Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup
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Velvety creamy mushroom soup! So cozy, comforting, hearty. A 30 min recipe, truly weeknight-dinner worthy!
Don’t mind me as I drown myself in this epic creaminess in the middle of winter. A fun spin on chicken soup, this is made even creamier with a quick roux, along with all the little cremini mushrooms, tender carrots/celery/onion, garlicky-thyme brothy-goodness.
With pantry staples like chicken stock, this comes together lightening fast (definitely weeknight worthy). All you need is some crusty bread off to the side to dunk into this cozy pot of earthy, wholesome comfort food.
Feel free to add a splash or more of that half and half, giving that luscious creamy texture we all love and need sometimes (definitely fewer calories than cream). If freezing, omit the dairy completely to avoid graininess and separating, adding it in right before serving.
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, chicken breasts can absolutely be used here but chicken thighs have more dark meat and a higher fat content which will yield juicier, more flavorful chicken.
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
Half and half is equal parts of whole milk and cream. For 1 cup half and half, you can substitute 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream or 2/3 cup skim or low-fat milk + 1/3 cup heavy cream.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the half and half (dairy soups tend to separate when frozen) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding half and half when serving.
Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup half and half, or more, as needed*
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken to the stockpot and cook until golden, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
- Melt butter in the stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in garlic and thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Stir in chicken stock, bay leaf and chicken, and cook, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in half and half until heated through, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. If the soup is too thick, add more half and half as needed until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Fabulous! I subbed chicken breast, dried tarragon for the dried thyme, added fresh thyme & rosemary, halved the mushrooms, and added peas at the end. It needed to cook about 15 mins longer (even though I did a pretty small dice on the veg), but this only helped the flavors to come together more. I’m not even a fan of mushrooms (which is why I cut down the amount), but this is UNBELIEVABLE. Filling, delicious, comforting. The perfect bowl of soup!
I want to make this but I don’t like mushrooms or chicken. HAHAHAHA. You must be amazed at some of the weird comments you get. I just make this soup and it was totally awesome. As usual, as soon as I see a recipe that looks good and is fairly healthy your website pops up. Thanks for all the great recipes.
Hello ur recipe seems amazing..can I use milk instedvof half and half for a calories less version?
Yes, absolutely.
Hi. I wanted to leave a comment to say I made this today but used leftover lemon pepper rotisserie chicken. It was out of this world. Just so rich and delicious. I didn’t have half and half so I used evaporated milk. Thank you for the recipe. I have soup leftover so I am adding it to a casserole in place of reguar mushroom soup. This is a great recipe.
WONDERFUL soup!!! Really easy and quick, Hubby and I were crazy about this soup and I had only enough for one leftovers and couldn’t wait to taste it the day after BUT a friend broke her arm so I took it to her instead, she went crazy over it so it must have been even better 2nd day. Will make this over and over and over!
Oh and I forgot, I used a gf flour blend in place of the reg flour because of a food allergy, couldn’t tell at all.
Just made this tonight. I felt like this needed more cook time – I wish I had simmered the soup longer before adding the half and half, and I cooked the veggies twice as long as recommended. The flavor was great, but I think it just needed extra time to simmer to really come together. It’s definitely not a 30 minute recipe in my opinion.
Is this a recipe I could double or triple and freeze? It looks delicious and I’m swimming in leftover half and half.
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Ive made a few of your recipes and I’m just making this for the second time tonight. Its so delicious and I love dipping bread into it!
This soup came out delicious except that like others, my carrots were crunchy. I was careful to cut them to the same approximate size as the carrots in the photos provided. Next time I’ll boil the soup longer and be sure to check the carrots before adding the 1/2 and 1/2.
how could I make this into a crockpot dish?
It is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to be used in a slow cooker without further recipe testing. However, here is an article worth checking out on a possible conversion guide. Hope that helps!
Could you substitute coconut flour for this recipe , you think?
And coconut milk for the 1/2 & 1/2?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
Love this soup! It’s tasty.
Made it very delicious but missing salt(which you have to season to taste but my dad has had congestive heart failure) so I added a little more salt to a separate pot of soup for the rest of family
I found this recipe when I was searching for a chicken mushroom soup. As I have made other of your recipes I knew it would be a good one. I made it exactly as stated except I used leftover chicken from a previous meal. Also at the end I added a bit of rice leftover from last nights take out Chinese. I also had made homemade bread for the first time ever and together with this soup was a delicious filling meal on this snowy cold evening.
Just made this wonderful soup. The best recipe by far! Damn Delicious!
Made it last night and everyone loved it. My son (8) said it’s now his second favorite soup (behind chicken and dumplings). Thanks for the great recipe!
This was really good. I made it tonight. Mine didn’t thicken though. I can’t understand why.
Bummer! Did you follow the recipe exactly as written without any substitutions?
Mine didn’t thicken either, but I did add some leftover rice and it turned out just fine.
Absolutely my favorite soup. Just made this and I am enjoying it now. Thanks for posting this. Definitely a keeper.
Hi! I have been cooking for more than 60 years. This soup was so easy and absolutely DELISOUS. The only thing I change was I par boiled the carrots ( I like carrot cut on an angle). Other then that this was fabulous.
We are in the midst of a HUGE snow storm *New York City) so this was percet. Make sure have have some French Baguetts (YUM)
I made this soup tonight and it tuned out perfect! My wife loved it. I will definitely be making again.