Step 1

Heat a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crispy then remove to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside, reserving bacon fat in pot (add extra virgin olive oil if necessary to get 2 Tablespoons fat total in pot.) Add onion, bell pepper, and celery then season with salt and pepper and saute for 5 minutes, or until veggies are softened. Add chicken and Cajun seasoning then cook for 5 more minutes. Add garlic then cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Step 2

Sprinkle flour over veggies and chicken then stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, until flour turns golden brown, about 3 minutes. Add about a cup of chicken broth then scrape browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add remaining chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, water, bay leaves, red chili pepper flakes, and salt then bring soup to a boil. Add rice then cover pot, turn heat down to medium-low, and simmer, stirring often, for 15-20 minutes or until rice is just barely tender (it will continue to cook and soften in soup.) Add cooked bacon back into the soup then let it sit and thicken off the heat for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve.