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?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
This soup looks absolutely mouth watering. I really like than you haven’t blended the soup, so you get real texture as well as taste. Thank you so much for sharing. Sammie.
My husband made this for dinner tonight, it was wonderful! Did use leftover chicken because we had roasted a whole chicken on Sunday, but otherwise followed the recipe.
This sounds delish and I plan to make it this afternoon but wondered about freezing the leftovers? Some soups freeze beautifully and others end up mushy and gross. If it freezes well, I’d like to make a double batch.
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.
hi,
i just made this for dinner tonight, smells yuuuumy….i was just wondering, i used a half pint of heavy cream (didn’t
have the half/half), but the soup is still kinda thin, how do i thicken it up? Thanks!
Sally, you can use additional flour as needed.
Made this soup two nights ago. I stumbled across it when I was looking for a good soup recipe for my sick hubby. Neither of us are huge soup fans but I thought I would give this a try in a desperate attempt to help him feel better. I am making it again tonight!!! This soup is a bowlful of heaven. Thank you for this amazing recipe! I plan to try more of your recipes going forward.
Do you cook chicken first? Then cut up? I use the breast is all
The chicken is cooked in the very first step:
Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, to taste. Add chicken to the stockpot and cook until golden, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
Ya know what I LOVE about this recipe besides it being DELISH? It has recognizable slices of mushrooms. Drives me nuts to have a cream of mushroom soup and not be able to see, or bite into, any mushrooms. GRAND recipe.
CHEERS, CC
Made exactly as the recipe stated – delicious! I am usually not much for soups but hubby loves them and we both thought this was a terrific meal. Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Made this for supper, but I didn’t have chicken so I used italian sausage instead. So goooooood!!!!!
Garlic and rosemary are great flavors for a soup! I wouldn’t mind a warm bowl of soup right about now.
How big is each serving (1 cup, 1 1/2 cups, etc)? Thanks!
A serving is roughly 1-2 cups.
OMG!!…
This soup is amazing!!
I just made it and I’m loving it.
Thanks for sharing this recepie.
Yummy greetings from Belgium.
Is the chicken to be used pre-cooked? It doesn’t seem like 2-3 minutes and then about 6 minutes after would be enough to fully cook the chicken if it is raw. I’m always afraid to cook chicken, is there any hard fast rules on this to tell if it’s done without over cooking it?
Tiffany, the chicken will still continue to cook through when it is added back to the soup for an additional 8-10 minutes.
Delish! I did add a little cajun seasoning with the salt and pepper at the end. Also, cooked brown rice and added it at very end. Chopped flat parsley in the pot of soup… Would be great topped with a little white cheese too!
Can this soup become spicy by adding some chopped jalapenos to it? I like a creamy spicy soup.
Yes, that sounds like an amazing addition!
This soup IS Damn Delicious! It’s creamy and comforting without being heavy. The mushroom flavor comes through. It’s a very flexible recipe. I had to make a few substitutions for what I had on hand. I used mushroom broth and canned chicken breast. I browned my creminis first in unsalted butter until they were very brown & flavorful. Then put them aside. I sautéed the other vegetables about halfway soft then added the canned chicken, minced fresh garlic, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. I also added a couple tablespoons of minced sweet red pepper (just because I like the color). I added the mushrooms back in with the broth. I had to mix the flour with a couple tbsp. of butter and add to thicken. I also added some freshly grated nutmeg after the half and half and added the fresh parsley. Sorry I didn’t mean to change your recipe that much, but this recipe is so forgiving. Thanks !
I made this recipe this weekend, and it was amazing! It was a perfectly calm and creamy soup for the cold front that came through during the weekend. The only change I would have made was to sautéed the celery and carrots in the butter for an additional time before adding the onion, garlic, and mushrooms (depends on your preference of texture). I also added smoked paprika- previously suggested- and was very pleased with the depth it gave the soup! This recipe will definitely be a do again! Fun and easy to make with delicious results!
Thanks for sharing information about recipes. I like your blog post.
I found this on pinterest this morning and knew I needed to make it for dinner tonight. The only thing I did different was use white button mushrooms and I added a little bit of Old Bay seasoning. I served it with french bread. This will go into our meal rotation! Thanks for sharing
Making this in my crockpot tonight. The house smells so good. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks for sharing
How was this in the crockpot?
Did u do anything different?