This fall weather goes hand in hand with warm and cozy comfort foods! I am LOVING it! One of our favorite cold weather meals is chicken pot pie. Chicken pot pie can get pretty involved, though, and while very rewarding, sometimes you just don’t have time for all that! This soup takes the filling of chicken pot pie and thins it out a little so it’s more soup-y. Then, to substitute the crust, I put a flakey cheddar biscuit at the center of attention. Crusts can be more than just a medium for filling!
Thinking about the balance of this dish–the salt, acid, fat, heat, and savoriness–it checks all of the boxes. Salty broth and naturally salty celery is met with a little acidic tang from sour cream in the biscuit dough. The “fat” or the cream in the soup base shakes hands with a little bit of heated cajun spice in the biscuits. Savory shredded chicken slow cooked in sweet carrots and onions finish off the culinary experience. It’s balanced, creamy, flakey, and very warm and cozy.
This is a very quick soup to make if you have shredded chicken on hand. I can’t emphasize enough how much easier life is when you have already prepared the meat element of a dish. Think of the dishes you save by not having to constantly wash raw meat off of a cutting board or knife! If you’re looking for an easy way drop-in-the-pot-and-walk-away method of cooking chicken, I’ve got my Weeknight Chicken recipe for you here! If you don’t have time to slow cook chicken, Jane, my mother-in-law, has a very savvy trick: pick up a rotisserie chicken at Costco and pull the meat off of it. YUM!
You can even start this chicken pot pie soup from your weeknight chicken, using the broth the chicken has cooked in as the base of the soup!
Is that biscuit staring at me?
Is that a love song playing in the background?
Chicken Pot Pie Soup by Baker’s Theory
For the soup
3 tbsp salted butter
1/2 medium onion or leek, minced
1 large carrot, peeled and minced
1 stalk of celery, trimmed and minced
3-4 cups water
3-4 tsp Better than Bullion chicken base
1/2 lb shredded, cooked chicken (see Weeknight Chicken or pull the meat off of a rotisserie chicken), about 2 cups
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Salt, adjusting for your own preference
For the biscuits
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sour cream or buttermilk
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
4 tbsp cold butter, cut into small, 1/4″ cubes
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp Old Bay Seasoning (optional)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (optional)
1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (optional)
3 tbsp sour cream, milk, or buttermilk (helpful if your dough is too dry)
Serves 6
For the soup
Melt butter in a Dutch oven on medium high heat. When you can feel the heat holding your hand above the butter from about 6″ above it, drop in the onion, carrot, and celery. Stir until the vegetables are soft and the onion is translucent, about 6 minutes. Pour in 3 cups of water and 3 tsp chicken base, or alternatively use the same volume of chicken stock or broth. If you like the soup a bit thinner, add an additional cup of water and an additional tsp of chicken base. Stir so the chicken base dissolves and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the shredded chicken and lower heat to a simmer. When the chicken is warmed, pour in the cream and give it a final stir so the cream is homogenous with the broth. Taste and adjust with salt as needed. When biscuits are ready, ladle soup into bowls, drop a biscuit in the center, and serve.
For the biscuits
Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add other dry ingredients if using to the flour mixture. Add cubes of diced butter. Coat diced butter cubes in flour mix until all of the butter is covered. Add buttermilk and sour cream, if using, and mix with hands until a firm dough forms. (Try not to let the butter soften, and if it starts, put the bowl in the refrigerator for ten minutes! Cold butter is what makes biscuits flakey because the water in butter turns into steam when it’s heated. The steam lifts the layers of dough up to give those lovely, delicious layers!) Lay dough on a floured surface and use a rolling pin to get a half inch thick layer of dough. Use a biscuit cutter to cut biscuits. (Don’t use a cup. The edges of the cutter have to be sharp or your dough will pinch closed at the bottom and won’t rise.) Place biscuits on a greased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 450 F.