The BEST Minnesota Wild Rice Soup Recipe with Chicken & Ham

Name: Cozy Autumn Minnesota Wild Rice Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 5 tablespoon butter; 1/2 small onion (minced); 1/2 cup all purpose flour; 4 cups chicken broth; 2 cups wild rice (pre-cooked); 2 cups cooked chicken breast or thighs (chopped or shredded); 1 cup diced ham; 1 medium whole carrot (grated); 2 tablespoon sliced almonds; 1 cup half & half; salt to taste (usually 1/2 to 1 tsp)

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Tender chicken, savory ham, and chewy wild rice add incredible texture to this creamy Minnesota Wild Rice Soup Recipe—my most requested recipe ever! Hearty without being heavy, comforting, and ready in under 30 minutes.

For more midwestern classics, you will love my shredded sirloin tip roast recipe and healthy tater tot hot dish!

bowl of wild rice soup on wooden table with yellow napkin.

Recipe at a Glance

⏱️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
🔥 Cook Time: 20 minutes
🕒 Total Time: 30 minutes
🍽️ Servings: 6 people
👍 Difficulty: Easy!
😋 Recipe Highlights: Rich & creamy without being heavy, practical, family-friendly, and a guaranteed winter staple recipe you’ll make again and again.
🛒 Featured Ingredients: Long grain wild rice, shredded chicken, carrot, onion, ham, & almonds

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Wild rice soup is a classic Minnesotan staple. My mom has been making this soup my whole life, and it’s one of our favorite family recipes.

Wild rice is a species of grass that grows in lakes, rivers, and streams in the Upper Midwest. It may not be as popular in all parts of the world as it is in Minnesota, but it’s an incredibly nutritious food that’s high in fiber, protein, and manganese.

The original wild rice soup debuted in the 1970s at a restaurant called the Orion Room. A few years later, a version of this soup became more widely distributed through Byerly’s–a small Minnesota grocery store chain. They served the soup in their ready-made food section and printed the recipe for customers.

The original Byerly’s soup is higher in fat than my recipe. Mine is still creamy, but I have found over the years that most people prefer this slightly thinner consistency to the Bylery’s version.

But don’t be fooled–nothing about this recipe tastes like it’s missing a thing!

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Recipe at a Glance
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Minnesota Wild Rice Soup Key Ingredients
How to Make Minnesota Wild Rice Soup
Expert Wild Rice Soup Tips
Minnesota Chicken Wild Rice Soup FAQs
Other Chicken Recipes
📖 Recipe
💬 Reviews

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

I've made this wild rice soup for family and friends more times than I can count, and it's the one recipe I'm asked for again and again. It's cozy, filling, and feels special despite being so easy.

Even better, people don't just ask for the recipe-they make it for their own guests, too! And those guests, in turn, ask for the recipe themselves!

It's one of those universally loved soups that quickly becomes a keeper.

Minnesota Wild Rice Soup Key Ingredients

Ingredients for Minnesota wild rice soup: chicken, ham, carrot, wild rice, flour, broth, half and half, butter, salt, almonds, onions, carrot.

Here are the key ingredients for this recipe. For a complete list, check the recipe card.

Chicken Broth or Stock – If you don’t like your soup too salty, you may want to choose a low-sodium broth.

Butter – I love using grass-fed Irish butter in this soup because of the added nutrients like beta-carotene and Omega-3 fatty acids. If you don’t want to use butter, I’ve also used olive oil with success.

Cooked Wild Rice – Cooked wild rice is the key ingredient! You should cook your rice ahead of time because it takes too long to cook naturally in the soup, plus it absorbs a lot of liquid.

Alternatively, you can buy pre-cooked wild rice in a can, such as the Canoe brand.

Tip: Make extra to freeze so you have some ready to go the next time you want to make this soup! My Instant Pot Wild Rice recipe is a hands-off and easy way to cook dry wild rice.

Shredded Chicken– Use cooked chicken for this soup. It’s the perfect recipe for leftover cooked chicken breast or thighs, or you can grab yourself a rotisserie chicken to make this easy.

How to Make Minnesota Wild Rice Soup

onions cooking in melted butter in dutch oven with blue spoon.

1. Cook Onion.
Put a large pot or Dutch oven on your stove and turn the burner to medium heat. Melt butter in the pot. Add the minced onion and cook until the onion is soft.

blue spoon mixing flour into butter mixture in dutch oven.

2. Create Roux.
Add the flour to the pot and stir until the butter absorbs all of the flour. Cook the flour & butter mixture for about a minute.

3. Whisk in Broth.
Add your chicken stock or broth to the pot, whisking incorporate the roux. Bring to a simmer.

minnesota wild rice soup recipe ingredients added to soup.

4. Add Meat, Rice, Carrot, and Almonds.
Add the diced ham, shredded chicken, grated carrots, and almond slices to the soup. Stir to combine and simmer until all ingredients are warmed through.

5. Add Half & Half.
Drop the heat to medium-low and add one cup of half & half to the pot and stir.

6. Taste & Salt.
Taste the soup to see if you need to add salt. If you’re using full sodium chicken broth and salted ham, you may not need to add any.

Since I typically use a reduced-sodium broth, I usually add 1/2 to 1 tsp of salt to the soup.

This cozy autumn Minnesota wild rice soup recipe pairs beautifully with a loaf of fresh, whole grain sourdough bread, a winter kale salad, and my fall fruit salad with wild rice and pecans.

If you want to stick with the wild rice theme, try it with my Cranberry Wild Rice bread!

Expert Wild Rice Soup Tips

Pre-cooking the wild rice and chicken is a huge time saver.

I make a large batch of wild rice at the beginning of soup season and then store it in the freezer in 2-cup portions to pull out as needed.

You can throw the frozen rice right in the soup as it is simmering–it will thaw quickly!

This recipe is also perfect for holiday leftovers. Use your leftover smoked spatchcocked turkey and Traeger smoked ham to quickly make this soup.

This simple soup also does well in the slow cooker. Just add all your ingredients except the half & half–add that right before serving.

bowl of wild rice soup on wooden board with purple napkin

Minnesota Chicken Wild Rice Soup FAQs

Can you cook wild rice in soup?

Generally, no, you should not cook wild rice in this quick stovetop soup. Long grain wild rice has a very long cooking time and absorbs a lot of water.

That said, sometimes you can find “soup grade” wild rice which consists of broken kernels that cook faster. With enough added liquid, you may be able to cook those in your soup.

For best results, I recommend pre-cooking your rice and adding it to the soup. Check out this Instant Pot wild rice recipe for an easy way to prepare dry wild rice.

What does Minnesota wild rice taste like?

Minnesota wild rice is one of the most flavorful rice varieties you could get. It has a nutty and chewy texture. The flavor is delicious, not bland like regular white rice.

Where can I find wild rice?

Wild rice is available seasonally in most large grocery stores. That said, outside of the midwest region, it can be more difficult to find pure fancy grade wild rice that isn’t part of a blend.

Wild rice can also be ordered online. If you can’t find any, substitute brown rice if needed. Many grocery stores also carry a “wild rice blend,” which is not a true wild rice, but it could work very well for this soup.

Other Chicken Recipes

If you give this recipe a try, please leave a comment & review! It means the world to hear from those who try my recipes. I reply to every comment I receive. 🙂