Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup recipe is easy, delicious, and uses just a few ingredients. Oh, and best of all, it is gluten-free in a world of gluten filled cream soups.
Have you been cutting the processed boxes and cans from your grocery list? Do you think cooking from scratch is hard but feeling desperate for better options? It doesn’t have to be hard. You can do this one baby step at a time. In my move from processed junk to real from scratch cooking, there are some ingredients I just stopped using because I couldn’t handle the ingredient list.
Cream soups were one of those things I cut. But sometimes you really just need that cream soup in a recipe. Where do you turn? You turn to this rich and creamy homemade cream of chicken soup recipe I’ve whipped up just for you.
I know that it can be hard to cut the box. I was there 5 years ago, and in all reality, sometimes still find it hard to cut them all. However, ever since I started making homemade cream of mushroom soup I knew the rest of them had to be just as easy. Remember it all takes baby steps and I will be here with you every step of the way. First we are going to make our own cream of chicken soup, and then we will work on incorporating it into your favorite recipes.
There are several ways you can create your chicken base. My preferred method is to slow cook a chicken with 1 medium onion, sliced thin, and 6 cloves of garlic, minced. It makes my job easier. If you do this, you do not need to worry about adding onion and garlic. Just add some of the slow cooked onion/garlic. You could also start with a rotisserie chicken if you like or cook your chicken separately.
For an extra rich chicken flavor you can also substitute half of the milk for chicken broth. Skip adding salt if you do this though.
This recipe makes 4 cups so I recommend dividing it into smaller “can sized” servings and freezing some for quick easy meal prep down the road.
Ready? Let’s make a homemade cream of chicken soup recipe to remember.
PrintHomemade Cream of Chicken Soup
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups chicken, cooked and chopped**
- 1/4 cup onion, cooked until completely soft**
- 1 clove garlic, diced and cooked until completely soft**
- 4 cups milk
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- Salt to taste (low salt – 1/2 teaspoon)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Put chicken, onion, and garlic into a stockpot.
- Mix cornstarch into the chicken mixture.
- Add salt and pepper.
- Turn stove on to medium heat.
- Add 1/4 cup milk and stir into mixture.
- Continue stirring until liquid is full incorporated.
- Add 1 cup milk and stir in until bubbly.
- Continue stirring, adding 1 cup milk as chicken mixture gets thick.
- When all of milk is added, continue stirring over medium heat until thick.
- **NOTE: You can use the ingredients individually or you can also use rotisserie chicken. Just be mindful how much salt you add. However, my preferred way of creating this base is to slow cook a whole chicken with 1 medium onion and 6 cloves of garlic overnight. This creates the perfect flavoring when you add in a little of the onion and garlic.
What recipe would you use homemade cream of chicken soup in?
Need a last minute cream soup? Keep some of One Punky Mama’s shelf stable homemade cream soup mix on hand.
Has anyone made this dairy free? If so, did it come out good? Also, can you freeze or can this?
Hi! I have made this dairy-free with rice milk. It turned out more like a gravy than a cream soup, but was delicious. I want to give it a try with oat milk sometime and can report back once I do.
I have not frozen it so I can’t give you an outcome for that. I do not believe it is safe to waterbath or pressure can but you could check with your local canning extension to see if they can inform you better.
This sounds delicious. I tend to buy packet mixes and add fresh ingredients to it but hope to try this out soon.
Thank you. Good luck! It is super easy once you do it a time or 2.
I never had cream of chicken soup but I would love to try this recipe. This recipe certainly looks interesting. I will definitely attempt it in the near future. Thank you!
Thank you. I can’t wait to hear how you like it.
I have tried making cream of mushroom soup, but I have not expanded to cream of chicken soup. I am pinning your recipe to try later.
If you have made mushroom soup this is super easy. Thanks for pinning.
I love soup, but chicken soup is a definite family favourite. Your recipe is so wonderfully simple. I can’t wait to try it. My youngest will be equally excited , anything chicken related is always at the top of his list. Thanks for sharing this. It has been promptly pinned.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope your family loves it like ours does.
I’ve slowly been trying to cut processed foods out of my diet but sometimes find it so hard because it’s just easier to buy but you’ve definitely encouragedme!
You can do this. If you take it in baby steps you will get a few years out and be amazed at what you can do and how much easier it will be.
We stopped using canned soup long ago, but all the recipes I found so far called for flour. Love your recipe, thank you!
You are welcome. I am glad I can help. My goal is to create gluten-free recipes for all the major cream soups.
I never thought to make my own cream of chicken soup. I use it all the time!
Homemade cream soups are super easy once you get use to making them. You can do it.
I love using cream of chicken soup in casseroles and dishes. This seems much healthier than what is found in a can of cream of chicken soup. Thanks for posting!
You are welcome. I love it even just for soup for lunch.
Great recipe! I try to make “real food” for my family, but fall short in this area! Love to see how easy it is! Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome. It’s all baby steps. No guilt. Try it sometime and you will never go back.
This is a great idea! I think I’d try it in my chicken tortilla soup to give it a little more body and chicken flavor. It would be much better than the canned soups. Thanks for sharing it!
Oooh yum! I am so making chicken tortilla soup next week. Great idea.
Looks delicious! Yes, we cut out condensed soups also. They are so much better when made from scratch. I always make our cream of mushroom, but haven’t tried making my own cream of chicken yet. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome. There are only a few things that I haven’t found a way to make them BETTER than “bought” yet.
Great recipe! I like that you are not using flour in it. Have to make it this week:)
Let me know how you like it. I love finding ways to get around using flour in these type of recipes.
This sounds delicious! I have never made my own cream of chicken soup.
Thank you. You will LOVE it.
Looks good! We also try to cook more at home and buy less processed food. We love to try new recipes- will add this to our list!
Thank you. Would love to hear how you like it.
Wow! It really is easy! I’m trying to be vegetarian so I went and pinned your mushroom soup recipe! These are the kind of simple recipes I need in my life! Thank you.
Thank you! Good luck in your journey.
I try to never use canned soup, and this looks fantastic. I’m very much into healthy eating, but need some new recipes. I think my kids will love this, thank you.
You are welcome. I hope your kids do love it. Mine do.
Hi Heather!
Thank you for posting this, as I have a child who is allergic to gluten. Progresso has a few delicious gluten free soups, but my wife has recently been getting into this cooking from scratch thing 🙂 Your post is both being saved by me (though I stink at anything culinary related) and getting forwarded asap to her!
Thanks so much!
Alexander
Gluten allergies are so tough. I am glad this is a help for your family. I purposefully use cornstarch to offer people a good alternative. It can be so hard to find good gluten-free soups.
I cook from scratch as much as I can. I started when my daughter was young and I noticed that she did much better when we didn’t eat pre-packaged, processed food. It is so easy to cook from scratch and tastes much better. I have not made cream of soups from before though. I will have to try that!
I find that cutting as much processed food out of our diet really helps my one son also. So glad this is helpful to you.
I’m hopeless at cooking ANYTHING (from scratch or otherwise) so I really admire your ability and determination to this — and your use of baby steps, which for me are huge steps!!
Aw, it can be tough to learn but I bet you could do this. Sometimes it just takes practice. My first”takes” when I was learning new things weren’t always so great.
This is a great tutorial! I am not sure I am ready to make my own cream of chicken soup but maybe I will someday. Once my todler gets a little older. 🙂 Thanks!
Thank you.
Just out of curiosity and my complete inability to process dairy, how do you think this would work with soy milk?
That is a good question. I haven’t ever used soy milk. If you have used it to thicken foods before I want to say you should be fine. However, I am not sure if the amounts would be the same. I will have to try it and report back.
I would have never thought to make this, but this is great, my husband and I just went gluten and processed foods free, it’s great, but not easy, thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try 🙂
You are so right. That is not easy. I am so glad I was able to help you with at least one thing in your new diet.
I think this recipe would convert my anti-nugget sister.
I am definitely going to grab this recipe! My husband loves this soup and your recipe seems alot more flavorful than the one I have! Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome. Good luck! I definitely recommend adding some chicken broth in place of part of the milk for a flavor boost too.
THANK YOU for posting this!! I have definitely been revamping our diet and I cringe whenever I pop open a can of cream of chicken. lol I am definitely going to try this! I really appreciate it.
You are welcome. I can’t wait to hear how you like it.
Great post! I make soup often and I always make my own broth for it, but I haven’t ventured into cream soups yet!
Thank you. This is a great next step. It is only as hard as your mind tells you it is.
This looks DELICIOUS! And easier than I thought. I’m sure it’s much healthier as well! Thank you for sharing 🙂
You are welcome. I am glad you can see how easy it really is. Sometimes homemade things seem daunting, especially when we hear chefs and magazines throw around big words.
Great recipe. This doesn’t sound too hard actually, and doesn’t take very long either.
Thank you. Definitely not hard or long. I like to think it is easier than going to the store and grabbing a can off the shelf but it probably isn’t quite that easy, haha.
This looks really delish!!! I am always looking for quick soup ideas. My husband adores chicken based soups. Thanks for the great recipe.
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Thank you. It is perfect as a soup base. I even eat it straight up with a bit of milk or water added to “thin” it.
We ditched the cans years ago after my best friend took a flight with a scientist who works with cans and he told her he wouldn’t eat from a can. lol We both dropped them asap. I’m allergic to milk but I might give this a try with one of my milk substitutes. Hmmm…wheels turning. Thanks!
I don’t even WANT to know. I know enough about the food industry. I want to create non-dairy options too. It will just take a little time. Would love to hear what you come up with.
I love a good homemade soup and this one looks heavenly. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe; I will be trying it out!
You are welcome. Let me know how you like it.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I am always on the lookout for homemade food to make rather than always relying on canned stuff.
You are welcome! Me too. My mom asked where I kept my cans of food one day. I pointed to the cabinet and when she opened it there weren’t many cans -lots of other things, but not many cans. It’s amazing how easy it is when you move to it little by little.
What a great idea! I’m on a quest to eat and live cleaner and more from scratch, little by little. Funny how I never thought of even something like cream of chicken soup being homemade instead of from a can. I love your goal to “get women out of the box,” and will be keeping up with your blog! Thanks!
Thank you. Funny thing is that I cut cream of chicken soup long ago and never thought of making it until a friend requested a recipe. I couldn’t believe how easy it is!
Thanks! I have been working on cooking more from scratch. Will definitely give this and the mushroom soup recipe a try.
You are welcome! Let me know how you like them.
I’ve had a lot of “cream of” soups over the years, but I’ve never even heard of cream of chicken soup before! That’s different. My father is a big fan of chicken-based dishes, so I’m sure he’d go head over heels for this one. Unfortunately I don’t eat chicken, but your base sounds great and I would definitely try using the same base for maybe making cream of mushroom! How come you use cornstarch, is there a particular reason? I always make broccoli-cheddar soup (a household favorite around here) and use flour as a thickener. Would be curious to know if there’s a benefit to using cornstarch instead! Thanks for sharing.
This is my favorite base. The cornstarch reason is super easy – it’s gluten-free. I have so many friends that are gluten-free it makes it easier when I can find substitutions. Plus so many of the store versions are full of gluten, making it valuable to have other recipe options. 🙂
I love the idea of making homemade cream soups for recipes, but the convenience of the can is a hard habit to break. I’ll have to try making a large quantity and portioning it out to save. Do you put the mason jars directly in the freezer, or do you “can” them?
Just wait until you taste homemade. Definitely make a big batch! I actually am putting them in freezer safe containers of bags. I have always used mason jars in the freezer…until one broke. Oy, that was a mess of glass.
This is such a great idea. I had to forego making so many recipes because I quite using cream soups several years ago. They don’t have Campbell’s over here! I would try making the soup before and add to it but it ended up too much work. Not sure why i didn’t think to make up a big batch and freeze some but i certainly will now. I have this old recipe my sister-in-law used to make that was one of my favorites and now I can add it back to my rotation!
So glad I gave you an idea to make it work again. Have fun making your favorite cream soups again.
Saving this for later!! I used canned cream of soup all the time in America but it’s pricier to get here and also since we do eat less processed foods here I’ve really noticed how much better I feel cutting it out. I’m sure I’ll be trying this later.
Thank you for stopping by. It’s amazing how much you can tell the difference after you cut processed. Honestly? Add up the sodium levels in so many processed foods and it is little wonder.
This looks great! I bet it would be yummy to add to tortilla soup.
Mmmm! It would be perfect!
Cream of Chicken Soup is one of my favorite soups but I am starting to dislike the ones in the store such as Campbell’s so it will be fun to try out this recipe as I know it will taste better and be healthier for me. So thank you for sharing it with us.
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Thank you. Let me know how it compares for you once you try it.
I try to cook most things from scratch, but thought creamed soups would bet too hard to replicate. Thanks for this recipe! Will be trying soon.
Oh cream soups are super easy once you get your process down. Mine may not be “technically” right but so easy to learn and makes spectacular cream soup. I pull them together in no time at all.
So nice to see a normally unhealthy soup turned into something healthy! Do you have any recommendations for substituting the milk for someone who is lactose intolerant?
Can you have lactose free milk? I think you should be fine with that. If not, let me see if I can work something out. If you want to shoot me an email I can experiment with it and let you know. (realthekitchenandbeyond at gmail.com)
Thanks for this recipe. I like to make a lot of recipes that starts with cream soups and gets expensive having to buy the cans all the time.
You are welcome. Just wait until you see how easy it is and how yummy!
Yum! I’ll have to try that. How long does this soup stay good, though? Can you freeze it and keep it awhile like canned cream of chicken, or do you pretty much have to use it right away? Thanks!
Yes, you can freeze it. I personally wouldn’t keep cream of chicken (fresh) for longer than the same amount of time you would keep leftover cooked chicken.
YUM!! That looks delicious. Definitely going to pin it to try one day!
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Thank you.
I love soup, so this makes a great base.
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It definitely does!