.
The gym girl gets a hearty bowl with plenty of chicken and satisfying carbs. The from-scratch girl gets to use homemade broth, seasonal vegetables, and whatever is already waiting in the pantry. And everyone gets a warm bowl of soup.
You can lift heavy. You can meal prep. You can make bone broth. You can grow carrots. You can track your protein. You can eat dinner in sweatpants while the house smells like rosemary and chicken.
Strong body. Cozy kitchen. Rooted life.