This is a super easy recipe for making your own homemade cream of chicken soup. Just four ingredients and so delicious!
Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
Get ready to ditch the retro cans of condensed soup and make your very own cream of chicken soup at home!
Featured comment
Thank you!!! This was soooo easy…easier than expected!! And the taste was delicious and free of junk chemicals!!!
Sara S
It’s Homemade Cream Of Chicken Soup!
If you’ve ever ventured down to Casserole Town, you are probably very familiar with the ingredient “cream of chicken soup.” And what that means is the goopy gloppy condensed stuff that usually comes in a can because it is magically useful in all sorts of down-home comforting casseroles, soups, and hot dishes.
To be clear, we have no problem occasionally using the canned condensed soup! It’s easy, it’s nostalgic, and it absolutely works.
But the thing is, it is SO EASY TO MAKE YOURSELF. Sure there may still be goops and glops because that is its truest wonderful form, but with very little time and with things you probably already have on hand, you can have a lovely little homemade version on hand to toss into any pan of comfort food you have cooking and you will know every single ingredient in it.
No can-mysteries here.
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What’s In Cream Of Chicken Soup
The ingredient list here is beautifully short and chances are, you don’t even have to head to the grocery store. Always a win in our book!
- chicken broth
- milk
- flour
- seasoning mix (onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, salt & pepper)
You read that correctly. That is literally it. And now you need to have an easy peasy little wholesome version at the ready. You could also certainly change up those seasonings for whatever you might be making, but that’s our fave combo.
How To Make Homemade Cream Of Chicken Soup
Making this cream of chicken business is almost as quick as the ingredient list.
- Simmer. Combine the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of the milk in a saucepan and bring it to a low boil.
- Season. While that’s coming to a boil, whisk the flour and seasonings of choice into the remaining milk until a smooth mixture forms, like a roux. Add that to the saucepan and continue to whisk over heat until everything is smooth and thick.
That’s pretty much it! The mixture will continue to thicken a bit as it cools as well so you will be all set to plonk it into any old recipe to up that decadence factor a notch or two.
How To Use Homemade Cream Of Chicken Soup
Again, this isn’t so much a soup you would eat straight up, (though you could certainly use it as a base, add some veg and chicken and more broth and whip yourself up a creamy little soup bowl), but rather as that magical little something to add into other things. Like…
- Soups: Like in this one!
- Casseroles and Other Bakes: Baked hashbrowns, mac and cheese, tater tot hotdish, YUM.
- Sauce and Gravies: Sausage gravy comes to mind!
It’s just a simple, lovely way to keep all the ingredients a little more wholesome without too many added steps. Yes please and thank you.
Storage and Freezing
This will make the equivalent of about two 14-oz. cans. Here’s how to store any extras you’re not using right away:
- Refrigerator: Store in airtight containers for up to one week.
- Freezer: Store in airtight containers for up to 3 months.
Homemade Cream Of Chicken Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
What’s in the seasoning mix for this soup?
The seasoning possibilities are really open-ended. I change the spices I use every time I make this, depending on what I’m going to use the soup for. My favorite combo is 1/2 tsp. onion powder, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. parsley.
My soup got chunky and lumpy. Is that right?
The texture can get lumpy really quickly so I suggest keeping the heat as low as possible and whisking continuously for a more smooth consistency.
Do I eat this plain?
This is similar to the condensed canned soup you’d buy in the store (but homemade obviously) and so much better! It’s best used as a base for casseroles rather than enjoyed plain. Here are some ideas!
I want to make this instead of buying condensed soup at the store. How many cans is this equivalent to?
This is equivalent to two 14-oz cans!
Can you make this gluten-free?
This should work with 1:1 gluten-free flour, or a cornstarch slurry.
Can I freeze cream of chicken soup?
Yes, you can! It’ll keep in the freezer for 3-4 months in an airtight container.
Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 3 cups 1x
Description
This is a super easy recipe for making your own homemade cream of chicken soup. Just four ingredients and so delicious!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used 2 cans)
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon seasoning mix
Instructions
- Combine the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of the milk in a large saucepan. Bring to a low boil.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the flour and seasonings into the remaining 1 cup milk until a smooth, thick mixture forms.
- Pour the flour and milk mixture into the saucepan with the broth mixture over low heat and stir continuously, whisking as the mixture simmers. Continue to simmer and stir/whisk until the mixture is smooth and thick, 5-10 minutes. The mixture will thicken a bit as it cools.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: homemade cream of chicken soup, cream of chicken soup, condensed cream of chicken
More Creamy Soups To Make
October 8, 2021
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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I’m so glad you shared this- what a great idea. What are your thoughts on making a large batch and freezing it for when recipes call for “can of condensed soup?”
From what I’ve read, it works to freeze it! Seems like the consistency might get a little weird as it thaws, but it wouldn’t really matter if you were just using it in a recipe. I haven’t tried it myself though. 🙂
I’ve made and frozen this a number of times and had great success. I portion it out into snack sized ziplocks and pull them out whenever I need them. Depending on what recipe I’m using it for I sometimes even just pop in the frozen cube.
Would this recipe be for cream of chicken soup in its unconstituted form, or ready to use?
Thank you in advance for your response:)
I made this because it’s come to my attention that Campbell Soups are affiliated with Senomyx, a company that extracts stem cells from the kidneys of aborted babies to make flavorings for food.
I added spices to flavor this homemade soup, and it is delicious!
Thank you for this delicious recipe!
That Senomyx (and Pepsi, etc…) hoax was debunked years ago. Make this soup because it’s good, not because of some silly story.
I love this soup, because everything I make using the canned version tastes like the canned soup, very artificial (canned cream of mushroom tastes fine to me, weird). This one doesn’t overpower other ingredients and is outstanding for chicken pot pie. Love it!
@Holly Ridiculous! Eyeroll…..so misinformed, what a shame.
How was that debunked again Sandytoes? What makes tiffany thinks her information is true? eyeroll X10… mainstream news is constantly proven to be fake constantly. What a sheep shame…
I like to put cinnamon on toast, with a little butter and some sugar, and cook it until it is nice and warm. My Grandma taught this special recipe to me. I’m thinking about getting a patten and selling the recipe in CookBook. What do you think?
Everyone knows how to make cinna-sugar toast. Hate to burst your bubble but that has been around for many, many years.
My mother, who would be 86 if she was still alive, was making cinnamon toast when she was a five year old child, so your granny didn’t teach you any “secret” recipe, sorry. And you can’t get a “patent” for a recipe since anyone is free to make it in any way they wish.
Yes but ‘oatmeal candy’ or ‘no cook oatmeal and peanut butter candy’ and ‘divinty’ etc. has been around a hundred years but you can find it in all sorts of cookbooks
What seasoning mix do you use in your Homemmade Cream of Chicken Soup?
I think sharing your grandmothers recipe would be wonderful, although selling would be hard. You might think about putting together an ebook of ALLyour grandmothers comforting, delicious recipes and put that out there. Whether you charge for it is up to you. But there are those of us who enjoy the old recipes from the past, and are always looking for them. Good luck, sweetie!
Can I make these cream soups salt free. My sister can’t have sal
You can make anything without salt.
This sounds great, but I am a little confused on the instructions. Do you combine the broth and the milk or do you only bring the broth to a low boil so that you can add the milk to the flour/seasoning mixture. Thanks! Love finding these kitchen staples!
The milk should be divided, so 1/2 cup is added with the broth and then the rest is whisked with the flour.
Thanks!! My brain couldn’t process this for some reason. Really excited to try this out.
I had it worded confusingly, that’s why. 🙂 I went back and changed the wording. I always rely on my commenters to help me be more clear in my instructions!
I was curious as well I want triple the recipi but the directions on bottom doesn’t change with the change.
Miss Amy what I want to tell you take the recipe step by step for you to get it.
Okay, cream of chicken soup homemade. Not to burst a bubble, but this is a classic white sauce, albeit flavored. Look at Betty Crocker’s cookbooks. White sauce works for this recipe, sausage gravy, cream of potato soup. Just change up the seasonings…You can adjust thickening with milk or broth. Checking this recipe tonite as I see nothing wrong with it 🙂
Would this recipe be equivalent the condensed version like out of the can or the reconstituted version after you add that extra milk to the store bought kind?
This is equivalent to the condensed version (straight from the can).
How diced does the garlic powder need to be? Tee hee. My chemo brain did not register for a moment; I used fresh cloves (smile). Amazingly easy and delicious and used many different ways (unflavored for baked mac & cheese; tonight green chili chicken casserole)! Thanks (as always).
Such great ideas for using this soup, Erin! Thanks so much for the comment!
im pretty sure that you just mix the seasonings together with the flower then add it to the milk and broth once it has come to a boil then reduce heat mix it in and keep whisking
Thank you for sharing this! I hate all of the “processy” (you know what I mean. ;)) ingredients in canned soups. I love simple recipes for pantry staples that can be swapped out for a homemade version!
This recipe is much better than the cream of chicken condensed soup.From now on I will use this recipe in my casserole,cheesy hash brown,etc.Thank you for this easy delicious recipe.
I love this! Since I’m lactose interlorant, those cream of whatever soups don’t sit well with my tummy. This I can make with lactose free milk! Have you tried making a mushroom flavored one, to be cream of mushroom?
Maybe use a vegetable broth for cream of mushroom instead of chicken
I just made this and it’s delicious however, I have some lumps from the flour that I can’t whisk out. Would sifting the flour first help or should I just take an immersion blender to it?
Any time you need to add flour to thicken up a soup, mix it with a bit of cold milk (or water, if not using milk) first – flour bends well with cold liquids, but clumps with hot liquids.
I made Cream of Mushroom this way: 2 sm cans of mushrooms, finely blended.
1 1/2 cups veggie broth
I use corn starch as a thickener
Follow directions on container
Garlic, salt, pepper as spices.
I use spices to taste but my guess would be 1/4 teaspoon each.
Holy moly this is easy! I never would have thought to do this, awesome! I CANNOT wait for your chicken and rice casserole recipe. In fact, I have some MN grown wild rice sitting in my cupboard right now 🙂
Giving it a try tonight
Love this!!!
Wow that looks tasty!…looks pretty simple too!
This looks great – I never used canned foods so this would be a great substitution. It would also work great as a roux to make a creamy chicken vegetable soup.
You *could* freeze this – but because of the milk it would separate and curdle a bit when defrosted, so I wouldn’t really recommend freezing in large batches. Freeze a small batch & try it out. One thing you could possibly try to make it freezer friendly is to subsitute dried or condensed milk.
Looking forward to your chicken/rice casserole recipe!
Just for people who might use the milk suggestion- *dont* use condensed milk. I’m pretty sure she meant evaporated milk 😉
I made this to use in a hash brown casserole and got rave reviews from my family. Adjusted the salt to be less since I used my own chicken broth which was already salted.
I also would like to know if Icould use heavy cream instead of milk
From my experience, you can sub heavy cream for milk any time, I just do half HWC/half water to make it the same consistency, and keep the same amount of final product, so to speak. I wouldn’t use Heavy cream on a 1:1 basis with any milk – if you’re doing it because of keto/low carb, you lose the benefit of the low carb of HC with that kind of volume.
Milk doesn’t curdle after being frozen (you may be confusing it with cream). It is stable to freeze – hence all the people who freeze milk – and is made extra stable by being cooked with flour. The soup may separate slightly on thawing, but a quick whisk will make it perfect again.
Hi! May I know what kind of milk should I use?
Hi, Jasria! Something with a little more fat content should work here – something like whole milk. 🙂
I am all for making homemade versions of things that are unnaturally jiggly when they’re store bought. P.S. What IS your soapbox food issue?! I want to know!
Good question. I’m not sure I have one, except maybe eat chocolate every day? 🙂
Casseroles rejoice! Every one of my grandma’s secret dinner recipes calls for a can of cream of chicken soup (thanks for not judging). I can only imagine how much better they would be with HOMEMADE soup!
Hmm! I have never made cream of chicken at home (although there is definitely plenty of plain old chicken broth happening). I think freezing it could work out okay, but I’m interested to see if anyone has tried it too! Or maybe it’d be better to just make an entire casserole or two and freeze them for future application. 🙂
Perfect! We have a few favorite quick recipes that call for condensed soup, and though I don’t have a huge problem with it personally, it seems that the greater food community frowns upon it (which is understandable). It can take the “home-made” feel out of the recipe. But now I can make it myself and still claim that the whole dish is home-made from scratch 🙂
Love this! I just made some cream of mushroom soup and couldn’t believe how easy and tasty it was. I actually wanted to eat the soup, not just add it to a casserole. 🙂 So excited to have another alternative to condensed soups!
Thank you for creating this recipe. I will make this for sure. I really try not to use processed foods except for chicken broth. I tell myself this story that if I use my chicken to make broth I somehow just took all the flavor out the chicken and it’s in the broth. Yes, I know I have to work on that. LOL
Hi Lisa,
I know it’s been awhile since you posted, but I have a friend with the exact same thoughts! What I told her (and what I do) is to roast the chicken like you would normally, have a nice dinner with it, remove all the meat from the chicken (save for leftovers or another recipe) then make the stock from the carcass.
I love that you just said carcass.
What is even a crazy better process to making homemade chick broth is take the carcass and put in crockpot with required amt of water and cooking 10 hrs. No fuss, no worry. That’s it.
To find the directions google “crockpot chicken broth” and there you go.
I love how simple this is! We eat a lot of soup in my household so I always like trying new ones out. I am pinning this to use later! Thanks.
Brilliant. I knew there had to be a way to make this kind of thing at home. I finally just stopped buying but I do miss some dishes using cream soups. Love it!
You’re so smart to make your own cream of chicken soup! Who would have thought it would just be three ingredients, love it!
I’m not sure it would freeze well though. Most cream soups tend to separate in the freezer into a watery mess, not the same consistency at all. Maybe this is different though, not sure.
I guess it would be four ingredients, if you add chicken.
I bet this will become a new Flanagan family favorite! (Guess what tonight’s dinner is… You betcha, we’re having condensed canned cream of chicken soup over noodles… Good old’ Minnesota comfort food… All white/cream colored, except for the dried parsley flakes.)
Sounds like it would freeze fine but the bigger question is – how did you find Swanson’s broth in the Philippines? 🙂
Metro Ayala! Gotta love a good international aisle. 🙂
I make a casserole (often) that calls for cream of chicken soup and I’ve always used canned. I’m going to try your homemade soup next time. The casserole is a favourite around here and I’m willing to bet that with your homemade soup it is going to be in even bigger demand.
Thanks for sharing your recipe.
So, what’s your casserole recipe???
I don’t like canned cream of chicken soup so this recipe is a keeper! It looks so easy. Thanks!
I made this last night and it was amazing! So much better than canned. Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for the comment Holly, I’m glad you liked it.
Why is a Minnesotan using the word casserole?
Hi Lindsay! This recipe makes my day! I have a casserole recipe that I’ve wanted to “clean up” and it includes a can of cream of chicken soup. I had no idea how to get around that. Now, I can make my own! Thanks so much!
Someone told me years ago that this soup was great to eat if you were sick to your stomach. The other day I was nauseated, and in spite of being sick, I made the soup. I changed it up a little bit and used only butter, salt and little pepper for seasoning. I could not believe how much better I felt after eating just one bowl. I hadn’t had anything to eat all day and I polished off the whole pan of soup before I was done. Thanks for sharing.
Hi, I’ve been looking for a homemade from scratch Cream of Chicken Soup because this type of soup is all that I can keep down due to my having Gas-tropes a stomach disease that causes nausea, vomiting, and a whole lot of other symptoms. I was wondering if this soup would be suitable for drinking as a meal, adding Roasted chicken to make the protein. You Answered my questions. Any other advice for enhancing this soup, feel free to share with me. Thanks, Barb
I’m not much of a canned condensed soup person either so this here is just perfect!