Listen up chicken pot pie lovers, this soup was made for you! <3
This recipe was one of those throw together weeknight soups that turned out to be so ridiculously delicious I was practically licking the bowl clean. Since my husband Tony LOVES my lightened up chicken pot pie recipe, I decided to recreate it but in soup form and of course, with a few healthy twists.
Ever since I made my creamy lightened up cauliflower broccoli cheddar soup last year, I’ve been obsessed with pureeing cauliflower in soups to create a creamy base that adds additional veggies — plus it just so happens to eliminate the need for dairy!
Therefore, this chicken pot pie soup has become one of my ‘accidentally whole30’ recipes. I say accidentally because I never really set out with the intention of making a Whole30 recipe. One of the reasons being that I don’t subscribe to diet culture or trends that eliminate entire food groups and put food groups into ‘failures’. I think you can still achieve a healthy, balanced lifestyle without following a restrictive diet for 30 days. (Food sensitivities and allergies are a much different subject.)
That being said, there are a lot of people who seem to love Whole30, and if done correctly it can be challenging, a way to reset your eating habits and does include plenty of fruits, veggies and lean meats.
Just remember that temporary diets aren’t the way to begin a healthy, balanced lifestyle. You have to find what works for you for long-term success, and a way of life that is beneficial for your mental health. That answer is different for everyone. At the end of the day, food is food and flexibility is essential to living a life you can enjoy. The bottom line, is do what makes you healthy AND happy.
What’s in this healthy chicken pot pie soup?
This chicken pot pie soup is one of those recipes you can throw together in just about 30 minutes. Everything cooks in one pot, including the chicken, making it an easy weeknight dinner to meal prep, make for your family or simply slurp up the entire pot yourself. It’s made with plenty of veggies and no cream, making it perfect for just about anyone to enjoy — especially when you come down with a cold, or if you’re just craving a cozy bowl of soup. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Chicken breast
- Onion
- Carrots
- Yukon gold potatoes (the best for buttery, creamy texture)
- Cauliflower florets
- Dried or fresh thyme
- Unsweetened almond milk or cashew milk (or dairy milk if you prefer!)
- Low sodium chicken broth
- Frozen peas
- Freshly ground salt and pepper
What to serve with chicken pot pie soup
We normally serve our soup with classic buttery crackers or saltines, but you can also serve with biscuits or perhaps even some delicious honey pumpkin cornbread muffins.
Want some extra veggies?
If you’d like some more veggies in this soup, I suggest adding 8 ounces of baby bella mushrooms, which you can saute with the onion, carrots and potatoes. Fresh or frozen sweet corn is also another great option that can be stirred in with the peas. Yum.
I hope you enjoy this easy to make chicken pot pie soup. If you make it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe — I really appreciate it! xo.
Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, diced
- Freshly ground salt and pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 2 large carrots, sliced
- 2 ½ cups diced yukon gold potatoes
- 2 ½ cups finely chopped cauliflower florets
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme)
- 2 cups of unsweetened almond milk, cashew milk, skim milk, 2% (if you want a richer soup, you can use whole milk)
- 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
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Place a large dutch oven or pot over medium high heat. Add in olive oil. Once oil it hot, add in diced chicken breast and generously season with salt and pepper. Cook chicken for 4-6 minutes or until thoroughly cooked and no longer pink. Remove chicken from pot and transfer to a large bowl; set aside for later.
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In the same pot, add in 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, chopped onion, sliced carrots, diced gold potatoes, diced cauliflower and thyme. Saute for a few minutes until onion begins to soften, then add in milk, chicken broth and salt and pepper. Allow mixture to simmer uncovered for 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
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Next remove 2 1/2 cups of the mixture from the pot and add to a blender. Blend until completely smooth (be careful while you do this!), then transfer puree back to the pot. Stir in cooked chicken and frozen peas. Allow mixture to simmer for 5-10 more minutes to thicken up a bit. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if necessary. Garnish with extra black pepper and fresh thyme, if desired. Great with biscuits or crackers, if you’d like.
Recipe Notes
To make this recipe vegan: if you want to make this recipe vegan or vegetarian, you can use chickpeas instead of chicken, and also be sure to use vegetarian broth and a dairy free milk.
Optional: Feel free to add ¾ cup of corn if not doing whole 30. If you'd like some more veggies in this soup, I suggest adding 8 ounces of baby bella mushrooms, which you can saute with the onion, carrots and potatoes.
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by Eat Love Eat
67 comments
This looks SO good! I love soup all the time, but it’s still hot-ish here so I am bookmarking this for when Fall finally comes. Ooo, this would be great using leftover turkey, too!
Perfect for fall & winter! Great idea with leftover turkey.
So glad I came across this! I’m making it up tonight using leftover rotisserie chicken. Going to add the mushrooms as well. Can’t wait! Thank you for sharing.
Perfect! Hope you love this one!
Unfortunately, it won’t let me rate it a 5 star. Totally deserves it though! This was absolutely fabulous!! It was flavorful, creamy & hearty – without being too heavy. I highly recommend it! Thank you again for sharing.
We’re working on a fix for the stars, but so happy to hear you loved this one! Perfect for fall & winter 🙂
When it stops being 80 degrees (cries) in Boston you know this is going DOWN!
YES you’ll have to give it a try! Let me know when you make it 🙂
I’m definitely making this ….cool weather or not. (and it’s in high 70’s here)
Hope you love it!!
Unfortunately, peas are NOT allowed on Whole30 but that would be easily omitted I suspect. Looks great!
Great catch! But yes, very easy to omit 🙂 and so delicious!
I cannot wait to make this!! Right up our alley!! All soup, all the time, now through April 🙂
Absolutely! Perfect for fall 🙂 Hope you guys love it!
Looks great! Do you think I could substitute with Oat milk?
Oh my gosh this is yummmmmy!!!! Added the extra mushrooms at the end and I think they gave the dish a nice rich earthiness.
Love it!! Such a great dinner for fall!
Could this work in the crockpot?
Great question! There are a few different steps. First I would reduce the chicken broth a bit — probably by 1 cup, and I would likely stick to using either coconut milk or regular milk (just for the crockpot version). I would likely also recommend keeping the chicken whole and not dicing it (you can do that after it cooks.) Add all ingredients minus peas, then cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours. Once done cooking, remove chicken breasts, shred and set aside. Next, remove 2 cups of soup and puree in blender, then add back to pot and finally, add shredded chicken back to pot. Stir in peas. Cook for 10 min longer, then serve. Let me know if you try it in the slow cooker!
Used the crock pot directions, and it turned out great! Also used frozen cauliflower florets and put those in in the last hour of cooking, which worked as a good shortcut, then followed the rest of the directions for cutting up the chicken, blending, and adding in the peas. Delicious!
Perfect! So happy to hear that.
I had started this recipe before I realized all I had was unsweetened vanilla almond milk but i persisted anyway. Nothing a bit extra salt couldn’t fix. It was delicious i used shredded rotisserie chicken.
Made this last night and we really enjoyed it! One question though, the instructions say to add the frozen corn and peas, but I don’t see corn in the ingredient list.
So happy to hear that! You’ll find 1 cup frozen peas at the end of the ingredient list, and then the frozen corn is an optional add-in that I included in the notes section. Both are great in the recipe!
So glad I came across this! I’m making it up tonight using leftover rotisserie chicken. Going to add the mushrooms as well. Can’t wait! Thank you for sharing.
If trying to stay low carb, do you have any recommendations on a swap for the potatoes?
You could try just doing cauliflower!
Dear Ambitious Kitchen;
Hi and good morning.I am going to copy down your healthier chicken pot pie soup recipe so that I can make it for my mom,niece and I in november.
All of the nutrictional information is fine and ok but the carbohydrates is high.Is that because of the russet potatoes?Can this soup be doubled and frozen after it has been cooled completely?What do you recommend the safest way to freeze this soup and how long can this soup be frozen before it expires?Are there any stickable stickers that I can use on the lid to mark on it ?
Kim
Made this tonight and it was delicious! However, my potatoes definitely took longer to cook than the instructed time (probably my fault for the size of my dice). I think if I did this again, I might sauté the onions and carrots first, then add the potatoes and cauliflower w the chicken broth and let them come to a boil and cook at a higher temp to get nice and soft, and then add the milk afterwards with the chicken and peas so it doesn’t curdle.
Glad you enjoyed and good tip with cooking the potatoes – if you dice them a bit larger they will tend to cook longer. Let me know how your method goes next time, too!
Outstanding! The only thing different is I had a pound of chicken breast instead of 1.5 pounds. Used unsweetened almond milk. One of the tastiest soups I’ve ever made.
Great! So happy you liked this one 🙂
This was really great! My husband and I really enjoyed it as his favorite food is chicken pot pie.
The perfect recipe for him! Glad you both enjoyed 🙂
I LOVED this recipe! It was exactly the taste I was hoping for!
The only change I’d make would be to reduce the potato and add more cauliflower in its place.
So so good!
So happy you loved it! Yes, feel free to use more cauliflower next time. It will still blend up beautifully!
I made this soup twice…in the past 2 weeks. LOVE it!
I pretty much followed the recipe as is (only substituting frozen cauliflower for the fresh…I’m lazy). The first time, I made it with almond milk. The second time, I made it with 2%. I think I prefer the almond milk, however, neither of those milks prefer me 🙁
I’m wondering – would oat milk work? If you or anyone has tried it, I would love to know! I can’t really have cashew milk, and since the other 2 milks aren’t so great for me, I would love to have an alternative.
Great recipe! I appreciate you sharing it 🙂
So glad you love it! Oat milk or any other non-dairy non-nut milk will work, I would just recommend tasting them beforehand to ensure that they’re not too sweet. Let me know how it goes!
Thanks so much for responding. I appreciate it. I’m going to try oat milk in the near future. I’ll make sure to post my results with it 🙂
Absolutely! Enjoy 🙂
Fantastic soup! Creamy, but not dense or heavy feeling. My husband said he wasn’t a soup fan, but really enjoyed this! I added a bag of the Trader Joe’s cauliflower mash because I was too lazy to follow the recipe perfectly. Tasty and will make it again. We did it for meal prep and took some crackers on the side. YUMMO!
Perfect! Glad the cauliflower mash worked out well. Love this one for meal prep!
This looks great, but I’m wondering how to make it in the Instant Pot with a whole chicken. Any ideas?
Since my last comment I decided to get brave and try making this in the Instant Pot and I’m so glad I did! I altered it a bit to accommodate this amazing appliance. I also doubled the recipe as I have an 8 quart Lux. At first I thought I would use a whole chicken, but discovered I had fresh boneless skinless chicken thighs. I began by sautéing them. Then I added everything else but the milk and corn and I used celery instead of peas (my family hates peas). I set it on manual pressure for 17 minutes. I let it depressurize naturally for 20 minutes then released the rest of steam. I turned it to sauté and took out 5 cups of the soup (remember I doubled this). I added the milk and corn and puréed the soup mixture. I added that back in along with some rotisserie chicken I wanted to use up and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. It was amazing!
Perfect! So happy to hear that it worked well in your Instant Pot. Dinner for the week!
I’ve made this soup 3 times! My 9 year old is obsessed. I use garbanzo beans instead of chicken. It’s so hearty and filling, yet still healthy!
Love that! Great idea with the garbanzo beans 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I’ve made this three times already this fall!
Amazing! So happy to hear that.
THIS IS AMAZING. Made this recipe and it turned out so good – couldn’t believe it was healthy. You are a genius!
I made this soup yesterday, and it was amazing! I am super excited to have leftovers for lunch this week. I didn’t have enough carrots, so I added more cauliflower and peas. I also didn’t have thyme, but I did have an herbs de provence mix which worked well. My husband loved it too, and he typically hates cauliflower! I was happy at how creamy it turned out, despite not having any dairy. Thanks for the great recipe! 😀
Perfect! I’m so glad you both enjoyed. Great way to get veggies in 🙂
Really great recipe for a meal prep Sunday evening! I subbed the almond milk for oat milk to see if I could get a creamier consistency – made it a liiiiittle sweet so I upped the salt + added a lil squeeze of lemon before diving in. So delicious ❤️
Delicious for meal prep! Oat milk is quite a bit sweeter than almond milk, but I’m glad the salt + lemon helped even things out.
I made this recipe today, using cashew milk and included the corn. It came out absolutely delicious. Added a few drops of hot sauce on top for little extra yum. Will absolutely be making this again! So good!
Sounds amazing! Great idea with the hot sauce 🙂 glad you enjoyed!
This was sooo good. Substituted broccoli for cauliflower since my daughter likes one better. Will make again!
Perfect! So delicious.
This recipe is absolute fire. I doubled it and made it for my family for Christmas dinner and everyone LOVED it. I’ve been asked to make it again, so it’s definitely a keeper. It’s a wonderful combination of filling and substantial, yet still lightened up with the cauliflower.
Amazing!! So happy to hear that 🙂
So delicious and easy!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I followed this recipe exactly and it was divine! It tasted exactly like the decadent chicken pot pie that I’m used to, but Just in soup form….and this is an extremely healthy version. It’s a new favorite recipe for my family, including 2 picky young kiddos! Thank you!
Amazing! So happy to hear that, Elizabeth 🙂