Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup
Treat this as a bowl-sized meal rather than a thin soup — it lands somewhere between a New England chowder and a loose risotto cream. A pale roux of butter and flour starts it off, and a finishing pour of cream with grated Parmesan pushes it into hearty-dinner territory. Red potatoes, carrot, celery, squash, and sweet corn crowd in around the mushrooms, a lineup straight out of North American home cooking.
The build is staged: poach and chop the chicken on its own first, then simmer the vegetables in the broth just to tenderness, never to mush. Thyme and black pepper carry a warm, faintly woody note that keeps the cream-and-mushroom base from going flat.
Make It Your Own
- Use firm button or cremini mushrooms. Wild porcini or chanterelles bring more aroma, but sear them separately first to drive off their water.
- Swap the squash for butternut or zucchini; add zucchini later, since it softens faster than winter squash.
- Stir the cream in only at the very end and never boil it — the acidity from the mushrooms and cheese can curdle it. If it turns out thick, loosen with hot broth; if thin, blend a ladle of the vegetables back in.
The recipe calls for 25% cream, which is essentially US light/heavy cream (heavy cream, around 36%, works fine and won’t split as easily). Serve right away with toasted baguette; it keeps three days refrigerated, reheated slowly and stirred so the base doesn’t separate.
Part of American cuisine — 9 more recipes in the section.
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Ingredients
Instructions
Poach the chicken in boiling water until cooked through. Let it cool and cut it into bite-sized pieces.
In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and sweat it until soft, about six minutes. Add the flour, salt, and pepper, and stir to combine.
Slowly pour in the broth, raise the heat slightly, and bring to a boil. Add the sliced mushrooms, finely chopped celery, finely chopped carrot, quartered potatoes, diced squash, corn, and thyme.
Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
Stir in the cream, 0.75 cup of the Parmesan, and the chicken. Set over low heat and cook for another 10 minutes without letting it come to a boil.
Ladle the soup into small bowls and top with the remaining Parmesan.
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