Tory and I got together a while ago for one of our first blogging nights. The blog just an idea then and we wanted to start putting together some recipes and taking pictures so we had content for our first posts. We decided that we’d make soup – and we wouldn’t just make one kind of soup we’d make two, so we both had leftovers to put in the freezer and take to work. The first soup we decided to make was buffalo chicken soup.
We searched Pinterest for inspiration and found dozens of recipes, some brothy, some creamy, some with vegetables, none exactly what we were looking for. We wanted a brothy soup that had just enough cream to give it some richness without making it a really thick soup. And we wanted veggies, carrots and celery just like you would serve with buffalo wings.
Our little experiment turned out great, especially when you serve it with our blue cheese crostini.
Here’s what you need (plus the heavy cream I forgot in the picture):
The first thing you want to do is prep all the ingredients. Starting with the chicken – you need 2 cooked chicken breasts and you can really cook it however you want or even start with a rotisserie chicken. My favorite way is to roast bone-in chicken breasts and then shred them with my hands. Bake the chicken at 425 degrees on a foil lined baking sheet for 20-25 minutes until the juices run clear. Let cool enough to handle and shred with your hands.
Now it’s time to prep the veggies. Chop up some onion and garlic.
Then some celery and carrots. You can cut these as fine as you like – we were in the mood for chunky veggies.
Shred some Parmesan cheese and grate some cheddar – about 1/3 cup each. I always freshly grate my cheese for soups and cheese sauces – it will melt much smoother.
Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat and add the veggies. Cook until the veggies are tender crisp and the onions are beginning to turn translucent about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour and cook for another minute.
Add the chicken stock, buffalo sauce and chicken. Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the cheeses and stir until melted. Pour in the heavy cream in and stir. Taste and add salt if needed.
Check out the yummy toppings we got to go with the soup:
Serve the soup with a blue cheese crostini and loaded with cilantro, green onion, and blue cheese!
Note: We’re new to blogging and now realize the soup bowl would have looked a lot more appealing filled to the brim, but we did make 2 soups that night and foolishly thought we’d just take pictures of the bowls we were eating – so we made small bowls to try them both.
The leftovers of this soup were great! I like to freeze them in round containers and take them to work.
- 2 bone-in chicken breasts
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 sweet onion, chopped
- 3 large carrots, chopped
- 5 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 T flour
- 4 c chicken stock
- ½ c buffalo wing sauce
- ⅓ c grated cheddar cheese
- ¼ c grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ c heavy cream
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Topping:
- Sliced green onions
- Crumbled blue cheese
- Chopped cilantro
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cook the chicken on a foil lined baking sheet for 20-25 minutes until the juices run clear. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then shred with your hands.
- Heat 2 T olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven. Add the veggies and cook about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent and the other veggies are tender crisp.
- Sprinkle in 1 T flour, and cook for another minute.
- Add the chicken stock, buffalo sauce, and shredded chicken. Bring to a boil, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add the cheeses and stir until melted. Stir in heavy cream. Taste and add additional salt if needed.
- To serve, top with blue cheese, green onions and cilantro.
[…] I don’t have leftover chicken, I like to roast bone-in breast in the oven and then shred it (see Buffalo Chicken Soup for directions). Cook gently until the chicken is heated through. Taste again and add more […]