Creamy Wild Rice Chicken Soup For Coming Off GAPS

This creamy wild rice chicken soup has tender chicken, soft carrots and celery, and a little chew from separately cooked wild rice. Homemade cultured sour cream gives the broth a tangy finish alongside lemon and dried herbs. The rice goes in last, after the broth has thickened, so you can cook it until tender without leaving it in the soup through every other step.

This is a recipe for later Coming Off GAPS, after wild rice and arrowroot have each been introduced separately. It is not an Intro or Full GAPS soup. If you are still following the strict diet, choose one of the other soup recipes that fits your current stage.

As a working, homeschooling mom of six, I need to know about an eight-hour soak before I start thinking dinner can go straight into the pot. Our family began GAPS in July 2024. That experience is why I keep the preparation and the diet stage clear here. A recipe can be useful to save for later without being the right meal for every person in the household today.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry wild rice
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice, for the soak
• Filtered water for soaking and cooking the rice
• 3 tablespoons homemade unsalted butter
• 4 celery stalks, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• ½ teaspoon each dried thyme, rosemary and sage
• 1 teaspoon natural sea salt and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• 6 cups finished homemade chicken meat stock
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Zest of 1 lemon and 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot flour and a separate ¼ cup filtered water
• ½ cup finished homemade kefir-cultured sour cream

Start with a cup of dry wild rice, rather than a cup of cooked rice. The vinegar or lemon used in the soak is separate from the two tablespoons of lemon juice added to the soup. Drain the soaking water before cooking the rice in fresh water.

Check the rice package before you begin. Wild rice products and their cooking instructions vary. Cook it separately until the grains are tender, then drain it. You are looking for a pleasant chew, without a hard center, before it joins the finished soup.

The stock is already made. Homemade chicken meat stock keeps the flavor centered on the chicken. A finished beef meat stock can also supply the same six-cup measure if that is what you have prepared, though it gives the soup a deeper, beefier flavor. Use a stock you have already introduced.

Have the cultured sour cream finished before starting the soup. Its separate fermentation time is not included in this recipe’s preparation estimate. Measure half a cup of the finished cream and keep the rest refrigerated. You do not need to make a whole new batch just for this pot.

The three herbs are measured separately at half a teaspoon each. The lemon finish also has two measures: the zest of one lemon and two tablespoons of its juice. A large lemon may give more juice than you need, so measure the juice rather than adding the entire squeezed amount.

Recommended Equipment

Use a large stainless-steel or enameled pot with a lid for the soup, plus a second pot for cooking the rice. Leave room to stir the vegetables and fold in the cooked rice at the end. A crowded pot is awkward when you are lifting out four chicken breasts.

You will also need a glass bowl for soaking, a strainer, a knife and cutting board, and measuring cups and spoons. A glass measuring cup and whisk make it easy to combine the arrowroot slurry before it reaches the soup.

Keep tongs and a clean plate ready for the cooked chicken. Use a food thermometer to check the thickest part of each breast. The simmering time is a guide; the thermometer tells you when the chicken is ready to come out.

How To Make Creamy Wild Rice Chicken Soup

1. Put the dry wild rice in a bowl with the teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice and enough filtered water to cover. Soak for eight hours, then drain.
2. Cook the drained rice separately in fresh water according to its package directions, until tender. Drain and set it aside while you prepare the soup.
3. Melt the butter in the large soup pot over low heat. Stir in the celery, carrots, onion and garlic. Cover and cook gently for about thirty minutes, until softened.
4. Uncover, add the thyme, rosemary, sage, salt and pepper, and stir for about one minute. Pour in the six cups of finished stock and add the chicken breasts.
5. Bring up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about ten minutes as a guide, continuing until every chicken breast reaches 165°F in its thickest part. Lift out the chicken, cut or shred into bite-size pieces, and return it to the pot.
6. Stir in the lemon zest and the measured two tablespoons of lemon juice. In the measuring cup, whisk the arrowroot with the separate quarter cup of filtered water until smooth.
7. Whisk a ladle of hot broth into the slurry, then pour it gradually into the soup while stirring. Stir until the broth thickens evenly and there are no pale clumps.
8. Turn off the heat. Stir in the half cup of cultured sour cream, then fold in the drained cooked rice. Taste and adjust the final seasoning if needed. Serve warm.

The covered vegetable step is gentle cooking. The pieces should soften and look glossy, without browned edges. If they are coloring quickly, reduce the heat. Stir through the bottom when you check them so the garlic does not sit against one hot patch of the pot.

Check the chicken rather than relying on ten minutes alone. Breast thickness and the temperature of the stock change how quickly it cooks. The poultry temperature guide lists 165°F. Shred or cut the cooked meat into pieces that fit comfortably on a spoon.

The arrowroot starts in the separate water, not scattered dry over the soup. Whisk until smooth, loosen it with a ladle of hot broth, and stir as it goes back into the pot. The broth should gain body without pockets of white starch floating between the vegetables.

Add the sour cream off the heat and stir gently until the broth looks even. It gives this version a tangier finish than plain sweet cream. Then fold in the rice. Keeping those last additions until the chicken is done avoids cooking the finished rice through the entire soup method.

Where It Fits When Coming Off GAPS

The 2020 GAPS book describes the strict diet as generally lasting at least two years, with at least six months of normal digestion before introducing foods outside it. The book also says to consider coming off once health problems have gone and you have been well for at least six months. Readiness comes before a date on the calendar.

The first transition foods are new potatoes and fermented gluten-free grains such as buckwheat, millet and quinoa. They are introduced one at a time in small portions, with time to watch for returning symptoms. Later, other starchy foods and properly prepared grains can be introduced gradually.

This wild-rice-and-arrowroot soup belongs later in that process, after both ingredients have been tried separately and tolerated. A bowl combining several new ingredients is not the first trial of either one. The eight-hour acid soak is preparation for this particular rice recipe; it is not the book’s initial fermented-grain method.

The butter and cultured sour cream also need to be foods you already use. This version contains dairy and chicken, and it is not an Intro, Full GAPS or No-Plant GAPS recipe. The GAPS food list and stage guide helps distinguish the strict diet from the later transition.

Storage And Serving

Serve after the cream and rice have been stirred through. The soup should be warm and spoonable, with chicken and vegetables distributed through each serving. Stir before ladling so the rice does not all stay at the bottom.

Divide leftovers into shallow covered containers and refrigerate promptly. Do not leave a large pot on the counter waiting for it to become completely cold. Properly handled refrigerated soup keeps for three to four days; use an earlier limit if a prepared component is already older.

Reheat the portion you need to 165°F, stirring so the rice and chicken warm evenly. The rice may absorb more broth during storage, and the texture will be thicker than it was at the first meal. Keep that in mind when choosing how much to make.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Time Should I Allow?

Allow about nine hours and fifty-five minutes from the beginning, including the soak. The nine-hour preparation estimate includes eight hours of soaking plus rice cooking and ingredient preparation. The soup-pot cooking estimate is fifty-five minutes. Your rice package and the chicken’s doneness still guide the actual cooking.

Can I Use Chicken Thighs?

Four boneless, skinless thighs are an alternative to the four breasts. Their size and cooking time can differ, so check every piece for the same finished temperature before shredding it. Keep the remaining soup measures the same.

Can I Use Bone Broth?

The same six-cup measure can come from an already introduced bone broth. Meat stock is the default here. Bone broth is a separate preparation with its own GAPS timing; the two names are not interchangeable descriptions of the same cooking method.

Can I Double It?

The card’s 2× setting doubles all ingredient measures and makes twelve servings. The soak remains eight hours. Use enough pot space for the larger amount and allow extra heating time rather than expecting a very full pot to warm at the same pace.

More Soups Like This

Keep the chicken meat stock and cultured sour cream recipes handy for preparing the components ahead. My planned Dinner Cookbook brings family meal ideas together with their preparation and ingredient details. Follow the WFLI cookbook catalog for its release.

Creamy Wild Rice Chicken Soup Recipe