Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup is a delicious and easy substitute for canned condensed soup and adds home cooked flavor to your favorite casseroles and family recipes.
Cheaper than store bought and freezer friendly which is perfect for meal planning and prep.
Cream of Chicken Soup
I love making things from scratch instead of using store bought items like spice mixes and canned soups. It allows me to control the ingredients being used, and we love this recipe for condensed cream of chicken soup.
Canned condensed chicken soup is an essential ingredient and one of the pantry staples for so many delicious casseroles and recipes.
Instead of using a can, easily make it from scratch at home with just a few kitchen staples and less than 10 minutes.
Ingredients Needed
Butter: Use unsalted butter for this recipe.
Chicken: This is a great recipe for using up any leftover cooked chicken. I always have leftover dark meat when we get a rotisserie chicken. This is a great use for it!
Flour: All purpose flour is best. If you need this to be gluten free, substitute 2 tablespoons of cornstarch for the flour. Whisk in as directed.
Broth: Use chicken broth for the best flavor or substitute vegetable broth.
Spices: If you want to add some herbs (garlic powder, onion powder) or take out some of the salt, this is a great recipe for that. Customize it to your own needs!
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How to Make Cream of Chicken Soup from Scratch
First: In a medium saucepan melt butter over a medium-high heat. Whisk the flour in and cook 2 minutes.
Second: Lower heat to medium. Add chicken stock and milk and whisk until smooth. Stir in spices and bring to a simmer.
Third: Add in the chopped chicken and stir to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
Fourth: Store in airtight container in refrigerator. Use as you would a can of condensed soup.
For the full recipe and detailed baking instructions, please see the recipe card at the end of this post.
How do you thicken chicken soup?
As you will see, for this cream of chicken soup recipe, I used a flour roux as the thickener, then milk, chicken stock, and diced chicken.
Another way to thicken soup is to use a cornstarch slurry.
How do you make soup creamy?
The key to a creamy soup is allowing the flour to be stirred in with the butter for a few minutes on the stove. This helps to get rid of the flour taste but allows the flour to thicken the soup.
Add a dash of heavy cream or milk toward the end of cooking.
What is a good substitute for Cream of Chicken Soup?
Skip the can and whip up this easy recipe for the same amount you will use for your recipe, but without running to the store.
You can use this soup as a meal or use it as a condensed cream of chicken substitute in a casserole and other recipes. You will just measure out 1 1/4 cups and use in recipes as you would a standard can of soup.
Can you eat it by itself?
Some people find eating cream of chicken soup alone is delicious. You can easily make this a meal. For this recipe the soup is thick as a condensed canned soup.
But adding a little extra water or milk can thin out the soup a bit, to where it is a better texture for eating as a bowl of soup.
How to store it
This homemade soup can store for 3-4 days in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. The shelf life isn’t that long due to using fresh chicken and no added preservatives like you find in store bought.
Can I freeze it?
You can freeze the soup you don’t plan to eat for 2-3 months. Just place in a freezer bag or other freezer safe containers in 1 1/2 cup amounts. Pull one straight from the freezer and let thaw in the refrigerator before using.
More Kitchen Basics
If you love this recipe as much as I do, please write a five-star review in the comment section below (or on Pinterest with the “tried it” button – you can now add pictures into reviews, too!), and be sure to help me share on facebook!
This cream of chicken soup recipe is so flavorful, and I love it more than canned soup—wholesome ingredients all in one easy recipe.
Cream of Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- ½ cup 1 stick butter
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup milk or half-and-half
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cup cooked chicken diced fine
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan melt butter over a medium-low heat.
- Add in flour and whisk together until well combined.
- Add chicken stock and milk and whisk until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
- Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a simmer and cook until it begins to thicken, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add in cooked diced chicken and stir to combine. Cook an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
- Store in airtight container in refrigerator until ready to use.
Notes
Nutrition
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good stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your blog. Barbabra Dave Lorain
Trying to cut my salt intake so no canned soups for me. I found this recipe, tried it and it worked great cause I can adjust salt as I like. Hubby said it was good also
I am so glad you liked it! I agree that the canned soups have so much salt. Even the low sodium versions are bad. Or they taste awful…