Make: Asian-Style Chicken, Mushroom and Rice Soup

Asian-Style Chicken, Mushroom and Rice Soup | Photo by Becca Boyd

Are you new to cooking? Soup is a great place to start. You can easily correct mistakes, and with the right amount of salt, even an okay” soup is pretty darn good. We all know broth-based soup is the way to go when making waist-friendly decisions in the kitchen (or the buffet line, for that matter), but chicken noodle soup can get old — and fast.  

If you want the low-calorie, filling warmth of chicken noodle with a knock-out flavor profile (and, lo, nary a noodle), this soup is for you. Lime juice, ginger, mushrooms, tamari and Sriracha make it unmistakably “Asian” in flavor, but you don’t have to go hunting for the ingredients — they can easily be found at just about any grocery store.  The soup is dairy- and gluten-free (see the note about tamari below), and contains just over 300 calories per serving..

A word on flavor: So much of it comes from correctly cooking the mushrooms, so please follow those directions carefully. Nothing’s worse than a spongy, undercooked mushroom.

Recipe: Asian-Style Chicken, Mushroom and Rice Soup
Makes eight to 10 servings

1 tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
24 oz. white mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
1 white onion, finely diced
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
8 c. chicken broth
2 c. water
1 1/2 c. shelled frozen edamame
1 1/2 c. cooked brown rice
3 c. cooked and chopped or shredded chicken
Juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp. tamari* (or soy sauce, if gluten isn’t a concern)
1 tsp. Sriracha

Method

1. Heat oil in pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms release liquid and liquid evaporates.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low and let cook until mushrooms are brown and tender.
3. Add carrot, celery, onion, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender – about 8 minutes.
4. Add chicken broth and water and turn heat to high – bring mixture to a boil, and then reduce. Simmer for about five minutes.
5. Add edamame, rice, chicken, lime juice, tamari and Sriracha. Taste for seasoning. Serve.

*Tamari is a member of the soy-sauce family that’s made with no (or very little) wheat, which makes it a good substitute for soy sauce for gluten-free eaters. That said, be sure to check the label of your tamari bottle to be sure it is gluten-free. Most are marked so very clearly.

Per serving: 328 calories, 8 fat grams, 36 milligrams cholesterol, 975 milligrams sodium, 943 milligrams potassium, 36 grams carbs, 4 grams dietary fiber, 3 grams sugar, 29 grams protein.

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Becca Boyd is a wife and mom who creates healthy and delicious recipes in her West Chester kitchen. She blogs about them on her website, Home Beccanomics.

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