Yes you need cooked chicken for this! I usually use rotisserie. BUT. If you have a whole chicken, you might want to just boil it! That way you will have chicken broth AND the cooked meat to use in the soup. The homemade broth will make this soup really, really great. And you will likely have enough broth AND chicken to either make a double batch or save the other half for another recipe. Hope that helps!

So glad you liked it!

So glad you liked it!

So glad you liked it!

So glad you liked it! And good to know it worked well with the packet, thanks so much for letting us know!

For anyone else reading this who may be wondering about adding the packet, I would say to just make sure you keep an eye on any added salt, as the packet will already have salt in it so you don’t want to go overboard here.

I actually did end up adding the packet, I didn’t see your reply til after and I absolutely loved the soup. The local grocery store has a creamy chicken and rice at their hot bar that I love, but it is pricey. I was hoping to fins something similar that is along those lines. We’ll this is IT. Followed the recipe otherwise exactly. 😋
Thanks so much!

Nope, no seasoning packet! I always buy Ben’s original rice just plain in the big bag. If you have the kind with a seasoning packet just leave it out. Hope you like it!

So glad you liked it! I just double checked and the half and half is definitely in the ingredients list, both in the post and on the recipe card (towards the bottom of the list – since it’s added during one of the last steps, it’s listed toward the bottom of the ingredient list) – but thanks so much anyway! I’ve been known to make mistakes like that before so I always love that my readers are an extra set of eyes to make sure things are all good on my end :-)

So glad you liked it! Great idea to add evaporated milk. Thanks for sharing that tip!

Nothing like veggies sautéing in butter… you just know something good is happening! So glad you liked the recipe!