Spicy Chicken and Rice Soup with Pumpkin

This soup uses rice as its thickening agent. It’s a genius technique that you’ll find used in many cuisines and cultures as an alternative to cornstarch, or roux. What’s great about using rice is that it imparts a delicious aromatic ricey flavor to the soup, all the while turning watery broth into thick, comforting porridge. Though this recipe calls for boneless skinless chicken thighs, which cook in the broth as it thickens, you could absolutely swap in cooked and shredded turkey meat, if you’re looking for a non-sandwichy way to use up all of those leftovers. Use dark meat if you can, which won’t risk over cooking, and add it in when you add the rice. To that end, if you want to turn this vegetarian, you could omit the chicken all together. There is plenty of flavor thanks to smoky chipotle chilies, fresh ginger, and pumpkin, and I doubt you’d miss the chicken at all.