Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup is a wonderful, flavorful, healthy alternative to commercial canned cream soups. It’s easy to make and freezes beautifully. Ditch the can, man!
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What’s a staple canned good that most of our grandmothers and mothers regularly kept on hand?
What’s the base of many a casserole, soup, and sauce recipe?
What’s so much better if you make it yourself?
The answer to all of the above is Cream of Chicken Soup.
Canned cream of chicken soup has been around for generations as a shortcut not just to soup but to any recipe that called for a velouté , a basic white sauce made with a stock.
A white sauce isn’t hard to make, but at the dawn of commercial convenience foods, having some canned short cuts was a welcome respite to many a home cook. Unfortunately, we began to believe that making these convenience foods from scratch was too difficult, and we became reliant on the commercial products.
If you’ve come to the conclusion that homemade tastes better and costs less than commercial items (it does!), then this recipe is for you!
Many folks have horror stories about canned cream soups. Early in our marriage, my husband declined the recipes I grew up because he’d been so weirded out by the metallic flavor of canned cream soups.
And the fact that his mom served it as a soup. Plain. {Shivers}
When he explained that story, I knew exactly what he meant. I had had a positive first exposure to cream of chicken soup, made from scratch, at a little cafe with my Aunt Cass in downtown Winona, Minnesota.
It was one of those lunches where you’re served in courses. As a ten year old eager to be a grown up lady, I was smitten, particularly with the soup course: Cream of Chicken. I was stunned that I hadn’t discovered something so delicious ever before!
When we got back home to California, I asked my mom if I could have a can of cream of chicken soup for my lunch. She warned me that it wouldn’t taste the same.
It didn’t. {Shivers again.}
Homemade is where it’s at!
I’m so thankful that I took the time to learn how to make my own cream of chicken soup! This is the real deal! It’s super easy, absolutely delicious, and soooooo much better than anything you can buy in a can.
What is Cream of Chicken Soup made of?
Whenever possible I like to cook with plain old ingredients. While the convenience of mixes and canned sauces is nice, I feel better about feeding my family just real food whenever possible. (Go here for some of my reasons on all that.)
Making homemade cream of chicken soup is basically the epitome of this! What is more processed than canned cream soup?! Ha.
Check out the ingredients list:
- Butter
- All Purpose flour
- Chicken stock or broth
- Milk
- Salt
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Black Pepper
- Cooked Chicken
Does Cream of Chicken Soup have dairy in it?
From the ingredients list, you can tell that there’s dairy in the form of butter and milk. However, if you want to make a dairy-free version, you can use oil for the butter and nut- or coconut-milk for the milk.
Obviously, you’ll have some flavor changes, depending on what substitutes you use, but the texture should be similar.
What can I use this soup for?
If you grew up enjoying casseroles made with canned cream of chicken soup, you’re in for a treat when you make this homemade alternative!
Try it in these casseroles:
- Chicken Curry Casserole
- Creamy Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Sausage Noodle Casserole
- Overnight Casserole
- Cheesy Potatoes
You can use this Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup recipe in all your favorite casseroles, but you can also use it as a soup starter. I love it as a shortcut for Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup.
Thin it a bit as is with some broth or stock and you can even serve it for your soup course as Cream of Chicken Soup itself. Amen! Hallelujah!
Can I freeze this?
Yes, I usually make a bulk batch of this recipe. You can easily scale the recipe with the recipe card below. Just tap the arrow up to however many cups you want to make and the recipe will adjust.
Cook a bulk batch and then divide the soup into 2-cup portions and stash them in the freezer. Homemade convenience at its finest!
I do freeze soups and sauces in glass canning jars as well as plastic containers.
If you’re going to use glass jars, leave the lids off, allow for extra headspace (about 1-inch), and chill completely. Then freeze until firm, without the lids. Once the soup is frozen solid, lightly twist the caps on.
Your mileage may vary. Breakage can occur. Use other containers for freezing if you prefer.
Instructions
As I mentioned, this is a fairly easy process:
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter.
- Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring until bubbly and fragrant.
- Whisk in the stock and milk slowly.
- Add the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and black pepper.
- Simmer until thickened.
- Stir in the minced chicken.
- Use in your recipe or store in containers, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for longer storage.
How I make this cheap:
I’m sure that you can find canned cream of chicken soup on sale for cheap. However, I promise you this is better and totally worth the upgrade in cost.
Here are some of the strategies I use to make this recipe economical:
- Use a whole chicken! Cooking a whole chicken (or buying one that Costco roasted for you) can be more economical than buying chicken pieces. You can use the carcass to make homemade stock. You’ll only need a small amount of chicken meat for the soup itself, meaning you can are basically using the leftovers to make this soup. You can easily make this homemade cream of chicken soup with turkey when the whole birds go on sale in the fall. Just call it cream of turkey. 😉
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. Whether it’s buying whole chickens or commercial chicken broth on sale, I buy more than I need in the immediate future. Sales cycles last about 6 weeks, so I try to buy enough to last me that long. Same goes for items like butter and flour. I stock up on these when I find good prices.
Tools I use to make this recipe easy:
Having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs. Here are the tools that I like to use in this recipe.
- plastic cutting boards – I have blue boards for veggies and white boards for meat.
- Ergo Chef chef’s knife – I’ve had my set for several years and they work well.
- Pyrex mixing measure bowl – I have had mine for almost 20 years!
- wire whisk – I like this style with a sealed barrel. Then you can send it through the dishwasher.
- large stock pot – the Kitchenaid stainless steel pot that came with a refrigerator purchase has outlived the refrigerator!
If you prepare this recipe, be sure to share a picture on social media and hashtag it #GOODCHEAPEATS. I can't wait to see what you cook up!
Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cup chicken stock
- ½ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoon chicken (cooked and cubed)
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring until bubbly and fragrant. Whisk in the stock and milk slowly. Add the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and black pepper. Simmer until thickened. Stir in the minced chicken.
- Use in recipes calling for cream of chicken soup.
- To freeze, chill the soup completely before storing in 2-cup portions in the freezer.Thaw and whisk to recombine before using.
Notes
- Use a whole chicken! Cooking a whole chicken (or buying one that Costco roasted for you) can be more economical than buying chicken pieces. You can use the carcass to make homemade stock. You’ll only need a small amount of chicken meat for the soup itself, meaning you can are basically using the leftovers to make this soup. You can easily make this homemade cream of chicken soup with turkey when the whole birds go on sale in the fall. Just call it cream of turkey. 😉
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. Whether it’s buying whole chickens or commercial chicken broth on sale, I buy more than I need in the immediate future. Sales cycles last about 6 weeks, so I try to buy enough to last me that long. Same goes for items like butter and flour. I stock up on these when I find good prices.
Nutrition
lazyme
This recipe was a life saver. At the last minute I discovered that I was out of cream of chicken soup. I made this and it worked wonderfully. Thanks so much for sharing this nice keeper.
Brittney
How long does this last frozen in a deep freezer?
Jessica Fisher
Several months if not longer if packaged properly and the freezer isn’t opened often or have fluctuating temps.
Kathleen
This is so much tastier than store bought and it comes together so fast. I usually leave out the chicken, preferring to add that straight to whatever dish I use this in. This base recipe also works with homemade turkey stock from the Thanksgiving turkey.
Adrienne
total life saver since canned gluten free cream of chix soup is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. I thickened with xantham gum but you could certainly use cornstarch or gluccomann.
Sharon
Walmart brand Great Vaue has gluten free cream of mushroom and cream of chicken
Angie S
I figured out pretty early in married life that I didn’t want to rely on canned “cream of” soups, but so many simple recipes use them. Making white sauce each time added work and a dry (homemade) mix I used for a few years wasn’t very tastyl. This is one of the first Good Cheap Eats recipes I added to my rotation, and it has been a life saver! I usually make at least a double batch so there’s always some in the freezer in case of emergency.
Melanie
This is a silly question, i think: canned cream of chicken soup requires the addition of water prior to eating it in the soup form.
Would you add water to this recipe if being served as soup?
Jessica Fisher
Not silly at all! This is thicker, like a gravy. So, yes, if you wanted to serve it as a soup, I would thin it with water or chicken broth just a bit.
Jennifer Lowe
Does this recipe equal one can of soup? I would like to use this in recipes that specify “one can cream of chicken soup” and want to be sure that I have the conversion correct. Thank you!
Jessica Fisher
That is how I use it, yes.
Patty mangum
The recipe is really tasty and more like Cambell soup for thickness compared to other tecipies I have used.. To lower the salt content I use chichen both with no salt.
Danisha Dewberry
This stuff is amazing.. I will continue to make mine homemade.
Jessica Fisher
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it.
Michelle F
SO easy and SO tasty. Had some leftover pulled chicken from the freezer which was so easy to incorporate into this recipe. A friend from work made this and shared with me, I am so glad she did!!!
Jessica Fisher
Yay! So glad to hear you enjoyed it!