Cream of Chicken Soup (GAPS Diet friendly)

Adapted from Broth & Stock from The Nourished Kitchen.

When I first made this Cream of Chicken soup,  it was dubbed by my 10 year old, her “favorite soup ever”.

That could be all that is needed to be said, but I will try to say a little more about the good vegetables & chicken that made their way into this soup.

My soup included some chicken that grew up on the big Misty Knoll chicken farm that’s not too far away from our town. Their plump birds make their way to my local health food store.

I placed her (rinsed & patted) into my Instant Pot where she was joined by the local carrot tops, onion skins, celery, leeks studded with whole cloves, and fresh water. With Instant Pot technology, she was tender in all of 25 minutes…still remarkable every time I use this one.  The instant pot made speedy work of cooking her tender, through and through.

When the chicken was fully cooked, I pulled her out to cool on a platter. I then strained out the onion skins, carrot tops, leeks and celery from the newly made fragrant broth, saving them for making bone broth with the chicken carcass later.

Finely chopped carrots, leeks, onion, & celery were sauteed in foaming Organic Valley butter, then added to the stew pot with the chopped chicken, strained broth, and whopping dollops of sour cream. I finished this fine soup off with salt, minced chives, and minced parsley. She was beautiful and full-flavored creaminess for a hearty meal.

If you are not doing GAPS, you could do heavy cream instead, but for this soup to work for GAPS, you’ll need to use 24+ hour cultured sour cream. Once you’ve successfully introduced sour cream, this could even be a GAPS Introduction Diet soup!

Enjoy this creamy soup with some GAPS Intro Nutbutter bread, beautiful vegetables, & sauerkraut.

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Cream of Chicken Soup (GAPS Diet friendly & gluten-free)

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Melanie Christner - Honest Body
  • Yield: 6-8 Servings 1x
  • Category: Soup

Description

A delicious cream of chicken soup that is both gluten free and GAPS Diet friendly.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 celery stalks
  • 3 carrots
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1 whole chicken (34 lbs.)
  • 2 leeks, cleaned
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 4 tablespoons butter or ghee
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
  • 6 egg yolks, beaten
  • 2 cup24 hr. sour cream (or heavy cream)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
  • 2 tablespoons chopped chives

Instructions

  1. Chop off the carrot tops & peel the carrots, dropping both the peelings & tops in a stockpot.
  2. Chop off the root & top end of the onion & peel it, putting the trimmings into the stockpot.
  3. Rinse the chicken thoroughly & add to the stockpot, covering it completely with cold water.
  4. Pierce 1 of the leeks with the cloves & put it into the stockpot.
  5. Slowly simmer this until the chicken is completely cooked & tender to the bone, about 2 hours. Alternatively, this can all be done in an Instant Pot for 20-30 minutes.
  6. While the chicken is cooking, mince the celery, onions, carrots, & remaining leek very finely & place into a bowl.
  7. Carefully remove the chicken & place it on a platter to cool. When it is cooled enough to handle, pick the meat off the bones.
  8. Strain the remaining broth through a fine-mesh sieve, into a pitcher or jar, discarding the solids.
  9. Melt the butter in a cast-iron skillet until it foams, toss in the minced vegetables & fry until they are tender & fragrant, about 10-15 minutes. Transfer to the cleaned stockpot.
  10. Mince the chicken meat very finely & add to the stockpot with the vegetables.
  11. Pour the strained broth into the stockpot.
  12. Stir in the grated nutmeg & bring the pot to a bare simmer over medium heat.
  13. Temper the beaten eggs by stirring a spoonful of broth into the eggs, then pour the mixture of eggs & broth into the simmering soup.
  14. Gently stir in the sour cream, parsley, & chives. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
  15. Serve warm & enjoy!

GAPS Diet Cream of Chicken Soup

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9 thoughts on “Cream of Chicken Soup (GAPS Diet friendly & gluten-free)”

    1. Melanie Christner

      Hi Megan,
      It won’t have the same flavor, but you could give it a try 🙂
      You might also try blending the chicken skin & soft tissues into a creamy “pate” that you can add back in to the soup for flavor and creaminess.

      Warmly,
      Melanie

  1. This recipe looks very good, but I am confused about one thing. The recipe says it is important to use cultured sour cream, but won’t the heat from the soup kill all the beneficial bacteria from the cultured sour cream? What then is the benefit?

    1. Hi Ariel,

      That’s a great question. You are right in that adding the cultured/soured cream to hot soup will destroy some of the beneficial bacteria. The important thing about culturing the cream is that by doing a 24-hr culture, the lactose is consumed by the microbes in the cream, thus making it more digestible.

      One thing you could do to retain more beneficial microbes would be to add it to the soup just before serving.

      Thanks for the question,
      Melanie

  2. Excited to try this one tonight! Do you have any suggestions on what a dairy-free person could replace the heavy cream/sour cream with?






    1. Great question, Kaitlyn!

      For an Asian flair, you could replace it with full-fat coconut milk (guar gum-free). Alternatively, if you take all the skin, joints & connective tissue from your whole chicken after cooking it, and blend it into a pate’ with salt, it makes a really great “creamy” addition and is full of nourishment as well.

      Kindly,
      Melanie

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