Cream of Chicken Soup
Tue, Mar 30, 2010
Appetizers and Dips, Cooking, Featured Articles, Quick and Easy, Recipes, Soup
I always forget how easy soups are to make.
One of my favorite soups is cream of chicken. For the longest time I would buy the soup from the deli of the grocery store because I quite simply never thought to make it myself. I am kicking myself about it now because not only is it dead simple, it tastes far better than anything I have purchased.
What I like is that I control the content of the soup, so if I want more carrots or more celery I am free to add it. Speaking of additions, you can add more actual cream to this soup if you want to, as much as 1/2 cup. I used two tablespoons because I wanted it a little lighter, and a little cream goes a long way here. The whole dish takes less than an hour to make, and it keeps well in the fridge. If anything, it tastes better the second day.
Cream of Chicken Soup Serves 4
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and fresh cracked pepper
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup finely diced onion
3/4 cup finely diced celery, with the leaves
1/2 cup finely diced carrot
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dry thyme
1/4 cup flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups milk, 2% or higher
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Fresh chives
Heat the oven to 425 F and line a making sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Place on the prepared baking sheet and roast in the oven until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160 F in the thickest part of the breast. Allow to rest for at least ten minutes before shredding.
In a medium pot, over medium heat, melt the butter until it begins to foam. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook until they begin to soften, about three minutes. Add the bay leaf and the thyme and cook until the vegetables are soft, about six minutes more.
Add the flour and cook for two minutes, making sure that the flour is completely coated in the butter. Whisk in the chicken stock and milk then reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring often, until the soup thickens and begins to simmer, about twenty minutes.
Add the shredded chicken and cook for three minutes. Remove the bay leaf and turn the heat down to low. Stir in the cream. Garnish the soup with some fresh chives.
Enjoy!
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Tags: bay leaf, carrots, celery, chicken, chicken broth, chives, Comfort Food, cream, cream of chicken, creamy chicken, easy, Milk, onion, quick, Soup, stock, thyme
I love making and eating soup. Even in the summer. I never get sick of it. This one looks very creamy and comforting!
Love soup! That looks delicious. I am afraid to say I have only ever had canned cream of chicken soup. That is a sin!
Love that although this is a cream of chicken soup, it has just a little bit of cream. –nice!
Beautiful soup. Did you ever try Julia’s brilliant no flour-no cream Cream of Chicken or Vegetable Soup from The Way to Cook? It’s ingenious. She cooks lots of onions until soft and then adds 4 cups of liquid and 1/2 cup of raw white rice and cooks it until the rice is soft, soft, soft. THAT gets pureed to a really thick gorgeous soup. Then you add back in some more stock, chopped softened vegetables, that shredded chicken you cooked and you have a stupendous “cream” soup without the cream. She does say you can add a bit of cream before serving, but really it doesn’t need it.
Sue – No, I have never had it but it sounds great!
looks delicious! And so much better than the stuff out of a can (which I must admit I use on occasion). I’ve never made my own, i’ll have to save this recipe
Having only ever used the condensed canned stuff in recipes, I never would’ve thought to eat cream of chicken soup as a soup. But this recipe has changed my mind. The photos make it look absolutely mouth-watering!
This looks so comforting and delicious.
I love cream of chicken soup. Thanks for posting this!
Looks tasty and beautiful
Lovely soup… It looks warm and comfy to me.
I love that you upped the veggies here. Looks so delicious!
Made this soup yesterday. The recipe was spot on and easy to put together. But the taste! It was out of this world!
My husband and I both loved it! Thanks for the recipe.
I made this recipe gluten free and with soy milk and the recipe turned out great. My gluten free flour has tapioca, potato, and rice flour and worked well in thickening the soup.
This is the first soup I have ever made and it was delicious. The recipe is easy and doesn’t take a long time. I was thinking this would be great with peas and the filling for pot pies. Great recipe!
thank you for sharing your gluten free recipe my daughter has celiac disease and his herd to find anything that taste good for her
I made this soup tonight and it was really sweet- any idea what could have caused that or what I can do to counteract the sweetness?
Amber – this is your basic cream of chicken soup tecipe, I have made many versions of this and it has never turned out sweet…check your ingredients..perhaps you mistakenly put in sugar instead of flour…or used a rotisserie chicken that had a sauce on it? It should NOT taste any degree of sweet. Give it another try!