Make Your Own

There are about a gazillion recipes out there that use condensed soups.  Really, a gazillion.  Just look on Pinterest. :)  Have you ever looked at the ingredients on a can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken?  Yikes!  All kinds of nasty.  Although I try to avoid condensed soups, chicken broccoli casserole is one of Shelby's favorites, so I do occasionally use them. To avoid all of the ingredient nastiness in the canned version, I tried out lots of recipes and came up with a version of cream of chicken soup that I think is pretty darn good. I don't measure, so I will try to give you approximations.  Just adjust to whatever tastes good to you.


Cream of Chicken Soup (substitute for Campbell's condensed soup)

In a saucepan:
1-2 cups of chicken stock, diced onion (about 1/4 cup or so), diced garlic (couple of cloves), seasonings*

*seasonings--salt and pepper, little bit of paprika, chopped fresh herbs like parsley/rosemary/oregano/sage/marjoram/thyme (use dried if that's what you have)

Simmer until the onions are nice and soft and rather translucent.
Add some milk and simmer a bit more.

In a separate bowl:

Whisk together milk and flour until smooth.  (This is to thicken the soup, so I would maybe do around a cup of milk and a few tablespoons of flour.)

Add to the stock and whisk it so there aren't any lumps.  It should thicken nicely.  
Taste it and add salt and pepper, if needed.

*If you don't have poultry seasoning, just mix together equal amounts of rosemary, oregano, sage, ginger, marjoram, thyme.  Put in a glass jar for whenever a recipe calls for it. 
*If you use something like Better than Bouillon, you could add a bit of that, too, if it seems like it needs a little more flavor. Never heard of Better than Bouillon? Look here

*For a gluten free version, you can use cornstarch to thicken.

FYI…Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup ingredient list…

Ingredients (29):

Chicken Stock, Wheat Flour, Chicken Fat, Chicken Meat Cooked, Cream, Corn Starch, Canola Oil,Corn Oil, Cottonseed Oil, Margarine, Chicken Mechanically Separated, Salt, Soybean(s) Oil, Water,Beta Carotene, Calcium Caseinate, Flavor(s) Chicken, Chicken Powder, Dairy Blend Dried,Whey Dried, Food Starch Modified, Monosodium Glutamate, Flavoring Natural, Sodium Phosphate, Soy Protein Concentrate, Soy Protein Isolate, Spice(s) Extractive, Whey, Yeast Extract