Chicken and Rice Soup: a recipe

Often times, I will glance at a recipe online and end up forming my own recipe form it in my head as the day goes on using ingredients that I have on hand. In the end, the two recipes may not be very similar, apart from the basic ingredients, but my results are pretty good, if I do say so myself. This recipe is a chicken and rice soup that I've now made twice, it was somewhat inspired by Rachael Ray's Chicken and Rice Stoup.

In this adventure, I intentionally over-boiled the rice (by using more liquid than necessary), which causes it to kind of burst. I think it gives it an interesting texture and has the bonus of confusing people who may not realize that it's rice.


Photo by Husband

Warning: This recipe will make your house smell amazing!

You will need:

• 3/4 cup rice (I use white)


• 1 box (4 cups) chicken stock (I like Rachael Ray's Stock in a Box)


• 3 chicken breasts, already grilled and cubed*


• 4 cups water


• 1 carrot, chopped


• 2 celery, chopped


• 1/4 white onion, chopped (about a 1/2 cup)


• 3 bay leaves


• 1 teaspoon oregano


• 1/4 teaspoon thyme


• 1/4 salt


• 1/4 black pepper

What you do:

• In a 3qt or larger pot, boil rice in 1 cups chicken stock and 1 cup water until all liquid is absorbed into the rice, be careful not to let it stick or burn.


• Then add 3 cups water and remaining 3 cups of stock.


• Throw in the carrots, celery, and onion. Stir in all the herbs and seasonings. Bring it all back to a boil, then add chicken and reduce to a simmer.


• Let it simmer for a really long time, I'm talking at least an hour. Then let it rest for a while, it's tired.

I have some simmering right now; I'll probably let it simmer for an hour or more then let it rest for another hour, so it'll be waiting when Shawn gets home from work [I originally wrote this up between 2 and 3p.m. Monday]. I might also bake some bread for dipping.

Notes: none of my measurements are exact and most of them are optional. Well, the chicken, stock, rice, bay leaf, and oregano are pretty important, other than that you can leave out or add anything you want. You can also adjust the amount of liquids added after the rice has cooked, depending on how soupy you want your soup Measurements for herbs are using dried, you can use fresh but you'll need to adjust the quantity.

*I will often cook several chicken breasts at a time, cube them and store them in the fridge to use for quick meals like quesadillas or the Larry's BBQ style "Giant baked potato" I had for lunch (Panama City and Dothan people will know what I'm talking about). This chicken was grilled in a grill pan with olive oil after being seasoned with McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning. You can substitute any cut of chicken you want. The intention of the recipe is to be able to make something that tastes great with items you have on hand; if you have thighs, use them. I usually have chicken breasts on hand because we buy the large bag of frozen breasts nearly every time we go grocery shopping 'cause you can always do something with chicken. This last grocery trip, however, we bought a whole chicken (sometimes we get both) as I'm eager to try "Stretching a Whole Chicken for 4+ Meals" from Passionate Homemaking. Now I'm just rambling.

If you try this recipe let me know what you think in the comments.