11/25/14

Creamy Chicken & Potato Soup

An easy comfort food recipe for creamy chicken and potato soup that eats much like a chowder and feels a lot like home!


This soup was so good it made me cry.

Well, the soup was good. And I cried. But the soup didn’t really make me cry.

My long, tired day made me cry.

Either that or I’m pregnant. Ha! I’m not, Mama – put the phone down.

What had happened was… Our washing machine died. The weekend after I got home from a weeklong business trip. It was Thursday before I could pay someone $89 to tell me it wasn’t worth fixing and Saturday before I could get out to buy a new one so I had two weeks of laundry piled up.

So I spent ALL DAY Sunday doing laundry. But I got to love on this soup too so I was making the most of it.

After a long day of housework and laundry, we finally sat down to supper. I wasn’t really expecting the kids to love this so I made a big ol’ pile of toast to go with it and plopped the peanut butter on the table too. Side note about the toast: Husband always wants toast with soup, stew, chili, etc. Is that a Canadian thing?

Chicken & Potato Soup | A rich stock with chicken and potatoes finished with a little cream at the end for the perfect amount of richness without being too heavy.

I came prepared with the peanut butter but our rule is that the kids have to at least try what’s on the table. If they don’t like it, they don’t (necessarily) have to eat it. But they have to at least try it.

For whatever reason, the thought of this brought Brutus to tears before he could even take a bite. He’s crazy picky and we have to really coax him to try stuff but it wasn’t like I’d set boiled beef tongue in front of him.

Knowing I’d been hard at it all day (and probably worried for my feelings about my new recipe) Husband laid down the hammer about Brutus drying it up and trying the soup. Which made him cry harder.

So there we sit. Brutus is sobbing. Husband is yelling. And behind both of their heads, on the counter behind them, I see a giant stack of folded laundry fall over onto the floor.

And I could feel my eye starting to twitch. Not sure if I was about to have a nervous breakdown, a stroke or a major meltdown, I got up from the table, went upstairs to my room, shut the door and proceeded to cry.

A rich stock with chicken and potatoes finished with a little cream at the end for the perfect amount of richness without being too heavy.

And then I got over myself and went back downstairs to tackle the dishes and laundry and to love on Brutus a bit.

Isn’t it funny how a 5-minute cry can cure you? By the time I got myself together I felt silly and selfish for my little fit but I was right as rain once I got it out of my system.

And I’m happy to report that the soup was delicious! I ate the rest of it for lunch today and I swear it was even better the next day!

It’s not too heavy like a lot of creamed soups are but it’s still rich and hearty. The chicken sort of poaches in the stock so you don’t have to cook it separately. If you’d like yours creamier, use 1 cup less broth and add one additional cup of half-and-half.

Enjoy!

And I hope you don’t cry when you make this but if you need to, let ‘er rip!

Creamy Chicken & Potato Soup


Creamy Chicken & Potato Soup
Yield: 10-12 Servings
Author:
prep time: 5 Mcook time: 40 hourtotal time: 40 H & 5 M
An easy comfort food recipe for creamy chicken and potato soup that eats much like a chowder and feels a lot like home!

ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup (5 tablespoons) butter
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 celery stalks, diced (about 2 cups)
  • 2 carrots, diced (about 2 cups)
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 cups (32-oz.) chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (plus more to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 3 chicken breasts
  • 1 cup half-and-half

instructions:

How to cook Creamy Chicken & Potato Soup

  1. Sauté onion, celery and carrots in butter in a Dutch oven or soup pot until onions become translucent (about 5 minutes). Add flour then cook and stir for 2 minutes.
  2. Add chicken broth, salt, pepper, thyme and garlic powder then stir until well combined and smooth. Once simmering, reduce heat to medium-low then add chicken breasts. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked though. Remove chicken and set aside.
  3. Add potatoes to broth then cook, covered, over medium heat for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Taste soup then add more salt (or the other spices) if desired. Reduce heat to low.
  4. Cut chicken into small pieces then add to the soup. Add half-and-half; stir to combine then cover and continue cooking for 5 minutes on low.
  5. Serve with crusty bread or cornbread (or toast!). Enjoy!

NOTES:

This would be fantastic made with leftover turkey!
Fresh herbs and spices would be great in this instead of dried/powdered if you have them!
soup, chicken, potato, chowder, stew, creamy, thick, no creamed soup, homemade, easy, recipe
Created using The Recipes Generator


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47 comments:

  1. Crying is my go-to recipe to feel better! Works every time. Amazing.......

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    Replies
    1. I feel like a million bucks after I see a movie that really makes me sob. There must be some scientific reason for this!

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    2. There is..... Sometime looooooong ago I realized crying helped my soul but aggravated my sinuses. ( I have chronic sinus headaches.) So I would do my best to keep from tearing up. I was telling this to my Dr. asking if feeling better after crying was " all in my head". She said it was documented that stress hormones were found in tears among the test patients. So now I weigh the pros and cons of a good cry, more often then not the waterworks win :).

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  2. I am wondering about the celery in this and many recipes. Is it necessary? Often times it seems like filler to me to help a dish go further. I don't care for celery. Would this recipe work just as well without it, and can you tell me what celery add to dished? Thanks! I LOVE your site and plan to try several recipes. Can't wait!

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    1. It's not a filler. Celery, carrot and onion (mirepoix) sauteed together is a classic French combination that jump starts some of the best recipes. I've always thought the combination went especially well with chicken. If I really didn't like it I would either dice it up super fine or leave it out. I don't think the dish will be ruined without it but there's a reason mirepoix has been a staple for cooks and chefs for so long :) Hope this helps!

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    2. Thanks! I always wondered. I'll give this a try

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  3. I watch Steel Magnolias when I feel like a good cry - which might happen tonight - after a gentleman pointed out today that I wasn't married and "I was getting older".........bring on the Kleenex! LOL

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  4. Yum, making this tonight! Curious about the potatoes though. Isn't 1+ hours a long time to cook them? Seems like they would disintegrate!

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    1. They cook at a simmer the whole time (not a rolling boil) so they shouldn't disintegrate. You can see in the picture that mine were still intact :)

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    2. This was amazing! My hubby said it's the best soup he's ever had and I agree! The potatoes were perfect, but my veggies kind of disappeared. My burners (and oven in general) run hot, so it probably was cooking higher than a "simmer". I think I'll add more next time for this reason. This one's definitely a keeper!

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  5. I love your reference to 'boiled beef tongue'! In my house, it's 'fish head stew'! So did Brutus try the soup???

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  6. Mandy, this looks like another winner to me! I can't wait to give this one a go! Thanks for what I'm sure will be YET ANOTHER "Mandy Meal" for my menu rotation. I love your recipes so much, you have your own section in my recipe folder, thus the "Mandy Meal" title.
    Glad your little cry did you some good. I'm a firm believer in 'better out than in' when it comes to that kind of thing.

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  7. This sounds amazing! I can't wait to try it. Quick question...do you put raw chicken in the stock?

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  8. I'm wondering how many servings it makes as I have a large family.

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  9. Please, how would you make it with leftover turkey without perhaps losing the added flavor of chicken breasts cooked in?

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    Replies
    1. The broth and veggies have plenty of flavor. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts don't bring too much flavor anyway.

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  10. I was wondering if I could use milk instead of half and half... Trying to avoid the grocery store.

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    1. I use milk and half and half fairly interchangeably if I don't have one or the other without any negative side effects. The half and half just makes things a bit creamier/thicker without any noticeable (at least in my family) change to the taste.

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    2. I would use one less cup broth and one extra cup milk and it should be close to the same :)

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  11. What do you think about using sweet potatoes in this? Would the taste be thrown off or would it work as a sweet and savory type deal?

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    1. Hmmm. I'm not sure but I'm funny about sweet potatoes. I think I'm the only person alive who doesn't like sweet potato fries. If you like other dishes with sweet potatoes rather than regular, then I would think you would like it substituted in this too. But I don't know that I would. Does that makes sense?? I hope that helps!

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  12. Table Cream in Canada is not 1/2 and 1/2.
    1/1 and 1/2 is 10%
    Table cream is 18%
    Whipping Cream is 35%

    Whoever told you any different is not correct. Sorry

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    Replies
    1. Table cream is the closest equivalent to half-and-half. Table cream typically has 18% milk fat and half-and-half ranges from 12-18% milk fat.

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  13. This was really good! I "kicked it up a notch" and added diced green chilies. And 3 carrots & sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

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  14. Made this for the 1st time last week. Was a huge hit so after Sunday dinner today I made another pot for dinner tomorrow, the only change I made was using rotissiere chicken because the flavour is so much nicer than boiled chicken breast.

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  15. I found this recipe on Pinterest recently and I've thought about it until I just had to make it. OMG.... seriously, this is the bomb! I just finished serving this to my family + my FIL whom we persuaded to stay for supper. Everyone had two bowls, except for my 8 year old who had 3 ;) Even my 2 year old asked for more. I'll have to disagree with the previous poster, though.... I would prefer it this way than with a rotisserie chicken. Poaching the chicken breasts in the flavorful broth/veggies leaves the chicken tender and infused with flavor that you just can't get when using precooked chicken (though I am sure it will work in a pinch if you have leftover meat to use up). The only change I made was that I used half heavy cream and half milk. This will definitely be made many more times!!

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    1. Just so you know.... it has been almost 5 years and I still make this soup regularly! I love it with some crusty bread. In fact, it will be for supper tonight. Our school/church is collecting recipes for a cookbook, and I think this will be one I submit :D

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  16. I used a rotisserie chicken and this soup was out of this world GOOD

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  17. I'm making this tonight for two reasons: 1. because it looks delicious and has ingredients that even our picky kid will eat and 2. because the story that went along with this was so real - and funny to read, while I'm sure it wasn't as funny in the moment...a real story of what happens when we Mom's try to do it all and it doesn't go our way.

    p.s. I'm Canadian and don't do the toast thing...so maybe it's regional or your hubby just really loves his toast.

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  18. I made this soup on Sunday. I doubled the recipe thinking I would have some leftover for lunch on Monday!! NOPE!!! It was ALL gone in minutes!!
    I added fresh chopped Kale & Spinach and added more of the carrots , celery, potatoes. It was DELISH!! I will be making it again soon!! I love all your recipes <3

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  19. Do you think this would work in a crockpot?

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  20. I just made this soup and it is delicious. I did things different though out of necessity. I didn't have any celery so I added a leek for some body and added celery seed. And I added a can of corn. So good. This recipe will be pinned to my "soup" board. BTW, I love your site. I visit it often.

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  21. I didn't add the cream at the end because by that point the soup was already thick and creamy enough. There is also way too much pepper to feed it to my kids, so next time I'll probably put 1/4- 1/2 as much, but I love the idea of poaching the chicken inside the soup and then pulling it out to stay tender.

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  22. Instead of cream I used a can of evaporated milk. Husband was so pleased he said it had to go on meal rotation! Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe.

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  23. I don't eat meat, but I've made this recipe for hubs a few times and he loves it. (It does smell incredible!) I use thighs instead of breasts (he's a thigh man, lol) and fresh garlic instead of garlic powder (sauteed with the veg). They don't have half and half here in NZ so I use half fresh cream and half milk. Thanks for sharing your fab recipe. :-)

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    1. Half and half is a in New Zealand now.
      Puhoi Valley make one, I'm pretty sure.

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    2. Half and half is available in New Zealand now.
      Puhoi Valley make make it.

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  24. Hi! What kind of onion did you use?

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    1. I usually use yellow onions but any will work.

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  25. Amazing!! I've never left a review before but this was sooo good. Everyone in the house loved it even people who aren't soup people (lol) they were asking for more. Think I'll make it again this weekend but maybe not share (depending on my mood lol). Thx!

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  26. This recipe is one of my favorites! I too as well use minced garlic and chicken thighs. So delicious! Thanks for the share!

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  27. I was in a pinch, and cupboard bare. Thank you for posting recipe. I had to cut recipe in half for my wife and I. Also, I'm a man and can't wait no 40hrs. So, I made it man style version(20min cook time(20-30min) using almost all the ingredients. Your veggies were raw and probably tastier. Best home made recipe I every made. This is 500% better than a can of chicken & potato soup. To my surprise my wife finished up the soup the next day! I wish I made more.

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  28. Since we absolutely LOVE your Cabbage Stew recipe (and make it often), I know we'll love this one. Can't wait to try it.

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  29. Perfect soup! I tried to lower the butter and cream and I just gave that all up. Add every teaspoon of butter and every drop of cream because it’s perfect the way the recipe is written.

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Hi there! While I’m not able to respond to every comment, I try hard to answer any questions that haven’t been addressed in the post, recipe or in other comments.

I can tell you now 1) I have no idea if you can substitute Minute Rice or brown rice in my recipes because I’ve never used them and 2) If I know how to convert a recipe to a Crock Pot version, I will make a note about it (otherwise, I don’t know).

And though I may not respond to them all, I do read each and every comment and I LOVE to hear from you guys! Thanks, y’all! - Mandy