This easy homemade cream of chicken soup recipe makes an easy soup with ingredients you already have at home. You can eat as-is or use it as a base for other recipes that call for cream of chicken soup. You’ll also find an easy make-ahead dry mix.
Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup Recipe
Cream of chicken soup is a very versatile recipe that you can eat just as it is, but it is also useful for many kinds of recipes or casseroles. It’s perfect as a base for many common recipes. If you don’t have any on hand or if you’d just like to make your own, here is an easy recipe for cream of chicken soup.
This recipe can be adapted to make other cream soups as well. For example, we include instructions here for how to make it into cream of mushroom soup using canned mushrooms. You could also slice fresh mushrooms and add them shortly before cooking.
This Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup Recipe is from Volume 1 of our cookbook!
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Easy Cream Of Chicken Soup Recipe
This easy homemade cream of chicken soup recipe makes an easy soup with ingredients you already have at home. You can eat as-is or use it as a base for other recipes that call for cream of chicken soup.
- Yield: 1 cup
Ingredients
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
dash salt
1 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1/4 cup chicken bouillon powder
2 Tbsp. dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. thyme (optional)
1 tsp. basil (optional)
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine milk, four, and salt. Mix well.
- Melt the butter in a 1-quart saucepan.
- Stir in the flour-milk mixture
- Cook over low heat until the mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Keep stirring until thickened completely.
Notes
- This recipe equals 1 cup or 1 can of cream soup.
- The recipe can be easily doubled or tripled to fit your needs. If you double it, only use 1¾ cups of milk.
Cream of Chicken Soup Recipe (Mix)
Try this Easy Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup Recipe that you can store and just add water when you need it. Then you’ll have quick and easy soup anytime!
Ingredients
2 cups dry milk
1 1/4 cups cornstarch or 2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup chicken bouillon powder
2 Tbsp. dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. thyme (optional)
1 tsp. basil (optional)
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together.
- Store in an airtight container.
To use: If the cream of chicken soup mix is made with cornstarch, add 1/3 cup mix to 1 1/4 cups water.
If the cream of chicken soup mix is made with flour, add 1/2 cup mix to 1 1/4 cups water.
Can you make this mix with Arrowroot instead of cornstarch?
Thanks!
You know I never have but I do know many people interchange arrowroot for cornstarch in things so I don’t know why you couldn’t. You could pretty much interchange any thickening agent in a case like this.
Love your recipe. Could I add canned mushrooms? I don’t know why not. I used to use Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup as a base for casseroles, especially tuna/noodle casserole. I can obtain gluten free pastas, as my husband has been diagnosed with celiac disease and must eliminate gluten from his diet. This includes all products with wheat, barley and some oats. The Campbell Company has yet to come up with a gluten free Cream of Mushroom soup, so I will glady incorporate your recipe into my list of gluten free recipes.
I never used flour to thicken gravies or sauces, I always used corn starch even before my husband’s diagnosis. Why you may ask, as flour is so much cheaper? Because I learned to cook from my grandmother who, also, used corn starch. Now that was a long, long time ago, as I am 75.
Interesting side line. Many older adults are being found to have a sensitivity to gluten, due to all the additives in our foods, which destroy the villi in the small intestine, making it impossible to digest gluten.
I don’t know why you couldn’t use mushrooms in this. This is really just a base and you could add any different flavor you would like to to it.
Does this recipe make the same amount as a regular can of soup?
Here’s a casserole that uses cream of chicken.
Take 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts and cut both in half lengthwise to make 4 pieces. In a large bowl mix the equivalent of 2 cans of cream of chicken soup with 2 cups frozen veggies, rice, 1 tsp of basil and enough water to cook the rice. Mix everything and place in casserole dish, then press chicken breast into the mixture. Then cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees one hour or until chicken is done. Serves 4.
My grandson is allergic to milk and milk products. Most bouillon we’ve seen is questionable for use, and we use rice milk for the milk. Can you tell me how to substitute rice milk for the powdered milk and a substitute for the bouillon. I wondered if chicken broth could be a substitute. Thank you for any help.
Joyce I am not sure on the powdered milk unless you try a speciality store which may carry some sort of dry rice milk but yes the bouillon is easy to exchange by just making your own or using chicken broth. Here is a recipe off of the web site for Homemade Chicken Stock. The main difference between stock and broth is you just cook stock down a bit more.
found a way to make my own chicken bouillon in cubes. lots of work the way he did it but I do it slightly different.
that way you know what is in it and it stores well.
I have also used coffee mate in place of milk in the cream soups. just have to start adding a bit at a time to get it right for you.
Jill when I click on that link I get a blank page with text that says :You do not have permission to preview drafts
What link are you trying to click on that’s not working?
Joyce,
I read your comment about the cream of chicken soup and what I would do is substitute rice flour for the milk powder. It has no gluten and is usually tolerated by those with allergies.
Best regards,
Susanne
oops thought it was clear it’s the one in Jill’s comment :)
https://www.livingonadime.com/homemade-chicken-stock-recipe/?preview=true&preview_id=20629&preview_nonce=3867e32fd5
https://www.livingonadime.com/homemade-chicken-stock-recipe/
I am just sorry that the Campbell Company is not willing to consider making their cream soups, which are great in recipes, gluten free.
Carla they probably have the same problem that we do. As much as we try to accommodate everyone it is almost impossible to make all our recipes such that they are “free” of everything that some people have problems with. To complicate things almost every year there is a new something that we are no longer suppose to eat and that last a few years then is thrown by the wayside for something else. Please don’t think I am not being understanding because Tawra (my daughter) is on a gluten and everything free diet right now so I understand what you are going through and know it is hard but it is like me being left handed. All my life I have had to use things which are not as easy to use and inconvenient for me because of my left had. We all have handicaps. It would be so nice if we were identical but we aren’t. In away it is actually good that we aren’t because it teaches to adapt, try different things and to use our mind and skills to overcome a situations even invent new things.
One last thing when a company has to change something even something as simple as a label, it is a great expense to do that and that expense shows up then in the price of the food. It isn’t always the drought or the government that is causing prices to go up. It is the demands of the people. Each time a company has to add or take away something it reflects in the price. It isn’t a coincidence that when people started holler about MSG that food prices started jumping up. The sad thing is that they now have found that people really aren’t allergic to it. Even the very famous doctor who first came up with the idea said he was very wrong but the damage is already done.
Jill, I can understand the problem that a company, Campbell is the one to which I referred, has with changing a well known recipe for their soups. It is expensive and many people resist change. Progresso’s Cream of Mushroom Soup is gluten free and they state that on their label. Although, Progresso soups are not diluted, Campbell cream soups do need to be slighty diluted for casseroles, this means that I use two cans of Progress’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, but it is worth it. My husband was diagnosed by his gastroenterologist as having Celiac Disease. This inability to absorb gluten, Celiac Disease) is found in 1 out of 100 people over the age of 70. Why does this happen? Our gastroenterologist believes that it is due to the many additives that are found in food that we older folks have eaten over the years.
So I say, “Kudos” to Progresso for taking this into consideration and making their Cream of Mushroom Soup as well as their New England Clam Chowder gluten free. Yes, we can make our own soups for casseroles, but at nearly 80, after nearly 60 years of cooking, I like to take the “easy way out,” and use a canned soup for the occasional casseroles that I prepare.
Instead of using flour, corn strach or another thickener puree about 1/2 of a soup and its vegetables and in your blender, and add it back in. The pureed vegetables thicken it up.
Because I have sooo many upper respiratory and sinus infections I gave up dairy. I used to have 7 infections a year. Three months dairy free with no infections.
Instead of dairy I tried rice and soy milk. To me they seemed to be merley be white colored and thickened water. I didn’t see a point in purchasing them again. Did I miss anything good?
I am really excited to see this recipe for a cream soup mix using flour instead of corn-starch. Can you tell me which type of flour works best in this recipe? Does it need to be a super-fine flour?
Thank you!
Our recipes always use all purpose – just old regular- flour unless other wise stated in the recipe which isn’t often. I shy away from recipes where I have to buy things that I can only use in a few recipes and try to stick with the recipes that use every day ingredients and that the ingredients can be used to make many different things. It saves me money, time, energy and having to figure out ways to store many different things. Oops! Sorry got a little long winded on your simple answer. : )
Boullion is filled with sodium,and since I am trying hard to limit my families intake, do you have any tasty substitution?
I’m not sure there is but you need to really look at this and consider that you are maybe getting only about 1/2 tsp. of bullion if that much.
I used the juice from the can of mushrooms as part of the 1 1/4 cups of water. For some reason, the soup tasted awful. Then we added butter. Real butter. That transformed awful soup into AMAZING cream of mushroom soup! I’ll never buy canned cream of mushroom soup again.
If I wanted to make a bowl of soup, how long would I heat it and at what temperature?
In the microwave put it in for a minute, check and see if it is warm enough for you, if not heat it some more. As far as temperature goes it doesn’t matter just what ever temperature you want to eat it at. It is like regular can or homemade soup as far as temperature goes.
Amazon.com sells a selection of allergen free bullion’s. Check out “Better than Bullion,” “Herb ox” and “Edward & Sons.” Hope this helps.
I can find minced onions, or onion powder but not flaked dos it matter or dose it have to be flake
You can use the onion powder in this just fine.
Thank you! I am teaching a 4-H class on pantry mixes this weekend. I will add this to it. I’m going to teach my group how to make homemade biscuit/pancake mix, hot chocolate mix, dry cake/brownie mix, and now I’ll add this cream soup mix. I thought I’d teach the kids how to make it and then we’ll make a recipe book with the mix as the base and then put recipes behind it they can make from their various mixes. In next week’s class I’m also teaching them how to divide and double a recipe. Things that might seem simple to you and me, but the kids’ parents haven’t taught them or even the parents don’t know. My first class was “thinking your drink”. We talked about all the different types of drinks we like then I showed them how many calories, fat, and sugars were in a serving and that those calories count in your overall health too. It’s been a fun and pretty eye opening experience. They are learning a lot and I’m having a really good time teaching and watching their lightbulbs come on. :)
I am so grateful for you teaching the kids how to divide and double a recipe. Would you believe it is one of our biggest questions from adults.They either don’t know you can divide or don’t know how to divide or double a recipe.
Hi Jill: I haven’t written in a long time, Hope you and Tawra are doing well. Thanks for posting this.! I’m finding “cream of” soups are becoming way to expensive,(almost $2/can here) and I’ve even found a way to make home made golden mushroom, (it’s basically just adding some coloring, like a tiny bit of Worcestershire sauce. Your recipe is much healthier, and so much less expensive!.. Donna B
Hey Donna we are doing great thank you. You are right on the soup – it is getting so expensive. I was looking at it just this morning and decided not to buy any because it was so much. Good tip on the golden mushroom soup too. Thanks
Just an fyi for others Aldi now sells organic cream of chicken soup. Thei gredients aren’t to bad.
Amazon.com has lots of Lactose Free powdered milk.
Just put in the search area Lacose free powdered milk and you will see!
I too cannot drink or eat any dairy products. I will buy some!
How much does this make? it seems like alot.
Is it equal to one can of cream of chicken soup?
This is equal to ABOUT 8 of the small cans of soup. It makes a lot because you can store it for 2-3 yrs or more. If you don’t want to make that much then you just need to half the recipe. In the instructions where it says To Use that amount is equal to 1 can of soup.