Delicious Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup poured into Homemade Bread Bowls will warm you up on a cold day!
What’s the weather been like where you live? Has it been snowy? Rainy? Freezing? I live in Southern California and sometimes I forget that other places have cold weather. It’s always moderate here. It cracks me up when I see people bundled up in their snow jackets, Uggs and scarves for our “freezing” 60 degree weather. Ha!
Anyway, it’s mostly sunny days around here. We’ve actually been experiencing a drought lately in California. We’ve had moderate temperatures and it hasn’t been too cold but we’ve had very little rain. The church my family and I go to had a fast last Sunday for rain.
And guess what? Sunday night, it rained. And then rained some more. It’s a miracle! (Of course, we had washed our cars so that always helps it rain, right?!) 🙂 So what does a food blogger do when it rains? Um, make soup and bread bowls, of course!
I’ve been open about my bread phobia before. Yeast and I used to not like each other. Now, we’re bff’s. Bread bowls are actually super easy to make! There are a few steps to making them, but they’re easy steps. My boys devour them. They get so excited when they come home from school and see that I’m making bread bowls and soup. It’s actually really cute. 😉
This soup recipe is adapted from my sister, Holly. She always has amazing recipes. I used less butter than the original (which called for an entire stick!) and I use either half & half or milk instead of cream.
This is really one of the best creamy soups I’ve ever had. And you can’t go wrong with a creamy soup poured into a fresh-from-the-oven bread bowl! I love scooping a spoonful of soup out and getting some bread from the bottom or sides with each bite. I’m hungry just thinking about it!
So no matter what the weather is like where you live, I think you should go make some soup and bread bowls. Like, right now. Go on. I won’t stop you!
Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup in Homemade Bread Bowls
Ingredients
- SOUP:
- 3 cups cooked long-grain wild rice - from 1 6.2-oz box of Uncle Ben's
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 ribs of celery sliced
- 2-3 cooked chicken breasts diced
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 cup flour
- 8 cups chicken broth
- salt & pepper
- 1 cup half & half or milk
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds for serving
- BREAD BOWLS:
- 2/3 cup warm water
- 2 Tbsp. yeast
- 4 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 1/2 cup very warm water
- 4 tbsp. oil I've used canola and coconut and both work great
- 1 Tbsp. salt
- 3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- SOUP DIRECTIONS:
- Cook wild rice and set aside. Toast slivered almonds in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until golden brown. Set aside.
- In a pot, saute onions, carrots and celery in butter and olive oil until softened. Sift in flour, stirring until blended.
- Slowly add broth, stirring together.
- Add rice and chicken and season with salt and pepper until seasoned to your liking. Add half & half or milk and heat to a simmer, but don't boil.
- BREAD BOWL DIRECTIONS:
- In a large mixing bowl, soften yeast in 2/3 cup warm water. Add sugar then remaining ingredients. Stir well, dough will be sort of crumbly.
- Cover with a cloth and set timer for ten minutes. Give dough a stir every ten minutes FIVE times.
- After five times of stirring every ten minutes, cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Pinch dough off into grapefruit sized balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. I usually get 6 of them. Let rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400º and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
- To serve, cut off tops and remove the insides. Fill with Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup. Top soup with toasted almonds and ENJOY!
Want more soup?
The Best Ever Slow Cooker Turkey Chili
Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup
Creamy White Chicken Chili
Mmmmmmm soup & bread- I’m all over that. Delish!!!
Hi Jen! This looks amazing! I’ve always wanted to make my own homemade bread bowls. So cool! I’m going to have to try and convert your recipe to gluten free. Looks fabulous!
Laura
Ooooooh! Let me know how it comes out gluten free! What do you use in place of the flour?
Wow! That looks so good. All the times that I make soup and I’ve never put it in a bread bowl. What is wrong with me? Thanks for some inspiration! 🙂
Haha! I do what I can to inspire, Melanie! LOL! I hope you try them – they’re really good and easy too!
This looks like the perfect meal for the snow day scheduled for New Jersey tomorrow. BTW – I would love 60 degrees right now, it was 7 when I left the house at 7am this morning. One question, would this be good with noodles too? My kids are not big rice eaters, but love their pasta.
7? Like, 7 degrees?! Holy SMOKES! That’s cold! I’ve never tried this soup with noodles but I think it would be good! You might need to doctor it up with a few spices since the boxed rice mix has some spices that make the rice a little tastier. If you do try it, let me know how you like it! Honestly though my kids love this and aren’t big rice-in-soup kind of people either. Maybe try it first and see what you think? Thanks for the comment!
Delicious! I did add noodles instead if rice. It was a big hit with the family.
And yes 7 degrees. Oh, and over a foot of snow and counting today.
Jen, this looks so homey and comforting–perfect for a cold winter’s eve (which we have been having a lot of here in the Midwest :). Living here definitely makes me miss living in Southern California, you lucky duck!
Thanks for making it rain, Jen 🙂 We’ve had tons up here in SF too. This soup looks delicious, but I’m especially impressed that you made your own bread bowls! I don’t know how you do all this stuff with four boys hanging around!
Haha! No prob, Andi! It seriously ALWAYS rains after I wash my car! The weather has been so weird, right? Raining one day, foggy the next and then hot! I love it but it’s weird, lol! OMG don’t even get me started on my boys. They love it when I’m cooking because they get to eat everything, so that’s good!
This looks so delicious and comforting while I freeze in Minnesota with 40 MPH winds and white out conditions!
This soup looks incredible Jen – so creamy and comforting! Perfect to warm up with on a chilly winter’s day especially with the awesome bread bowl too 🙂
This is amazing, I love that you even made the bread bowls! I need to try this in our legitimately freezing weather 🙂
You need to make these, Anna! Especially since your weather is legitimately freezing, LOL! Love that! Thanks for stopping by!
This all looks amazing! The bread bowl, the thick, creamy soup….yummm!! I’d love this on a rainy day!
I made wild rice soup last week too, but I didn’t have those adorable bread bowls! How cool is that?
Thanks Tonia! The bread bowls are SO good!
I am one of the world’s worst cooks and I was able to make these bread bowls!!!! And they were delicious! Thank you so very much for this recipe!
Woohoo!!!! This comment made my day! Thanks Becky! I’m SO happy they worked out for you and you liked them!