This ultra-comforting and irresistibly delicious Chicken With Brown Rice Soup is packed with ingredients that promote healthy digestion, like homemade chicken broth and ginger.
What is your cure for a cold? What’s that, you say? A chicken soup, with brown rice, no less! I like my chicken soup to have lots of veggies – carrots, celery, onions, and green peppers. I also use fresh mushrooms and garlic slices. These veggies are a delicious addition, and add fiber and vitamins to this wonderful meal.
Brown rice and chicken soup
Make this simple soup with leftover roast chicken for a hearty meal. This gluten-free recipe gains a delightful richness with blended butter beans.
SERVES: 4
PREP TIME: 15 MINS
TOTAL TIME: 25 MINS
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 500ml fresh chicken stock
- 2 x 400g tins butter beans, rinsed and drained
- about 200g leftover roast chicken (or 2 skinless cooked chicken breasts)
- 1 x 250g pouch cooked brown rice
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 x 28g pack flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 40g Parmesan, shaved or grated
Step by step
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a further 1 minute.
- Pour in the chicken stock, plus 500ml of boiling water. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid, and cook for 8-10 minutes on a medium heat.
- Tip in the butter beans and leave to simmer while you use 2 forks to shred the chicken.
- Before adding the chicken to the pan, blend together the broth and butter beans using a hand-held blender until smooth. Then add the shredded chicken and brown rice to the pan and continue to cook for 2 minutes until piping hot.
- Season well, then stir in the lemon juice and most of the parsley. Serve the soup in bowls, garnished with a little more parsley and the Parmesan.
Chicken and Brown Rice Soup
For a quick yet filling weeknight dinner or lunch, try this chicken and brown rice soup. It’s toasty, cozy, comforting, and easy to make. The straightforward components, which are naturally dairy- and gluten-free, make you think of a traditional chicken soup, but fresh herbs give it a richer, tastier flavor.
CHICKEN SOUP CURES EVERYTHING
It’s almost true, I guess. You don’t need to learn anything else about alternative migraine treatments; this is it, guys. I’ve discovered the remedy! Even with all the humor, doesn’t chicken soup have a special way of making you feel cozy? It’s a trustworthy classic with warm broth, basic ingredients, and no strange flavors.
My vestibular migraine symptoms have increased over the past two weeks, along with my erratic mood swings and general exhaustion. Simply put, I haven’t felt like myself, and that is unpleasant. Normally, I would turn to exercise to lift my spirits, and while I’ve gently started doing that again, I discovered myself looking for other ways to give myself a big embrace.
I spoke about how picking up cooking again after being diagnosed with chronic migraine in my presentation for the American Migraine Foundation this week (if you missed it, you can watch it on both their and my facebook pages). Knowing that sautéing shallots, garlic, and vegetables in olive oil will fill your home with the most exquisite smell and unavoidably result in something good is quite soothing.
Making this soup, I felt just that way. This week has not been good. I’ve had feelings of emptiness, hate, loneliness, exhaustion, sadness, and general melancholy. But as soon as I mixed all of these things together and sat down to eat, I felt at ease and relaxed.
INGREDIENTS
For this recipe, I chose brown rice simply because that’s what I had on hand. Every time I go shopping, I buy Trader Joe’s California Brown Rice Mix, which is my favorite, to use in quick side dishes like this Mexican Rice. Although it’s not necessary on a standard migraine diet, I appreciate that it immediately makes this soup gluten-free for many people who have sensitivity to that ingredient.
The one drawback of using rice (or farro, as I discovered in one of the recipes in my cookbook) instead of typical chicken noodles is that it thickens and absorbs a LOT of liquid. Because of this, you wind up using a lot of broth and water, and you might have to keep adding liquid to it to make up for leftovers.
Since shallots are a pantry staple and yellow onions are typically used in chicken soups, I might have substituted leeks instead if I had them on hand. However, I was just trying to prepare this with ingredients I always have on hand. I adored the flavor they added to this soup, but leeks are a good option if you want something a little more subdued.
WHAT STOCK SHOULD I USE?
If you’re someone who follows a migraine diet, things could get a little complex. Most stocks and broths, which go by labels like “natural flavoring” or “natural chicken flavor,” actually contain MSG. Another frequent one to be on the lookout for is “yeast extract.” Except for Butchers Bone Broth, which is available in some grocery stores’ refrigerated meat sections, I haven’t yet found a stock or broth that is completely safe.
I usually make my own vegetable broth or use Trader Joe’s Hearty Vegetable Broth, which is still not completely safe on this migraine diet because it does contain onion, but it is lower on the list of ingredients and I do okay with it. Utilizing this Fody Vegetable Soup Base and adding water is an additional choice.
Since a rotisserie chicken is used in this recipe, it’s simple to remove the chicken meat and prepare the stock in advance using the carcass. This will ensure that the entire chicken is utilized for the soup and that the stock is both fresh and migraine-friendly. This recipe can also be completely vegan, but I’ll get to that later.
WHAT THE HECK IS A BOUQUET GARNI?
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I picked up the phrase “bouquet garni” during my culinary tour of Burgundy (ooh lala), and it basically just means a bundle of herbs strung together with kitchen twine. This is a fantastic method for incorporating the flavor of the herbs into your soup without having a ton of tiny pieces floating around.
The ideal technique to utilize a robust herb garden is in this manner. Since I already had lemon thyme and rosemary in my yard, I combined the two for this recipe. Although rosemary isn’t often used in chicken and rice soup, I still love it. I believed it was excellent for this dish.
A VEGETARIAN OPTION
By omitting the chicken and using veggie broth, you can simply convert this chicken and brown rice soup to veganism. In this situation, I would add a hearty ingredient in the last 10 minutes of cooking, like chopped kale. This enables it to slightly soften. In place of spinach, which I believe can become somewhat mushy in soups, I prefer to suggest using fresh kale.
HOW DO I FREEZE?
Unfortunately, I find that the texture of rice and pasta does not freeze and reheat properly. You could cook this without the rice if you want to freeze it, but it kind of defeats the point.
Creamy Chicken And Brown Rice Soup
Make this Creamy Chicken and Brown Rice Soup for the most comforting meal. You can make this creamy chicken and rice soup on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot.
Try Brown Rice As A Gluten-Free Alternative To Noodles In This Creamy Chicken And Rice Soup
I adore classic chicken soup. Although it is my go-to comfort dish, I am constantly searching for ways to spice it up and make small changes. The best substitute for noodles in chicken soup is any type of rice.
Because I always have brown rice in my cupboard, I decided to utilize it for this tasty meal. To make this creamy soup, I used a can of coconut milk, but don’t worry—there is no coconut flavor.
an an an a……….. Even more soothing than noodles, there is something about the silky brown rice.
What Kitchen Tools Will I Need To Make This Creamy Chicken And Brown Rice Soup?
- Dutch oven, large pot or instant pot
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- Liquid measuring cup
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife
- Mixing spoon
You can make this simple soup recipe on the stove top in a dutch oven or large pot or you can make it in the instant pot. Keep reading for instant pot instructions listed in the recipe card.
Can You Make This Soup In A Slow Cooker?
Yes you can make this creamy chicken and brown rice soup in a slow cooker or crockpot. Sear the chicken and sauté the onions, celery and carrots on the stove top.
Place the rest of the ingredients into the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours. Shred the chicken and stir it back into the soup.
Ingredients
You will be amazed at how easy it is to make this instant pot chicken soup with just a few basic ingredients.
- Butter or ghee
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Salt
- Pepper
- Dried parsley
- Garlic powder
- Yellow onion
- Carrots
- Celery
- Brown rice
- Coconut milk
- Chicken broth
Ingredient Substitutions
This creamy chicken and rice soup can be modified in a variety of ways. Heavy cream or ordinary whole milk can be used in place of the coconut milk. Even better, choose a different plant-based milk that has a higher fat content, such as cashew milk.
Chicken breasts can be used in their place if you don’t like chicken thighs. Use either bone-in or boneless chicken as you please. In a pinch, leftover chicken from rotisserie chicken from the grocery store also works nicely for this recipe!
Change the brown rice type of wild rice type of wild rice type of wild rice type of wild rice type of wild rice type of wild rice type of wild rice type of wild rice type Wild rice can take longer to cook than regular rice, so you might need to boil the soup for longer.
How To Make Creamy Chicken And Brown Rice Soup
Step 1: Sear Chicken Thighs And Saute Veggies
Dice the onion, carrot, and celery first. After that, combine garlic powder, dried parsley, salt, and pepper in a small mixing dish.
Next, sprinkle the seasoning mixture all over the chicken thighs. In a big pot, melt butter or ghee over medium-high heat.
Then add chicken thighs and fry for 2 minutes on each side in the pot. Add the onion, celery, and carrots to the pot after removing the chicken, then turn the heat down to medium.
After that, sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes, continuously tossing.
Step 2: Boil And Simmer Soup
Add the brown rice, chicken stock, coconut milk, and seared chicken thighs back into the saucepan at that point. Bring the soup to a boil by turning up the heat to high.
Once it has boiled, turn down the heat so it will simmer for 50 minutes.
Step 3: Shred Chicken Thighs And Serve
Turn off the heat and remove the chicken thighs from the saucepan after 50 minutes. Return the cooked chicken thighs to the pot after shredding them.
Allow the soup to cool slightly before serving in little bowls.
Soup Garnishes
Serve this flavor-enhancing chicken and rice soup with garnishes! Freshly grated parmesan cheese, lemon zest, freshly ground black pepper, and fresh parsley are some of my preferred garnishes.
Additionally, I enjoy serving this soup with bread. That’s occasionally a slice of my no-knead focaccia bread or a chunk of baguette.
