~Amanda~
Our first snowfall of the year came last week and for me that always means I’m breaking out the crock-pot for dinner, it’s become a tradition of mine over the years. Although I don’t use my crock-pot too often, I absolutely love making a warm meal in it on a cold winter day. We’ve got a few recipes on the blog already (find them HERE), but last week I decided to blog a new one for you guys!
I absolutely love this soup because it has a little bit of everything. First is the chicken. I like to buy a rotisserie chicken at the store and shred it at home then add it to the soup. Rotisserie chickens have such great flavor and to be honest, I really wanted to keep this simple and this is much quicker and easier than roasting chicken at home. I also save the extra shredded chicken to use in other meals throughout the week. It’s great to throw into a quesadilla, add to a pasta dish or use in stuffed peppers.
Next are the vegetables. One of my favorite fall veggies is butternut squash. I absolutely love the flavor and use them in so many dishes so it was natural to throw some into this soup. Celery is a pretty standard veggie to add in soups and I use it in a lot of mine. It doesn’t have a ton of flavor but I like the little bit of ‘crunchy’ texture it adds to the soup. I use white beans in this soup – I feel like they’re more mild in flavor and combine with the other ingredients much better than black beans would. And finally, kale. Adding some shredded kale into the soup at the end gives a pop of color and nutrients!
Finally, the thing that makes this soup unique is wild rice. Wild rice is something I hated growing up, don’t ask me why – I still don’t understand what there is not to like about it – but it’s become one of my favorite ingredients lately. Make sure the wild rice you’re using is a slow cooking rice (the package should say 45 minutes) and keep an eye on it so it doesn’t overcook and get soggy – I may have done that this time around and while the soup still tastes good, it was a little thicker than I preferred. Once everything has cooked for about 6 hours on low, it’s time to serve it up. I love mine with a side of fresh cornbread because what’s soup without cornbread, right? Enjoy and stay warm!
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 cup wild rice or wild rice, uncooked
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into ½“ cubes
- 15 ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained
- 5 ribs celery, chopped
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne powder, optional
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth (try and get low sodium, if not you don’t need to add much salt)
- 6 cups kale, thinly chopped
- 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
- Place all ingredients other than the kale and chicken in the crock-pot. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours or on high for about 3 hours. You just want to cook it until the rice is cooked through and tender so it may take slightly more or less time than directed so keep an eye on it.
- Add in the kale and chicken, stir to combine and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in a fridge for up to a week.
