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    $5 Dinners | Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals

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    Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Pearled Onions

    December 13, 2010 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom 10 Comments

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    My December “clear out the pantry” challenge continues.  Tonight in the form of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Pearled Onions. I pulled a whole chicken from the freezer and cooked it in the slow cooker on Saturday.  My plan was to then use half the cooked and shredded chicken for this soup, and the rest for BBQ chicken sandwiches for lunch yesterday.  I also saved the broth from slow cooking the whole chicken and used it in the soup.

    When I was getting the chicken out of the freezer on Saturday to defrost and then slow cook, I noticed a bag of pearled onions.  I bought them a few weeks ago when on sale for $.88/bag, with a $.60/3 store coupon.  To be honest, I really didn’t have anything in mind when I bought them…and I wasn’t entirely sure how or when I would use them…but thought they’d be a fun ingredient to have on hand.  For something.

    And that something was this soup. As I was planning out the month’s menu and what I could make to use up the items in the pantry and freezer, I had in mind that I’d use up a plain old yellow onion for this soup.  Until I spotted that bag of pearled onions.

    You might not think it would have made much of a difference in the taste, but pearled onions have a distinct, almost sweet, flavor…that was perfect in this soup.  Wild rice has a bland, yet somehow bold, and distinct taste…and I really liked how the pearled onions brought a new dimension…I thought the sweet pearled onions provided a nice balance, and contrast, with the wild rice.  Toss in some chicken and mushrooms slices and you’ve got a great dinner…

    Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Pearled Onions

    Ingredients

    • 2 Tbsp olive oil ($.20)
    • 1 1/2 cup frozen pearled onions, about 1/2 bag ($.37) $.88 sale plus $.60/3 coupon
    • 1 4 oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained ($.39) Super sale at Walgreens
    • 2 garlic cloves, crushed ($.10)
    • 4 cups homemade or store bought chicken broth (free to $2)
    • 4 cups water
    • 1 cup brown rice ($.40)
    • 1 cup wild rice ($1.99)
    • 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken ($1.50)
    • 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar ($.10)
    • 1 tsp parsley ($.05)
    • Salt and pepper, to taste
    • Bread or side of frozen veggies ($.68) $.88 sale plus $.60/3 coupon

    Directions

    • To a large saucepan or Dutch oven, add the olive oil.  Saute the frozen pearled onions with the mushrooms and crushed garlic.  No need to thaw…will take a few extra minutes to steam off the water that the frozen onions release while they saute…about 4-6 minutes.  Once sauteed and the water has steamed off, add the broth and water.  (Wild rice is a “thirsty” grain…it takes 4 cups of liquid to 1 cup of wild rice…twice as much as white and brown rice!)
    • Bring to a boil, then add the brown rice and white rice.  Stir in the cooked and shredded chicken, white wine vinegar, parsley and some salt and pepper, to taste. Bring it all to a rolling boil, reduce heat to medium and cook for 50 minutes, or until wild rice and brown rice are soft.  Cover if too much water boils off…or add more water/broth, to reach desired consistency.
    • Note: This could certainly be made with raw chicken…just slice or dice boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs and add when you would add the cooked and shredded chicken.  It will cook through as the rice cooks.
    • Serve Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with a slice of bread, or frozen veggies…in our case, corn. Serves 4-6.

    Cost $5.78

    (With plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow!)

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    Filed Under: Budget Friendly Recipes, Chicken Recipes, Dairy Free Meal Ideas, Gluten Free Recipes, Pantry Staple Recipe Ideas, Rice Recipes, Soup Recipes Tagged With: mushrooms

    Comments

    1. charlotte gracer says

      December 13, 2010 at 10:08 pm

      I have a turkey carcass in the freezer just begging for this!

      Reply
    2. angie says

      December 16, 2010 at 2:14 pm

      this sounds like a rather good clean the fridge out meal how delicious my daughter and mother are big rice and chicken fans and would love this

      Reply
    3. Jessica (Cheapskate Life) says

      January 3, 2011 at 6:47 pm

      This is the first thing for my Menu Plan Monday this week! I can’t wait to try it and let you know how it turns out! I forgot to buy my mushrooms though, so I’m gonna leave them off unless I can find a can somewhere! Since I’m using leftover chicken from 40 Clove Slow Cooker Chicken, there will be plenty of garlic taste in this soup tonight! I love garlic…there can never be enough!

      Reply
      • Jessica (Cheapskate Life) says

        January 4, 2011 at 11:45 am

        P.S. It was really good! My 11 year old son even ate a whole bowl even though he doesn’t like onions!

        Reply
    4. Doggy says

      January 5, 2011 at 10:47 am

      Hola,

      el punto de vista Competente, cognoscitivamente.
      Doggy

      Reply
    5. Karen says

      February 1, 2011 at 9:13 am

      I loved this soup, so did everyone else. I pull off the leftover chicken off the carcass and used the carcass to make the broth and added wine. Could not find the pearl onions so chopped up regular. Thanks again!!!

      Reply
    6. Janet says

      February 14, 2011 at 3:37 pm

      terrific recipe!
      Just one little “nitpicking” comment:

      It is not possible for wild rice to be both bland and have a blod and distict taste. Nothing earth shattering just an observation.

      Keep up the great work!!

      Reply
    7. Janet says

      February 14, 2011 at 3:37 pm

      bold not blod. Sorry!

      Reply
    8. nightsmusic says

      October 4, 2015 at 5:21 pm

      Love your recipes and I’m definitely going to be making this one. One nitpick however, it would be wonderful if your Share toolbar on the right of your site was either smaller or easier to hide. I can only read one or two lines at a time of your blog because it takes up the entire left side of the viewing area. 🙁

      Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. Zucchini and Sausage Saute | Modern Gal says:
      December 13, 2010 at 9:17 pm

      […] at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and $5 Dinners // December 13th, 2010 in Food, […]

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    I’m Erin Chase…

    Also known as the
    $5 Dinner Mom.

    I have a little problem. I cannot make a meal that costs more than $5.
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