natural, healthy substitute for Cream of chicken soup

[geemom]

Hi, I have a lot of recipes calling for cream of chicken soup.  Anybody know of some not icky substitution?  greek yogurt and chicken stock perhaps?

[MrsGregory]

Hi there geemom!

I don't personally use cream of chicken soup in my cooking, and depending on the recipe, I'll go a couple of different ways.

My first option would be to create a roux at the start, and then add tons of chicken stock and season really, really liberally as appropriate for that recipe.  Keep in mind that cream of chicken soup will have lots of salt, so the recipe is assuming lots of salt right there.  I don't like lots of salt, but when I see cream of chicken soup, I add more than I want and it comes out "right".  I would also add green herbs as the spirit moved me, and in fairly large quantity.  

My second option would be to create a beurre (sp.?) and stir that in.  A beurre is a mix of flour and butter, well mashed together to form a paste, which is then stirred into a simmering liquid.  If you reduce the liquid in the recipe calling for the cream of chicken, you'll need less of the beurre towards the end.

My option of last resort would be to make a slurry of water and cornstarch.  You would also stir this into a simmering liquid.  I haven't used this ever.  I would use this if I could not serve my guests flour or butter, and somehow forgot that and went ahead with a recipe that would need to be thickened.

Another option is to simply reduce the liquid in the recipe so it will be "thicker", and add in a pistou (sp.?), which is basically a flavorful paste.  If I was going to do this instead of cream of chicken, I'd make my pistou out of garlic and green herbs and a wee little midge of tomato paste.

I hope that helps!  Happy cooking!

[serenbat]

in addition to what good suggestions Mrs. Gregory gave you - you can add heavy cream (with flour ) and you can also do cornstarch mixed with sherry (this will add additional flavor- really you would only need about equal parts - 2tbsp to 2 tbsp) - cornstarch thickens quickly and you may even need to thin with milk/cream

I usually go with a rue (you can do a light or a dark) or cornstarch/sherry (it burn off and add flavor instead of having to add so much salt)

as suggested- add herb vs so much salt or get a special salt (like a smoked, a red or a pink) where you add less and get more flavor

I personally would not add yogurt for a chicken soup unless you want the tang but for overall thickness go with the other ideas.