A creamy, comforting and filling dinner. This chicken and rice soup, finished with lemon and parmesan, is a great way to use up leftover cooked chicken. A small amount of rice goes a long way!
Add the rice, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 25 minutes – stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender.
105 g (½ cup) uncooked long grain rice
Add in the chicken, lemon juice, cream, parmesan, salt, and pepper.
250 g (2 cups) leftover cooked, shredded chicken, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 80 ml (⅓ cup) double (heavy) cream, 50 g (½ cup) grated parmesan cheese, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp black pepper
Stir together and heat for 2-3 minutes until the chicken is warmed through.
Serve topped with fresh parsley.
2 tbsp fresh parsley
Notes
Can I make it ahead?You can make it ahead, but the soup will thicken as it cools, and the rice will absorb more liquid, so it will become softer.
Make the soup, then cool, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.
Reheat in a pan, over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until piping hot throughout.
If you wanted to loosen up the soup, add a splash of stock or water while you're reheating the soup.
Can I freeze it?Yes (be sure to use full-fat cream and milk in the recipe, as lower fat versions may split upon defrosting/reheating).
Make the soup, then cool, cover and freeze in portions. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat as per the reheating instructions above.
Ingredient swaps
Swap out the chicken for turkey
Swap out the carrots and celery for other vegetables that can take a long ish (25 minute+) cooking time, without going mushy. Mushrooms, butternut squash, broad beans, brussel sprouts and fresh corn are good options.
For more tender veg - add them in closer to the end of the cooking time:
Smallish pieces of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, sweet potato chunks - add them in about 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking.
Spinach, kale, frozen peas - add them in about 5 minutes before the end of cooking.
How to scale up and scale down this recipeYou can halve or double this recipe, sticking to the same ingredient ratios. If doubling, it may take a few minutes longer for everything to come to the boil, but simmering time is the same.Slow Cooker I've found that the rice becomes too mushy and claggy when making this in the slow cooker. So if I do make it in the slow cooker, I reduce the amount of stock i'm using to approx 950ml/4 cups), and I add in cooked rice at the end, to just heat it through.So, for the slow cooker:
Make the recipe up to (and including) the point you add the stock (using 950ml/4 cups stock instead of the amount stated in the recipe) and thyme.
Then add the shredded chicken (OR you can replace the cooked chicken with raw chicken - using either 2 chicken breasts, 3-4 chicken thighs or 4-6 chicken drumsticks).
Cook for 4-5 hours on low.
If you used raw chicken, then at this point remove the chicken and shred the meat, then add the meat back in (discarding the bones/skin).
Add in the salt, pepper, lemon juice, cream and parmesan PLUS 300g/10.50z/1.75 cups of COOKED long grain rice and heat through for another 10 minutes or so, until piping hot.
Nutritional information is approximate, per serving. This recipe serves 4.