When you’re looking for a traditional Chicken and Mushroom Wild Rice Soup recipe, this is it. No roasting of mushrooms required, no “wild rice blend,” and not so thick it feels more like gravy than soup. This wild rice chicken mushroom soup is all done in one pan, made with just wild rice (no other type of rice), and is just creamy enough while still being loose and brothy.

My husband is a born and raised Minnesotan, so he requests chicken wild rice mushroom soup often. His version is made with a lot of cream and butter (no one is surprised). My recipe is a bit lighter, but in true Minnesota wild rice chicken soup fashion, it still features a ton of flavor from garlic, sage, nutty wild rice, and a mirepoix.

A bowl of this is a full meal, but it also pairs nicely with a kaiser roll or sweet potato dinner roll. And if you’re in the market for more soups, check out my souper simple series. It includes a ton of quick-cooking soups like my Cauliflower Potato Leek Soup or Chicken and Cabbage Soup.

A Simple Ingredient List

Milk, broth, chicken breasts, wild rice, onion, garlic, butter, carrots, celery stalks, cremini mushrooms and fresh sage set out on a table.

Mushrooms: I like to use cremini mushrooms here, but really any type will work here. I also like shiitake. White button mushrooms can be used, but they will be slightly softer in texture due to their high water content.
Pantry: olive oil or butter, kosher salt and pepper
mirepoix: yellow onion, large carrots and celery make up the base of the veggies for this soup.
Sage: fresh sage is best, but dried can be substituted in a pinch.
Garlic: similarly to the sage, fresh is best! For quick prep, use a garlic press.
Wild rice: not actually a rice at all, wild rice is a long-grain marsh grass grown in the Northern Great Lakes region and commonly harvested by local Indigenous Americans. Nowadays, wild rice is commercially produced in California as well, though I prefer Minnesota wild rice.
Chicken broth: you’ll need 5 cups for this soup, which isn’t terribly convenient if you buy it in the 4-cup boxes. Which is why I like to keep Better than Bouillon on hand for these types of instances. You can whisk up as much or as little broth as you want. Plus, it takes up far less storage space than cartons of broth.
Chicken: for this chicken and mushroom wild rice soup recipe, I like to use boneless skinless chicken breasts. They’re convenient, quick cooking and affordable. Feel free to use boneless thighs or bone-in thighs or breasts. Anything goes here.
Milk: I use whole milk here—it adds luscious creaminess without being too thick and stodgy. Feel free to use half-and-half for something more decadent. And to keep it dairy-free, use canned coconut milk or soy milk.

How Easy it is to Make

1. Get the mushrooms cooked

Cook the mushrooms in butter or olive oil until they are nice and golden brown. For the best texture, I recommend seasoning them with salt right after they are done cooking, this way excess water isn’t drawn out during cooking. Transfer the cooked mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.

2. Start cooking the mirepoix

Dry wild rice added to a large pot of cooking carrots, onion and celery.

In the now-empty pot, cook the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and sage in some oil or butter (you choose) just for a few minutes. This soup simmers for quite a while, so you don’t need to cook the veggies too much up front.

3. Simmer the chicken and rice

Wild rice, carrots, onion, celery herbs and chicken breast cooking in broth in a large pot.

Add the broth and the wild rice to the soup and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, add the chicken breast and cook just until the chicken is cooked through, this will take 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the chicken, using tongs, and set aside to cool.

4. Keep simmering that wild rice

Wild rice, carrots, onion and celery cooking in broth in a large pot.

Continue cooking the soup until the wild rice is cooked through, this will take about 30 more minutes. Be sure to simmer, not boil, the soup here. If the soup is vigorously boiling it will cause the wild rice to cook too quickly and “blow out.”

5. Shred the chicken and finish the soup

Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it into bite-sized pieces. Add the chicken back to the soup along with the cooked mushrooms and the milk. Be sure to taste the soup and adjust the seasoning as needed!

Chicken wild rice mushroom soup in a shallow white bowl set on a blue plate with a wooden-handled spoon set in it.

Test Kitchen Tips

Why do I need to rinse the rice? Wild rice can be fairly dirty and dusty out of the package, so give it a good rinse before adding it to the soup.

Can I freeze this soup? Yes, but I recommend waiting to add the milk until you’ve thawed and begin to reheat the soup. Freezing milk can cause it to separate. If you have leftovers, you can freeze it with the milk mixed in, just know the reheated soup may be slightly curdled.

Can I make this soup with leftover or rotisserie chicken? Absolutely! Just add it into the soup at the end with the cooked mushrooms and milk.

Can you make this in a slow cooker? Yes, use this recipe as a guide.

Make it vegetarian. Simply skip the chicken and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Got someone that doesn’t love mushrooms? Skip the mushrooms altogether or consider adding diced potatoes to the mix.

Use dried herbs instead of fresh in a pinch: when you don’t have time to grab fresh sage you can use dried. Instead of using 3 tablespoons fresh sage, use 1 tablespoon dried sage leaves (if you’re using ground dried sage, only add 1 ½ teaspoons).