It’s raining again. Around this time of year, I get really tired of cold and wet. (Not to mention MUD) so I am usually looking for some kind of comfort food. This one is just about perfect. We had it first at friends’ house and I BEGGED for the recipe because it was SO good! I won’t take credit for creating the recipe myself (You can see the original recipe from the source link below). As usual, I tweak things here and there to fit our taste preferences. For example, I use two boxes of long grain and wild rice (Rice a Roni brand) instead of just one, I always add extra veggies (more carrots and celery) and three chicken breasts instead of two. I add a lot more seasonings because we like a nice full flavored soup. I cook the chicken breasts in my IP first. Initially, I did this because I didn’t have enough chicken stock to make the soup and I needed more and if you cook chicken breasts in the IP, it’s a quick, easy, cheater trick to get a couple of cups of stock fast. ;) I also (OF COURSE!) use our delicious raw milk (or cream if we have it) since it’s the equivalent of “light cream” anyway. ;)
Anyway, this recipe is awesome and I’m so glad we’ve added it to our regular meals. I make this at least a couple of times a month. (It could easily be frozen, but usually we just eat it for several meals and I stretch it by adding more cream or milk and a little more salt/pepper. Give it a try, it comes together pretty quick and it’s so warm and comforting!
Panara Cream of Chicken Soup Copycat
Recipe source here.
INGREDIENTS
6 cups chicken broth
2 chicken breast halves (cooked, boneless and cubed)
1 (6 ounce) package long grain and wild rice blend, quick cooking version (I used Rice a Roni Long Grain and Wild Rice. If you'd prefer not to use the seasoning mix/box mix you can season to your own taste. I'd probably just add a couple of TBSP of flour, parsley, salt and pepper)
1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper (We are pepper people and I added more than this)
1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour (I believe I added a little extra. I make roux sauce a lot so I just adjust as I see fit.)
3⁄4 cup butter (12 tbsp. or a stick and a half) Yes, really. It's a lot of butter but the veggies absorb a lot and you have to have enough in the pot to actually make the roux.
1 cup carrot, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup onion, diced
3 cups light cream ( I just used our milk. It thickens up beautifully!! )
DIRECTIONS
Open rice, pull out seasoning packet and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine pepper and flour. Set aside.
In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth and chicken. Bring to a boil, then stir in rice. Cover and remove from heat.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add carrots, celery and onion and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in contents of seasoning packet, and continue cooking vegetables until softened, about 5 minutes more. Add seasoned flour gradually while constantly stirring, to form a roux. Saute roux for 3-4 minutes to cook out raw flour taste.
Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook until thickened, 5 minutes.
Stir cream mixture into broth and rice. Cook over medium heat until heated through and rice is done,15-20 minutes.
Alternatively, for those who cannot get the quick-cooking version of the rice, I have put the broth on to boil and cooked the 25-minute version of long grain and wild rice blend according to the directions, while sauteeing the veggies in the butter. I tend to cook the veggies longer this way, and I like them quite soft. I then follow the rest of the directions above, adding the rice/broth to the cream mixture. I've also used fat-free half and half with no appreciable difference in flavor. Enjoy!
This kind of recipe tends to intimidate me. It seems like a lot of stuff to read and a bunch of steps but it's really quite simple. Dice and onion, dice 2 carrots, dice 2 sticks of celery, sautee and make a roux while you heat some chicken and chicken broth. You could probably use leftover chicken, I threw a couple breasts in my instant pot while I diced up my veggies. The whole thing takes about an hour and most of that is really just stirring soup in a pot. The only word of caution I would give is don't let your rice stick to the bottom of the pan. I got to the last step of letting simmer for 15min or so and I decided I could go do other things for a bit....Nope. Forgot about rice. Miraculously, it still turned out fine! But still. Don't do that.