Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup
This Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup is so deliciously creamy and packed with shredded chicken and chunks of veggies. It has all of the creaminess and flavor of traditional Chicken Pot Pie, but it’s a much healthier version thanks to cauliflower puree which gives this delicious soup it’s creamy consistency. It’s the perfect meal to enjoy on a cold day, and is ready in under 30 minutes! This is my absolute favorite soup recipe I’ve ever created because it’s so ridiculously good! Chicken Pot Pie was always one of my favourite comfort foods to enjoy as a kid, and while I enjoyed the flaky pastry or biscuit topping, it was the creamy stew like filling that was my favorite part. This healthy version of chicken pot pie is creamy, comforting and just like the pie filling I used to love, but it’s surprisingly healthy! This is a soup I love to make for friends that are sick or have just had a baby because it freezes well, so I can bring a big batch for them to keep in their freezer for easy meals, and everyone always appreciates getting a both healthy and delicious meal. If you are wanting to start eating healthier (or have someone in your like who isn’t very keen to) this is a great soup to make.
Why You Will Love This Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
- This Chicken Pot Pie soup is the ultimate comfort food. It has chunky vegetables, tender chicken and a deliciously creamy base, all the best parts of traditional chicken pot pie but in soup form. It’s perfect for a rainy day, when you are feeling under the weather or during the colder months.
- Traditional Chicken Pot Pie is made with heavy cream plus flour and butter in the biscuit topping or pie crust. This homemade Chicken Pot Pie Soup tastes EXACTLY the same, but is made using my go to vegetable for just about every recipe, Cauliflower! By cooking the cauliflower in chicken broth and then pureeing it with almond milk, it becomes incredibly creamy, the perfect base for chicken pot pie soup.
- This is one of those healthy soup recipes that doesn’t taste healthy at all! I have served this soup to so many people and everyone raves about it without having any idea that it doesn’t contain dairy.
- With a cooking time of less than 30 minutes, this is an easy soup to make for weeknight dinner when you are short on time.
- This is a fantastic soup to meal prep for the week. Make a big batch and store it in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheat it for a quick and easy meal.
- Absolutely no one will every guess that it’s gluten free, grain free, dairy free, keto, paleo, whole30 and low carb
Can I Use Frozen Cauliflower Florets?
You can! Swap the fresh cauliflower florets with 3 1/2 cups of frozen cauliflower to compensate for the excess liquid in the frozen florets that adds volume. You may find that the cauliflower florets become tender very quickly and may require less chicken stock when cooking down.
What You Need to Make This Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
Cauliflower: This recipe calls for 3 cups of cauliflower florets which should equate to 1 large head of cauliflower. Alternately you can buy a bag of already chopped cauliflower florets or frozen would work too, you just may need to reduce the amount of liquid added to the pot to compensate for the water in the frozen florets.
Almond Milk: For this recipe I recommend using an unsweetened and unflavoured almond milk but if you have a nut allergy you can alternatively use any other plant-based milk of choice including oat milk, coconut milk or soy milk or if you do not have a dairy allergy then cows milk also works!
Chicken Stock: I often have previously made bone broth in my freezer that I will bring out to add to this recipe, but any type of store bought chicken stock works.
Onion: a finely diced yellow onion
Garlic Cloves: I recommend using fresh minced garlic rather than garlic from a tube or jar for the best flavor
Carrots and Celery: Chop the carrots and celery into small pieces, no bigger than 1/4 inch in diameter. The tender vegetables add wonderful chunkiness to the soup
Thyme and Rosemary: either fresh herbs or dried work for this soup. If using fresh thyme and rosemary add 1 teaspoon of each chopped. And if adding dried i recommend only using 1/2 teaspoon as the flavour of dried is much stronger than fresh.
Peas: I like to throw in frozen peas but you can alternatively add green beans instead.
Chicken: To save time I like using leftover cooked chicken I have in the fridge and quickly cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Check out the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and quantities.
How To Make This Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup
This Chicken Pot Pie Soup is incredibly easy to make, it takes less than 30 minutes and is practically fool proof.
- Start by cutting the cauliflower into florets. Place the florets into a large pot or dutch oven on the stovetop on medium high heat, cover the cauliflower with approximately 1 cup of chicken stock or enough liquid needed to just cover the florets which may be more depending on the size of your pot. Bring to a boil and cook the cauliflower until it’s fork tender.
- Transfer the cauliflower plus any liquid in the pot to a blender along with the milk and chicken stock and blend until smooth. Alternatively you could blend everything with an immersion blender but you will have to then pour the creamy liquid into a bowl.
- Once the pot is empty, add olive oil, garlic and diced onions and saute until soft. Next add in the carrot and celery plus herbs, kosher salt and black pepper. Pour in the chicken stock stir before leaving to gently simmer until the carrots are fork tender.
- Finally add in the chicken, frozen peas and the creamy cauliflower puree and bring to a gentle simmer. Serve garnished with parsley.
Check out the recipe card below for more detailed instructions
Can I Make This Chicken Pot Pie Soup Recipe Vegetarian?
Absolutely! Replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock and skip the chunks of chicken. To give the dish a bit more substance you can add in 1 cup of sauteed mushrooms that have been diced into bite-sized pieces.
Can I Make This Soup In Advance?
You definitely can! Make this soup and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days, it will taste just as good as it does right after making. I find the best way to reheat the soup before serving is in a pot on the stove, but it can also be warmed in the microwave. If you find that the soup has thickened up too much in the fridge, add a splash of milk of choice to thin it out.
What Type Of Chicken Is Best?
- Use any leftover chicken that you have in the fridge and cut it into small bite sized pieces
- To save time buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store
- If you only have raw chicken, bring a pot of water to a boil on medium-high heat, add in the chicken breasts or thighs and cook for approximately 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Alternatively you can bake the chicken breast in the oven for about 30 minutes and then shred them
Is This Chicken Pot Pie Soup Healthy?
It is! This delicious soup is low in calories and saturated fat and high in protein per serving. To make this soup low in carbohydrates I recommend skipping the carrots, and you can also use low sodium chicken stock to reduce the amount of salt.
Ways to Modify This Easy Chicken Pot Pie Soup
- After Thanksgiving and Christmas I like to swap the chicken for turkey as a way to use up any leftover turkey
- Feel free to swap the frozen peas for green beans cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- To make this recipe Keto skip the carrots
- If you aren’t on a Paleo/Whole30 or low carb diet you can also add cooked and diced potatoes such as baby yukon gold potatoes or red potatoes.
- Use any type of milk that you prefer. If you are using a dairy free milk, I just highly recommend going with one that is unsweetened. I like almond milk, but soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk or cows milk would all work too
What About Leftovers?
I love to make a double or sometimes even triple batch of this soup. I store 2-3 servings in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, and freeze the remainder in ziploc bags in the freezer. Whenever I am craving something comforting during the colder months, I pull it out and reheat it in a pot on medium heat, it makes a great lunch on busy days or fast dinner that my entire family enjoys.
Here are a few other hearty soups that you might enjoy:
- Turkey Mulligatawny Soup
- Mexican Chicken Soup
- Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup
- Thai Curry Noodle Soup
- Italian Wedding Soup
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups cauliflower florets
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 tsp rosemary chopped
- 1 tsp thyme chopped
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 cup peas
- 2 chicken breasts shredded (2 cups)
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Place the cauliflower florets in a large pot on medium heat along with 1 cup of the chicken stock (you want enough stock to almost cover the florets, so you may need to use more stock depending on the size of your pot) cover and steam the cauliflower until very tender. Transfer both the cauliflower and any remaining liquid in the pot to a blender. Add in the almond milk and 1 cup of chicken stock and blend until completely smooth. Set aside.
- Add the olive oil to the pot along with the crushed garlic and onion and cook for approximately 4 to 5 minutes until the onion becomes translucent. Add in the celery, carrots, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Pour the remaining 1 cup of chicken stock into the pot and let everything simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until the carrots become tender.
- Add in the peas, shredded chicken and the cauliflower puree and cook for another 5 minutes until everything is warm. If the soup is too thick add in more chicken stock until it reaches your desired consistency (I prefer mine to be quite thick and chunky).
- Garnish with fresh parsley before serving
This is SO good! I subbed frozen veggies, and replaced celery with asparagus. Thickening with cauliflower is seriously genius! It gives a wonderful fullness of texture and flavor. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the kind comment Tammy! So happy to hear that it was a hit!
We used rotisserie chicken for ease. My husband’s favorite recipe of yours!
Thanks Heidi!
If your husband goes back for seconds during playoff hockey, you know it’s good! 🙂 Thank you so much for the recipe!
Hahaha the best compliment you could possibly get!
This soup is amazing!!! Chicken pot pie is one of my all-time favorite meals and I love it in soup form. Using the cauliflower puree is genius as the creamy base. I love that I can enjoy these comforting flavors and feel good about what I’m eating.
Its one of my favourite meals too! Thanks for the comment Kristen!
I have some leftover cauliflower purée I would like to use to make this. Any guess how much purée this yields after blended smooth? Thanks! Can’t wait to try.
I would say approximately 1 1/2 cups puree should work. Let me know how it turns out!
Could Cashew Milk be used in lieu of almond milk?
Yes definitely!
Having a bowl of this soup now! Love it! Great idea to make the cream/cauli base! I love cream based soup
Such a great soup for a cold day 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Can this be make in the crockpot?
I have never tried so can’t say with 100% certainty but I suspect it would
This was absolutely delicious! I’m not a fan of peas so I used green beans. And I didn’t have almond milk on hand so I used coconut instead. But still delicious!
I bet coconut milk made it even creamier! So happy you enjoyed it!
Excellent! I make this at least once a month exactly as written. Even my non paleo family loves it!
Yes! Love when non paleo eaters also enjoy a dish! Thanks so much for leaving a comment Alicia!
I made this with modifications and my husband said it was the best soup he’s ever had. Here are the changes I made:
I seared boneless chicken breasts in butter, then set aside to cool while I made the cauliflower/almond cream.
Sauteed a cup of sliced baby bella mushrooms in the chicken pan and added garlic at the last minute. Tossed into bowl with shredded chicken breasts.
Sauteed carrots, onions, celery and remaining florets from the cauliflower head until caramelized.
Added the cauliflower/almond milk cream, 4 extra cups of stock, the chix/mushroom mix, a cup of sherry (important) and some fresh herbs, lemon zest and theto vegetables–simmered an hour
Before serving, added another 1/4 cup of sherry and more fresh herbs (parsley, oregano, sage and/or basil)
To die for! Thanks!
Wow!! What a compliment!!! I am so happy to hear that!! Thank you for including the modifications you made, the mushrooms and sherry sound like great additions. Thanks for the comment Kate!
This sounds amazing and would love to try. Would premade cauliflower rice work? How do you think you’d go about that? ????
Danielle
Yes you definitely could use cauliflower rice instead. I would recommend cooking 2 cups cauliflower rice in almond milk and chicken stock until tender before blending it.
Soubds great, thanks so much for the response!
This was so delicious!!
So happy to hear that you liked it Dianna!
I’m planning on trying this recipe this week! Do you think frozen veggies would work, or do they need to be fresh? I was thinking of trying frozen veggies to make prep faster 🙂
Definitely! Frozen veggies would also work well 🙂
This looks amazing…planning on making it very soon. Could you substitute canned coconut milk for almond milk? I have trouble finding almond milk without added junk in it.
Thanks!
Yes you definitely could! That would make the sauce even more creamy 🙂
this soup is so good. recipes like this typically really make me miss things like crackers, because i love adding crackers to soup. but i don’t miss them with this soup, or at least no where near as much! it’s creamy and delicious and i love every last drop. BRAVO
I totally know what you mean!! I’m a big fan of chunky soups because I don’t feel as a big a need to dunk crackers in. So happy to hear that you liked the soup!
Your recipes are simply amazing! This soup was so simple to make and incredibly delicious!
Thank you!!!
Thank you! I’m so happy you liked the soup! It’s one of my favourites 🙂
This soup is absolutely inedible! Having it again tonight because I loved it so much. Didn’t make any changes to the recipe, but added a dash of Tabasco on top for a little kick. New favorite soup recipe!
Yea!! I’m so happy you liked it JA! 🙂
I made this for dinner tonight, and served it with garlic bread for the non-SCDers. This soup had great flavor! This kids knew the cream base was made with cauliflower, and still loved it.
I’m so happy to hear that you as well as your kids enjoyed it! I’m so impressed they ate it even when knowing it was cauliflower!
This soup is absolutely delicious! I made it for lunch today and love how creamy the pureed cauliflower makes it. Im making a double batch this weekend to freeze. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks for the kind compliment Lisa. This soup freezes really well so that’s a great idea.