Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup is nothing like the pale, gloopy, gravy-like mess that comes out of a can; rather, it's an utterly delightful, soothing, and rich-flavored soup dotted with fresh vegetables and herbs and very finely minced chicken.
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Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
Growing up, all I knew of creamed soups is that they came from a red- and-white tin that, when opened, would yield a bouncy gelatinous goop that served as the glue that bound the casseroles we would take to church events. This soup is not one of those; rather, it’s a lovely, comforting blend of aromatic vegetables, butter, egg yolks, cream, fresh herbs and chicken.
This soup makes little waste and, in a home where every penny counts, it’s rather nice to eke out every bit of flavor and nourishment from what you have available to you. So, use up the celery leaves and the carrot tops and you’ll find they give the soup a beautiful aromatic flavor that blends well with the soft and soothing flavor of chicken, cream, parsley, and chives.
Sarah Holmes says
An Instant Pot can significantly reduce the cooking time, keep the meat from drying out, and seems to infuse flavor into the meat. I often will cook (up to 10 lbs) chicken, patted dry and seasoned in an Instant Pot with at least 2 cups of water or broth and the tops, peelings and ends of veggies. Generally I use the stew or soup setting twice, then simply proceed with the recipe. My go to seasoning is often a seasoned salt, but use whatever you like. It is a good idea to peel the skin back and season the meat directly as I tend not to use the skin (although keep it in the Instant Pot for flavor), and instead make soup for my dogs with any scraps from this process. The broth may be more concentrated than you expect, so diluting with water or even milk to taste is a good idea. Hope this helps!
Jennifer says
How would you make this in an Instant Pot?
Jenny says
You could try and let us know how it goes.
andi says
like the idea but DAIRY FREE
Jenny says
This isn’t a dairy-free blog.
Claire says
I would like to try this without the chicken, any idea the ratio of liquid to egg yolks?
Jenny says
I recommend making this with chicken.
Hungry Gopher says
I got your book!
I love the ancient wisdom of using all the parts of animals and fish. Good for you, good for the environment and best of all, downright delicious!
Thanks for the wonderful recipes and insight =)
Sun
lauren @ the soaked bean says
How did I miss this?! LOVE your first cookbook so am very excited to get my hands on the next one! Thanks for all yr beautiful work, Jenny! <3
Janet says
I imagine it would freeze well if frozen before adding the eggs and cream. Think I'm going to try this and freeze half before adding all the ingredients to see how it works for more manageable serving sizes.
Lisa J says
I just pre-ordered your new book Broth and Stock and can't wait for it to arrive. Thank you so much for the Cream of Chicken soup recipe. I'm definitely going to be making it soon.
Thank you!
Laura says
Your recipe says 2-3 cloves. Is that really cloves? Or is it supposed to read "cloves of garlic"? Thanks!
Jenny says
Cloves.
Jessica says
The pureed vegetables and chicken didn't seem to want to mix well into the broth at step 9, and upon looking at it today after a night in the fridge, much of it has separated (puree from broth). Did anyone else have that? Did I miss a step or an intuition somewhere? Thanks!
viggie says
This was wonderful! I had roasted a chicken this weekend and was looking for ways to use the second half of the meat, so I just started a bit further down on the recipe and halved everything. Served it with some piima and it was delish 🙂
Steele says
My mother learned to cook with Meta Givens! She passed the book on to me and I used it until it broke! Fortunately, I found a two-volume version in a used book store and still refer to it for good basic recipes.
Danielle Barnes says
How would this do with freezing? I would like to make several batches at one time. Thank you
sharelle says
Was wondering how many cups or litres of stock to use regards
Jem says
This is the best chicken soup that I have ever tasted! I was searching for a soup recipe that would allow me to make use of a small cheap roast chicken carcass that only had half of the breast meat left on and couldn't find anything that didn't need more chicken than that. I really liked the sound of this one so I came back to it and thought I'd take a chance on it. So glad I did! Even with a minimal amount of chicken it was absolutely gorgeous. I decided to blend in the leek with the chicken and other veg; minus the cloves of course. I also garnished with coriander leaves (cilantro), because I'm not a huge fan of parsley. I will be making this a lot. Just beautiful!
Ginger says
Instead of pureeing veggies and chicken, I decided to do a more traditional chicken noodle soup. I sauteed the veggies as directed, then just added them directly to the broth. I also added sliced mushroom, peas, and wavy noodles. Serving a party of 12 tomorrow - so we'll see if it's a hit! 🙂
Julie says
I made this for my sick little 1 year old as an alternative to chicken soup. It was a hit with the whole family - delicious! You have ruined canned soup for me. Thanks so much for such a fantastic recipe xxx
Davida says
Thanks! This is the first one I've seen that doesn't require flour, which I avoid. Anyone know how to make a cream of mushroom or celery like this?
carrie says
I just made this today because I was searching for a way to use some extra egg yokes and I jus so happened to have a chicken in the fridge that I planned on roasting. I follow a paleo way of eating so I subbed the heavy cream for coconut milk and it was fantastic. I had some for dinner and froze the rest in half cup sizes. I am definitely making this again and again. I'm also going to try the basic format and do a cream of mushroom. love it thanks!
Lacy Cooper says
I was wondernig if coconut milk would work and/or alter the taste...awesome! I was also thinking of using some cashew milk and cheese to thicken potentially...
Brooke Bode says
My farmer offers a 'soup chicken' which I guess is older and less tender then the roasting chicken. Do you think I could substitute that or should I stay with the regular chicken?
Bonny says
Here's a very simple recipe for homemade cream of (anything) soup:
http://homejoys.blogspot.com/2008/10/make-it-yourself-cream-soups.html
The blog belongs to a lovely Mennonite wife and mother who makes many things herself.
Paula says
Bonny, I am sure your recipe is good, but it isn't paleo. It calls for flour as a thickener.
Mandi says
This soup is awesome! We all loved it at our house. One question, though - mine didn't thicken at all and your pic looks like it might have some thickness? Is that just an illusion, or did I mess something up? 🙂 Thanks for this recipe!
Christie says
Thanks so much for this recipe! It definitely gets the thumbs up from my family! Hubby and 2-year-old both love it (as do I). However, just wondering if it would be even better to use pre-made, long-simmered chicken stock, in order to benefit from the minerals etc extracted from the bones. Any tips on doing this? How many chicken fillets and how much stock might I need? Any ideas on how to incorporate the leek and clove tastes if the bone broth was not made with these ingredients?
Allison says
Just made up this soup to freeze in portions for recipes. Excited to bring back some favorite easy meals that have been long forgotten since we've been eating with nourishment over convenience foods in mind! Being that this isn't condensed...any idea what size portions I should consider dividing it into, to use in place of the icky cans? BTW this also thrills me as a way to put some scrawny stewing hens to good use. Win all the way around! Thank you!
Tamara @ Oh Lardy says
Did this recipe freeze well?
Margaret says
I'm wondering the same thing. Does this soup freeze well?