Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

This Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup adapted from Whitney Ingram’s The Family Flavor cookbook is a family favorite. It hits all the right notes, all year long, and we often bring it for dinner when new babies are born or friends are sick. It tastes light and savory and oh so good. And if you cut the meat off a rotisserie chicken and buy frozen, pre-cooked rice it comes together extra fast. I hope you enjoy!

½ cup uncooked white rice, cooked according to package directions (yields about 1 ½ cups cooked rice)
2 Tbsp EVOO
1 yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2-3 celery stalks, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp kosher salt
1.2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried sage
8 cups chicken stock (I use boxed chicken bone broth – you can buy near the boxed stock at the grocery store)
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked (I cook mine in my instant pot, or pull the meat off a rotisserie chicken, or you can bake it in the oven first)
¾ cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter, softened (or melted)
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (can use rice flour if eating gluten free)
fresh parsley for garnishing

Prepare rice and set aside (can use already prepared rice (often in the frozen foods section of the grocery store).  ½ cup dry rice is about 1 ½ cups cooked rice.)

Cook chicken breasts (via your oven, in your instant pot (I cook 3 breasts on high pressure for 21 minutes, quick release the steam, pull out to cool for a few minutes and then cut small) or pull chicken breast meat off a rotisserie chicken and set aside.

 In a large pot over medium heat, add olive oil and sauté onion, carrot, celery, garlic, salt and pepper until veggies are soft, around 10 minutes.  Add thyme and sage and stir until combined.  Add chicken stock/bone broth and simmer 15-20 minutes until veggies are cooked through.

In a medium bowl, combine softened butter and flour.  Stir into a paste with a rubber scraper.  Add ½ of hot broth from your soup pot (totally fine if some diced veggies get in there) into the flour mixture and stir until smooth.  Then add another ½ cup hot broth and stir until smooth.  Return broth/flour/butter mixture back to the soup pot and stir until combined.  Add rice, chicken and heavy cream to the soup as well.  Simmer a few additional minutes, until everything is combined and heated through.  Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley.  Enjoy!