Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
Chicken Rice Mushroom Soup
Tender chicken and rice give this mushroom soup a hearty feel, with a little sour cream softening the savory broth. Shiitakes add depth to each spoonful, and the mix of rice brings a pleasant bite among the softer vegetables.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 50 min
- Total
- 60 min
- Original yield
- Serves 8
- Ingredients
- 15 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Dinner · Lunch
- Primary protein
- Chicken
- Cuisine
- American
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 15 minutes or less · Total: 31–60 minutes
- Dish type
- Soups · Soups & stews · Rice dishes
A few quick notes
1. Keep the onion gentle
Cook the onion until it's soft, but don't let it brown. That first few minutes sets up a mild, savory base for the soup instead of a darker, sweeter one.
2. The flour needs a minute
After the onion softens, stir in the flour and let it cook briefly before the liquid goes in. It helps thicken the broth a bit and keeps the flour from tasting raw.
3. Add the rice in two stages
Brown rice goes in first with the chicken because it needs the longer head start. The long grain and wild rice mix joins later with its seasoning packet, so follow the order here.
Get to know the ingredients
Chicken thighs work well here
Boneless, skinless thighs simmer directly in the broth, then shred back into the pot. They don't need browning first, which keeps the soup simple and lets the broth do the cooking.
Use the seasoning packet
The long grain and wild rice combo goes in with its seasoning packet. Don't toss it aside, since the recipe counts on that seasoning joining the broth during the second simmer.
Sliced shiitakes go in later
The shiitake mushrooms are added with the rice mix, not at the beginning. That gives them time to soften and flavor the soup without cooking through the whole first simmer.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 8. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 5 steps completeMake room for Chicken Rice Mushroom Soup
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Stir in the sour cream off the final simmer
Once the chicken is shredded and back in the pot, stir in the light sour cream, then loosen the soup with more water if it's thicker than you like. Taste last, then adjust salt and pepper.
A little more help as you go
Stir now and then
During the covered simmer after the rice mix goes in, give the pot an occasional stir. It helps the rice cook evenly and keeps the thicker bits from settling too much on the bottom.
Thickness is flexible at the end
The soup may thicken as the rice cooks. The recipe handles that right at the finish: add more water only if it seems too thick once everything is back in the pot.
A few questions you might have
Do I add the wild rice mix at the same time as the brown rice?
No. The brown rice goes in with the chicken for the first simmer. The long grain and wild rice mix, along with its seasoning packet, goes in after that.
Should the chicken be cooked before it goes into the soup?
No, it goes into the pot raw with the broth, water, vegetables and brown rice. After it simmers, you remove it, shred it with two forks and return it to the soup.
What should I do if the soup gets too thick?
Add more water at the end, after the chicken has been shredded back into the pot and the sour cream has been stirred in. That way you can judge the final texture.
When do the mushrooms go in?
Add the sliced shiitake mushrooms with the wild rice mix and long grain rice. They simmer during that covered, low-heat stage rather than from the very beginning.
Do I season the soup before serving?
Taste it at the end and adjust with salt and black pepper if needed. The rice mix seasoning packet goes in earlier, so it's worth waiting before adding more.
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: skinnytaste.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.
