Not all recipes make it onto Collegiate Cook and Life Between Weekends. Some are such an epic fail they never even make it to the photo-taking stage, while others take countless iterations to get right.

I spent an entire year searching for the right Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice soup recipe. Yup, one year.

I started out testing recipes that had rave reviews online, just to see what worked, what didn’t and how close I could get to the Holy Grail of Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice: Panera’s recipe. (Cue “aaaaah” sound and beams of light here.)

I learned quickly that some recipes really didn’t work for me, like the one that said it was totally okay to dump cooked rice into a slow cooker for 12 hours. The result? Dissolved rice that turned the soup gritty and lumpy. Blecch. Or the one that involved adding can after can of Cream of Mushroom soup to thicken it (mouth-puckeringly salty).

Once I got a feel for what’s out there, I started testing my own variations, which later became known as: Bland, Watery and What-Was-I-Thinking?!

I was about to shelf the project for a while, when I stumbled upon Pinch of Yum’s Slow Cooker Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice. It was so unbelievably good, I knew I didn’t need to keep tinkering with my own original recipe. A modified version of theirs would be perfect.

So here it is: The soup a year in the making, adapted from Pinch of Yum to taste more like Panera’s version.

What copycat recipes have you been trying to master? Are there any you’re still trying to find?

 Slow Cooker Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Adapted from Pinch of Yum’s Crockpot Cream of Chicken Wild Rice Soup

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Yum

Slow Cooker Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water (optional)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup cooked wild rice

Instructions

1. Place the chicken, celery, carrots, onion, thyme, garlic powder and chicken broth in the slow cooker and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and no longer pink in the center. Prepare the rice according to the package’s instructions, and leave in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.
2. About 20-30 minutes before you’re ready to eat, melt the butter in a saucepan. Gradually stir in the flour and let it bubble for a minute. Whisk in the milk, a little at a time, until you have a creamy mixture resembling watered-down instant mashed potatoes. Hooray—you’ve made a roux!
3. Add the roux to the slow cooker, mixing everything together and breaking up any lumps. Season with salt, pepper (and additional onion powder, if you so desire) to taste. Add in the rice. The soup will thicken as it sits, and it’s even better the next day.

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Copyright: Life Between Weekends, 2024