Creamy Chicken Soup Recipe for Home & Trail

This creamy chicken soup recipe turns leftover chicken into a soul-warming pot of comfort with fresh potatoes, carrots, celery, spring onions, and garlic.

You thicken the soup by blending part of the soup and adding it back to the rest of the soup.

For backpackers and adventurers who want to eat well while packing light, the instructions show how to dehydrate creamy chicken soup and rehydrate it on the go into a quick and wholesome meal.

Ingredients for the recipe are scaled for 100 grams of cooked chicken, so if you have 200 grams of leftover chicken, simply double the recipe.

Servings: 3 (5 cups of soup before dehydrating)

Ingredients:

3.5 oz. cooked chicken breast (100 g)
3 long carrots (200 g)
3 celery stalks (125 g)
4 medium spring onions (25 g)
4 small potatoes (400 g)
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cooking oil
½ tsp. all-purpose seasoning blend*
32 oz. reduced-sodium chicken broth (946 ml)
Salt & pepper to taste

*Use your favorite seasoning blend. I used McCormick brand all-purpose seasoning which includes onion, sea salt, garlic, black pepper, oregano, parsley, and thyme.

How to Make Creamy Chicken Soup

Potatoes, spring onions, celery, and carrots.

Prepare the Vegetables & Chicken:

Peel potatoes and cut into small cubes.

Peel carrots and slice thinly.

Peel and mince the garlic.

Wash celery, then slice once down the center lengthwise before slicing crosswise.

Wash spring onions, cut off the roots and any wilted tips on the green end, and then slice crosswise.

Chop cooked chicken into small pieces.

Chopped chicken for creamy chicken soup.

Cooking Creamy Chicken Soup

Cook the vegetables in stages with one teaspoon of cooking oil. Add chicken broth a splash at a time. This method brings out the best flavor of the vegetables.

Step One: Cook spring onions, celery & garlic.

1. Heat one teaspoon oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the celery and spring onions and sauté for three minutes, then reduce heat to medium. Stir in the seasoning blend and minced garlic and cook for three more minutes, adding small splashes of chicken broth as needed to prevent sticking.

2. Add the carrots and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally and adding broth as needed.

3. Add the potatoes. Continue cooking, adding splashes of broth only when the vegetables begin to stick. The goal is to keep them steaming, not boiling, to build flavor. After about 10 minutes, taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

4. Stir in the cooked chicken until well combined with the vegetables.

Step Five: Add cooked vegetables and chicken to chicken broth.

5. Transfer the pan contents to a soup pot with the remaining chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender but not mushy.

Step Six: Blend part of the soup and recombine with unblended part.

6. Remove one cup broth and one cup solids and blend until smooth. Return to the pot and stir to combine.

7. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with fresh bread or dehydrate this hearty soup for the trail.

Dehydrating Creamy Chicken Soup

Spread soup on dehydrator trays using silicone trays with raised edges.

If using an Excalibur dehydrator, a good quantity of soup to spread on one tray is from 1¼ cups of soup up to 1½ cups.

For Cosori dehydrators, one cup of soup per tray is good.

Which dehydrator is best? Read my reviews comparing Excalibur dehydrators to Cosori dehydrators.

Creamy chicken soup on silicone dehydrator tray.

Photo: 1½ cups of soup before dehydrating in an Excalibur dehydrator using a silicone tray with raised edges.

Dehydrate at 145°F (63°C) for approximately six hours until crumbly dry and no moisture is present in the vegetables when you check them by cutting one or two in half. Carrots will be slightly pliable.

Photo: Dehydrated creamy chicken soup.

Hand-crumble dehydrated soup and store it in an airtight container at home until ready to pack it into individual servings for the trail.

Silicone Trays with Raised Edges for Drying Soup

Buy 11.8" x 10.8" trays for Cosori dehydrators and 14" x 14" trays for Excalibur dehydrators.

Silicone tray with raised edges for dehydrating soup.

Available from Amazon:

Silicone Dehydrator Trays with Raised Edges, 6-Pack

Disclosure: Backpacking Chef may earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you.

Rehydrating Creamy Chicken Soup

Servings: 1

Ingredients:

¾ cup crumbled soup (50 g)
1½ cups boiled water

Procedure:

Add dehydrated soup to pot with water. Soak for five minutes, then light stove. Bring soup to a full boil and then turn off stove. Transfer pot to an insulating pot cozy and wait fifteen minutes. Give it a quick stir to fully dissolve soup before serving.

Alternatively, add boiled water to ingredients in a Thermos food jar and wait 20 minutes up to five hours. Shake the thermos briskly before opening.

Rehydrated creamy chicken soup at campsite.

Whether you’re under the weather or over the weather, this creamy chicken soup hits the spot no matter what nature throws at you. Imagine how warm and uplifting this soup will be when you open your thermos at lunchtime on a drizzly, foggy day, or when you need just a bit more nourishment before retiring to your tent on a cold night in the woods.