Whether you are searching for a substitute for cream of chicken soup because you think the cans are kind of gross, or you want a cream of chicken substitute because you forgot to snag a can at the store, this recipe is exactly what you need! It’s easy and nearly as fast as cracking open a can of glop.
Alright, I admit it. I sometimes make casseroles or other dishes using that weird, gloppy cream of whatever soup from a can. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s cheap.
For the most part, though, I try to make my own cream soups for use in those recipes. Not only is this healthier than the salty canned goo, it’s also super (souper!) simple.
If you’re trying to make your dinner healthier, you’ll love this cream of chicken soup substitute!
Not to mention, sometimes I just don’t have cream of anything in my pantry and I’m too lazy to get to the store. I pretty much always have the ingredients to make this on hand. Although, I will admit, there have been times when I didn’t have chicken stock and (I can’t believe I’m admitting this) I just used salty water. It’s true. I substituted salty water for chicken broth. Don’t kick me out of the food bloggers’ club, okay?
Check out this Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole using this cream of chicken soup substitute and you can put it to the test yourself.
This substitute for cream of chicken soup recipe is equal to one can of soup.
Cream of Chicken Soup Substitute
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup milk
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. When melted, whisk in the flour and continue whisking until smooth and bubbly.
- Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk. Bring to a gentle boil, whisking constantly, until the soup thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Shanon White says
What size can of soup is this equivalent to? how many ounces or cups?
Karly says
It’s equivalent to one 11-ish ounce can of soup.
Shanon White says
Thank you so much! Used the recipe yesterday for a casserole – it worked beautifully!
Sharon says
Okay, you admitted it. So what is the salt to water ratio for the salt water – I do not want to use chicken broth.
Karly says
Haha! I would just add a teaspoon of salt to the water. You just want to give it a little flavor.
Rhonda says
This was easy and its really good not salty at all l will be making this again thank you for the recipe.
Karly says
Thanks, Rhonda!
Jennifer says
I was so excited to find this recipe. I didn’t realize it was so easy to make. One of my kids is lactose intolerant so I am never able to make a quick casserole with cream of anything. I could so easily make this with his lactose free milk and make casseroles again!
Karly says
Yay! Glad you found this helpful!
Susan says
Thank you so much. Seems The Hubs accidentally opened the only can of cream of chicken I had and forgot to mention it – until I tore the pantry apart for the third time looking for it. You saved dinner. And given how easy and cheap it was to make I’ll probably never buy another can again.
Karly says
Glad this saved the day! 🙂
Debbie says
Awesome. I am trying to get away from canned stuff. I make my own chicken broth.
Jody Yuzik says
You saved my day. Will never buy canned again. So easy.
Karly says
It really is simple! 🙂
Anna Banana says
I’ve been making my own cream of whatever “soup” for a long time and will never buy a can of soup again. If you do, please check the label carefully. I recently read a Campbell’s soup label and discovered, to my horror, that they are made with genetically modified (GMO) ingredients! Even the tomato soup! I’m eating clean, fresh and healthy and my ailments are disappearing. If something is to be genetically modified, it should be me because I’ve always wanted to be tall and thin!
Mary says
The taste of ” cream of anything” has changed.. Thank you posting this great alternative.. !
Scarlet says
I love this recipe! Last night I thought about making a cream of broccoli soup using your recipe as a base. I…am not a cook. Can you provide a recommendation for infusing fresh broccoli essence into the base? Thanks for the site!
Karly says
Oh gosh, I’ve never tried this or had canned cream of broccoli before. Would it be weird to steam broccoli til very soft in a stove top steamer and then use the liquid (you know how it always gets a little green?) instead of the chicken broth? And mash up some of the broccoli to toss in the soup. I’m not sure if the steaming water actually tastes like broccoli or not – I’ve always tossed it, but it always looks green so maybe?? Haha.
Scarlet says
That actually sounds like a great idea, Karly! I have heard of using the broccoli water in pasta/broccoli dishes. Gonna give it a go, thank you.
Jooles says
I make cream of broccoli soup using chicken stock. Boil broccoli until soft then I bamix and outback on heat and whilst on the boil dissolve cornflour in a little cold water and add to boiling pot. This will thicken the liquid. I add cream or milk to serve
Kim says
I make a dairy free cream of broccoli where I cook the broccoli with the other ingredients and put them into the blender. I keep out some of the florets to spread across the soup. That might work for you in this case, too.
Marilyn says
I love this recipe. .was wondering how to make cream of mushroom???
Karly says
I would just add in some chopped up mushrooms, either freshly cooked or from a jar. 🙂
Stacey says
I was thinking about using the pearled cauliflower to make the rice. I use it for fried rice. Alot healthier and really good.
Rebecca Siharath says
Hey, I needed 4 cans of cream of chicken soup for a recipe. So I used this recipe and multiplied the ingredients by 4. It turned out really thick. When I added this to my recipe, it tasted like flour. I think this is a great substitute for COC soup, but use caution when multiplying the recipe. I’m not a cook at all, so it was probably my stupidity that messed the recipe up! But just thought I’d share anyway! Thank you for creating this recipe! It works nicely if you need COC soup and don’t have any!
Beth Barber-Hansen says
I have found out by doing exactly what you did on other recipes that you can’t always double, quadruple, (or what ever measurement you might need) each ingredient. You have to adjust the flavorings and liquids and balance them to the thickening agent. Make sense? Always best to hold back on the thickening agent, and add slowly. Some recipes I actually make 2 batches of, if I want to quadruple a recipe! The taste is just better and you have more control over the flavoring.
Carla Skidmore says
Your recipes are usually easy to change so that they are gluten-free. My husband was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance ten years ago, when hybrid wheat was developed in order allow farmers to have a wheat crop that would withstand any weather, too much rain, or not enough rain.
Would it be too much to ask for you to check out some Gluten-Free sites and include some Gluten Free recipes? There are those who are lactose intolerant, too, and those diets have to be very difficult to manage as whey, a milk product, is in so very many items in the grocery stores.
Your recipes are great but they do leave out those people with food allergies.
Thank you for your consideration,
Carla
Karly says
Hi Carla!
I don’t have a lot of experience with special diets so I leave that to the experts. There are loads of sites out there that cater to gluten free, so you might have better luck there. 🙂
Ashley says
Carla,
I as well have celiac disease and I love these recipes but I modify them all myself using gluten free ingredients in place of whatever the ingredient is that isn’t gluten free.
I will go through the recipe and I will figure it out and modify it so it is all gluten free! I just recently made the Raspberry Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake and the slow cooker chicken garlic and gravy using all gluten free ingredients and it was yummy!
You can use her recipes, it will just take a little research on your end to make it all gluten free.
Try using Bob’s Red Mill Arrowroot Starch/Flour. If something calls for cream of chicken soup, make this cream of chicken recipe for it and use it, Ian’s Planko gluten bread crumbs, they make a gluten free soy sauce or coconut aminos in place of that, I use Kerrygold butter… I hope this helps your husband and maybe some other gluten free people as well!
Dianne says
Is this the equivalent to a can of “condensed” cream of chicken soup?
Karly says
Yep!
Patricia R. says
Used this for Christmas when I was making cheesy potatoes. I decided to make a double batch but only bought one can of soup. This worked great. I haven’t bought a can of creamed soup in years and now I won’t have to again. Thanks!
Karly says
So glad to hear that!
Jess F. says
Have you ever made this ahead of time & kept it in the fridge for a day or 2? Does it keep ok or should I always make it when I need it? (Just curious!)
Karly says
Hi Jess! It should be fine for a day or two in the fridge, but I wouldn’t keep it much longer than that. I haven’t tried using it cold, but I do think it would work fine.
Candace Owens says
Thank you so much!
My dish actually came out better.
Karly says
Love to hear that!
Terry Vasey says
Just what I was looking for – grat recipe
BDayv says
This was fantastic! It worked like a charm in my recipe for a casserole!
Karly says
Oh good! Thanks for sharing!
Laura in ME says
This recipe saved dinner!
I even had to substitute the ingredients in the recipe. My cupboards were full but there’s only two of us so things like milk go bad fast… so I used half n half, and instead of chicken stock….I know right?!… I used the juice from a can of chicken chunks and just mixed it up for tomorrow’s lunch.
Delicious and super fast and easy! Already added this to my recipe box!
Thank you!
Karly says
Glad it saved dinner for you! Very creative with your substitutes there. Haha! 🙂
Kathi says
This was just the right time for me to see this. With this current situation and canned soups flying off the shelves this is just what I needed to see. I have been buying Healthy Request soups because of the no MSG and low sodium – but I like this idea a lot more. Thank you so much for posting it.
Karly says
Hope you give it a try and enjoy! 🙂
Gemma says
Just wondering if I could substitute almond flour to make this more keto friendly?
Karly says
No, almond flour doesn’t have gluten, which is what causes this to thicken up.
ymh says
I am glad to have found this recipe. I stop playing what’s in a can of “cream of chicken, mushroom, celery and broccoli” the amount of sodium is horrible! I just stoping them years ago. It’s a rainy cool day so I wanted to make chicken soup without all of strange ingredients and tons of sodium. I will be writing this down and adding it to my recipe drawer.
Karly says
Thanks!
Orion says
This worked out really well as the base for my casserole, and I used veg bouillon instead of chicken stock. Thanks!
Jeff Van Pelt says
Thanks. Making a Hash Brown Casserole this morning and realizes that I forgot the cream of chicken. Was going to use cream of mushroom but searched and found this for a substitute…
Waaaay better than canned with our own broth and only took 5 minutes.
We’ll do that all the time now.
Thanks again.
Karly says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing, Jeff!
Carol says
I discovered that I did not have a can of cream of chicken soup when I started the recipe. This is a staple I always have on hand. I Googled what to substitute and this recipe came up. What a life saver and saved a trip to the store. It worked perfect.
Karly says
Glad it worked out for you, Carol!
thatgaljill says
Almost easier than opening a can. I subbed heavy cream for the milk and added 1.5 tsp of chicken bullion instead of salt.
Steph says
Hi, have you tried using this in a crock pot recipe? I’m making a chicken, veg, and noodle dish (chicken and dumplings, but noodles instead of dumplings), and I don’t want to use the cream cheese the recipe calls for. I think I will try this and see how it turns out. Thanks!
Karly says
Hi Steph! We use this pretty often, but I can’t think specifically of when we used it in the crockpot. How’d it work for you?
Rachel says
When you substitute salty water instead of chicken broth , how much salt?? Per half cup?
Karly says
I really don’t measure it. I just salt it to give it a little flavor.
Sheri says
This was easy and delicious. I prepared it before work one morning as a substitute for the canned version in a recipe I was making for dinner. I will definitely make it again and I feel much better eating the homemade version than the canned version. Thank you for the recipe!
Karly says
Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Sheri!