Cream of Chicken Soup (Gluten Free)

This will open up worlds of recipes for you.  It did for me. When I went gluten free, I realized that many of the easy casseroles I had made before I could no longer make since commercial cream of chicken soup is full of gluten (not to mention other weird stuff).  How many recipes have you made that call for those canned cream soups? Probably lots. I eventually went on a quest to make it myself and couldn’t believe how easy it was. All you need is butter, some flour (gf if neccessary), chicken broth/stock, and cream/milk.  That’s it.  And would you believe if I told you it could be made in less than 6 minutes?!? In the time it takes you to open that can from the grocery and scoop out the goopy mess inside, you can add about three minutes and make your own much healthier, fresher cream of chicken (or mushroom) soup.  You really need to do it. Your family will thank you.  Their tummies will be happy and you will feel better about what you put in those tummies.

I make a batch of this and either use it for a quick casserole like my Chicken Pot Pie (recipe for that is next!) or Chicken Divan or I divide it up in containers and freeze it for another time.

Cream of Chicken Soup (Gluten Free)

1 stick of butter

1 large onion diced (optional, but it imparts great flavor so I encourage you not to leave it out)

1  cup white or brown rice flour (ALL purpose flour if you don’t need GF)

6 cups hot chicken broth/stock

1/3 cup cream (or milk if you want a lighter version)

So, here we go. . .

Melt the butter in a pot on your stove. *If you like onions, which we do, saute a chopped onion in this melted butter for about 5 minutes.  Then proceed…   Stir in the flour and cook for approx 2 minutes stirring constantly.  Meanwhile, warm your chicken broth/ stock.  It should be really hot, but doesn’t need to be boiling. I do mine in the microwave but you can do it in a smaller pot on your stove if you wish.  I pour 5 cups of water in a bowl and add in the necessary # of boullion cubes or spoonfulls of Better Than Boullion to make my stock. Then I get it all hot and dissolved in the microwave.

After cooking your butter/flour mixture for 2 minutes, add in the hot broth/stock and whisk to make sure it is all combined.  Do this quickly to get rid of any lumps.  Now, let is simmer for about 2-3 minutes to thicken.  Stir in your milk or cream.  You are done!  You can taste it now and add salt and pepper to your personal preference.  I usually add a teaspoon of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper, and a couple shakes of garlic powder.  That is how we like it.  But it is fine without any of that.

Don’t buy that other stuff any more.  At least consider making your own.  And let your kids help you.  Mine love watching it thicken up and then helping me taste it. 🙂

Did I mention this is WAY WAY WAY cheaper too??

ps. If you want cream of mushroom soup, use vegetable broth/stock and stir in a cup of finely diced mushrooms at the very end.