This is everything you love about chicken pot pie, minus the crust! My kids love to enjoy their bowls with biscuits to soak up that creamy broth. I love that rotisserie chicken does most of the work, so dinner’s ready in about an hour!
More Cozy Chicken Soups:
Before You Get Started
Three things make the difference between a soup that tastes like pot pie filling and one that tastes like chicken and vegetables in thin broth:
- Don’t let the flour brown. Two minutes of stirring is all it needs. Any longer and you lose the pale, creamy color this soup is supposed to have.
- Don’t boil the cream. Half-and-half breaks and turns grainy over high heat. Keep it on low for those last five minutes.
- Cut the potatoes small. Half-inch cubes finish in the same time the carrots do. Bigger pieces stay firm while everything around them turns soft.
How to Make Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Think of this as pot pie filling that never got covered with pastry! Same butter and flour base, same vegetables, same creamy finish, just loosened with enough broth to eat it with a spoon. Everything happens in one pot and nothing here is fussy…
Step 1: Soften the Vegetables
Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion, carrots, and celery and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until they start to go soft and the onion turns translucent.
Don’t rush this part: The vegetables won’t get much softer once the broth goes in, so whatever texture they have now is close to what you’ll end up with.
Add the garlic and give it 30 seconds, just until you can smell it.
Step 2: Make the Roux
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes. The flour should coat everything and look pasty. It shouldn’t take on any color.
This is the step that makes it pot pie soup instead of chicken vegetable soup. Cooking the flour for a minute or two knocks out the raw taste, and it’s what gives the finished soup that thick, velvety body.
Step 3: Add the Broth and Potatoes
Pour in the chicken broth gradually, stirring as you go and scraping up anything stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Adding the broth a little at a time is what keeps the soup smooth. Dump it all in at once and the flour tends to seize into lumps.
Add the potatoes, poultry seasoning, thyme, salt, and pepper.
Low-sodium broth is worth using here so you can season at the end instead of trying to fix a salty pot. If you keep homemade chicken broth in the freezer, this is a good place for it.
Step 4: Simmer Until Tender
Bring the soup to a gentle boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
You’re waiting on the potatoes and carrots. When a fork slides into a potato cube with no resistance, you’re there.
→ Uncovered matters: The soup thickens as it simmers, and a lid traps the steam that needs to cook off.
Step 5: Stir in the Chicken, Peas, and Cream
Add the cooked chicken, frozen peas, half-and-half, and parsley. Cook on low for about 5 minutes, just until everything is heated through. Keep it under a boil.
The chicken is already cooked, so it only needs to warm up. Let it sit at a hard simmer and it’ll go stringy. The peas go in frozen and thaw in about a minute, which keeps them bright green instead of brown and mushy.
→ For the chicken, one large store-bought rotisserie chicken gets you right around the 3-4 cups this recipe calls for. Leftover roasted or poached chicken works just as well.
Step 6: Taste, Then Serve
Taste it. Add salt and pepper until it stops tasting flat. Ladle into bowls, scatter a little more parsley over the top, and serve with warm biscuits.
If the soup ended up thinner than you want, let it simmer uncovered a few more minutes before the cream goes in. If it’s thicker than you want, stir in more broth a splash at a time.
Try it another way
Want a slow cooker variation? My Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuits is an easy, hands-off option for busy days (add extra broth to make it more soupy!).
Variations and Add-Ins
The base recipe is the version I make most, but here are some other great twists:
⇢ Add corn: A cup of frozen corn, stirred in with the peas, is the most common addition (and it works great in a pot pie soup!). It also stretches the pot if you’re feeding more than six or if you’re short on chicken.
⇢ Use milk instead of half-and-half: Whole milk works. The soup won’t be quite as rich, so hold back a splash of broth earlier if you like.
⇢ Swap the potatoes: Yukon Golds hold their shape and stay creamy, but russets break down a little and thicken the soup on their own. Both are good, just different. If you’re using russets, I recommend peeling them before dicing.
⇢ Add a little heat: A pinch of red pepper flakes with the garlic gives it a background warmth that plays well against the cream.
More ways to make Chicken Pot Pie:
What to Serve Alongside
Bread is the right answer here! This soup is thick enough to be a meal on its own, so you just need something for dunking. Warm biscuits are what I reach for, split open with a little butter melting into them.
Here are some pairings that work well:
- Flaky Biscuits: if you want the layered, pull-apart kind
- Drop Biscuits: when there’s no time to roll and cut
- Cheese Biscuits: for a sharper bite against the creamy soup
- Southern Cornbread: if you’d rather go that direction
- Simple Side Salad
- House Salad with Candied Pecans
Storage, Freezing, and Make-Ahead
In the fridge: Cool the soup, then store it in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. It thickens quite a bit as it sits, which is normal. Thin it back out with a splash of broth when you reheat.
Reheating: Low and slow on the stove, stirring now and then. The microwave works for a single bowl, but go at half power and stir halfway through so the cream doesn’t break.
Freezing: Cream-based soups separate in the freezer. If you know you’re freezing it, stop after step 4 and freeze the soup without the chicken, peas, and cream. Thaw overnight, reheat gently, then finish the last step fresh. It comes out almost exactly like the first day.
Make-ahead: You can dice the onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes a day ahead. Keep the potatoes covered in cold water so they don’t brown, and drain them well before they go in the pot.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I thicken chicken pot pie soup?
The flour and butter base does most of the work, so if it’s still thinner than you want, the usual cause is the broth going in too fast or the simmer being cut short. Let it bubble uncovered for another 5 minutes before you add the cream.
If you need more than that, whisk a tablespoon of flour into a few tablespoons of cold broth until smooth and stir that in.
Can I use canned cream of chicken soup instead of making the roux?
You can, and plenty of people do. Swap two cans of condensed cream of chicken soup for the flour. Use only 1 tablespoon of butter. Reduce the broth to just 2 cups, or as much as you need to get the consistency that you like. Go easy on the salt since the canned soup is salty on its own.
The from-scratch version tastes fresher and lets you control the seasoning, but the shortcut gets you a good pot of soup on a busy night.
Can I use raw chicken instead of cooked?
Yes. Add about 1 1/2 – 2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts or thighs whole when you add the broth, simmer until they’re cooked through and the potatoes are tender, then pull them out, shred, and stir the meat back in with the peas and cream. It adds roughly 10 minutes.
Can I use frozen mixed vegetables?
A bag of frozen peas and carrots works and saves you some knife work. Stir them in at the end with the peas rather than at the beginning, since they’re already cooked and will turn to mush if they simmer. Keep the fresh onion and celery either way. That’s where the flavor base comes from.
More Cozy Chicken Dinners
Watch How to Make It
Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 small yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
- 2 ribs celery, diced (about 1 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 5 cups chicken broth (preferably low-sodium)
- 6 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½-inch cubes (about 1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 cups cooked diced or shredded chicken (such as the meat from a large store-bought rotisserie chicken)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
- Optional, for serving: warm biscuits
Instructions
- Soften the vegetables: Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Make the roux: Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. The flour should coat the vegetables but should not brown.
- Add the broth and potatoes: Gradually stir in the chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the potatoes, poultry seasoning, thyme, salt, and pepper.
- Simmer until tender: Bring the soup to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for about 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
- Stir in the chicken, peas, and cream: Add the cooked chicken, frozen peas, half-and-half, and parsley. Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, just until the chicken and peas are warmed through. Do not let the soup boil after adding the cream.
- Season and serve: Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Ladle into bowls and serve with warm biscuits.
Notes
- Don’t brown the flour. Cook it the full 1 to 2 minutes to lose the raw taste, but pull back before it takes on any color. That’s what keeps the soup pale and creamy.
- Add the broth gradually. Stir as you pour. Dumping it in all at once can leave you with lumps.
- Keep it below a boil at the end. Once the half-and-half goes in, high heat will make the soup look grainy.
- Grab one large rotisserie chicken. That’s roughly the 4 cups of cooked chicken this recipe calls for.
- To use raw chicken: add about 1 1/2 – 2 pounds of boneless breasts or thighs with the broth, simmer until cooked through, then shred and return the meat to the pot with the peas and cream.
- To add corn: stir in a cup of frozen corn with the peas. It’s a natural addition and stretches the pot.
- Storing and freezing: The soup thickens as it sits, so thin it with a splash of broth when you reheat. To freeze, stop after the simmering step and freeze before the chicken, peas, and cream go in. Thaw, reheat gently, and finish the last step fresh.
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