If you are looking for a healthy meal, this chicken kale soup is calling your name. A simple recipe with basic ingredients is packed full of flavor from the onions, garlic, and chicken broth. It’s the ultimate comfort food – without any guilt!
My latest healthy chicken soup recipe is packed with veggies and flavor. Made with carrots and leafy green kale, it’s a great way to get all those important vitamins and minerals in for the day, all in a delicious and hearty soup.
Our favorite thing to eat with this soup is crusty bread like my artisan sourdough boule or sourdough breadsticks. They are perfect for dipping in the broth and getting every last drop! It is also delicious topped with sourdough crackers.
Serve it alongside a garden salad with homemade ranch dressing for a nourishing meal perfect for busy weeknights.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Healthy – Packed with vegetables, lean chicken, and protein-packed chicken broth, this soup is a healthy-eaters dream.
Flavorful – There are so many great classic flavors in this with the garlic, onion, and chicken broth. Plus, the heavy cream adds that touch of creaminess that brings all the comfort.
Easy – There are no fancy tricks with this recipe. It’s super simple to make and throw together for a delicious weeknight meal.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Ingredients
Chicken breasts – I like to sear two large raw chicken breasts to get the most flavor. You could also use Instant Pot chicken, leftover roast chicken or rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.
Potatoes – You can use your favorite kind of potato here.
Flour – I use all-purpose. Other flours may work, but you may need to adjust the amount of chicken stock.
Chicken broth – homemade bone broth always gives a boost of flavor and health benefits to your soup.
Heavy cream – If you are dairy free, you could substitute full-fat coconut milk instead.
Black pepper – Preferably freshly ground.
How to Make Chicken Kale Soup
Step 1: Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to a large pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Allow the butter to melt. Add the chicken breasts, and sear for a few minutes on each side, to add color and flavor to the chicken. It doesn’t need to be cooked all the way through at this point. Remove the chicken breasts and set aside.
Step 2: Deglaze the pot with the white wine, cooking for a few minutes at high heat until the flavor from the chicken is removed from the pan. (optional)
Step 3: Add one more tablespoon of the butter to the same pot that you cooked the chicken in. Add the chopped carrots, onions, and potatoes and sauté for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Step 4: Add the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and the flour to a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 3 – 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth and cook for an additional 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 5: Dice the seared chicken breasts into small cubes, approximately 1/2” in size. Add the roux, diced chicken breast, remaining chicken broth, cream, minced garlic, salt and pepper to the pot with the vegetables. Bring to a simmer and cover for 30 minutes, or until the carrots and potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through.
Step 6: A few minutes before serving, add the chopped kale to the soup. Allow it to simmer for two minutes.
Serve warm and enjoy!
Tips
- Deglaze your pot or Dutch oven after you sear the chicken. I like to use a little bit of dry white wine to do this. It really helps bring out the flavor of the soup.
- Use homemade chicken bone broth to upgrade the flavor and the health benefits.
- I like this soup with just salt and pepper, but you could also play around with adding other seasoning to your taste.
Recipe FAQs
Kale is full of vitamins, including A, B6, C, and K. It is also a great source of fiber. You still get all those vitamins when you add it to soup!
Soup made with bone broth is a great option. It helps hydrate you and gives you a boost of protein. Adding garlic, which has antiviral properties, to your soup is also great, along with other veggies.
Yes! I love to make a big batch of this soup and freeze for later. Use an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
More Homemade Soups from the Farmhouse
- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- Easy Homemade Noodles For Soup
- Easy Sauerkraut Soup with Sausage
- Homemade Creamy Chicken And Gnocchi Soup
- Easy Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Easy, Creamy Chicken Kale Soup Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Dutch Oven or large soup pot
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, 84 grams, divided
- 2 large chicken breasts, about 18 ounces
- 1/4 cup dry white wine, optional
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 medium carrots, diced
- 2 medium potatoes, diced
- 1/4 cup flour, 31 grams
- 3 cups chicken broth, divided
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 3 cups kale, chopped
Instructions
- Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to a large pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Allow the butter to melt.
- Add the chicken breasts, and sear for a few minutes on each side, to add color and flavor to the chicken. It doesn’t need to be cooked all the way through at this point.
- Remove the chicken breasts and set aside.
- Deglaze the pot with the white wine, cooking for a few minutes at high heat until the flavor from the chicken is removed from the pan. (optional)
- Add one more tablespoon of the butter to the same pot that you cooked the chicken in.
- Add the chopped carrots, onions and potatoes and sauté for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- Add the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and the flour to a small saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth and cook for an additional 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Dice the seared chicken breasts into small cubes, approximately 1/2” in size.
- Add the roux, diced chicken, remaining chicken broth, cream, minced garlic, salt and pepper to the pot with the vegetables.
- Bring to a simmer and cover for 30 minutes, or until the carrots and potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through.
- A few minutes before serving, add the chopped kale to the soup.
- Allow it to simmer for two minutes.
Notes
- Please double check amounts when using the multiplying feature in the recipe card.
- Deglaze your pot or Dutch oven after you sear the chicken. I like to use a little bit of dry white wine to do this. It really helps bring out the flavor of the soup.
- Use homemade chicken bone broth to upgrade the flavor and the health benefits.
- I like this soup with just salt and pepper, but you could also play around with adding other seasoning to your taste.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Soooooo good. I substituted chicken sausage (Amylu) for the chicken and spinach for the kale and it turned out so well. Thanks for such great recipes! There were no leftovers. Haha
Substituted sweet potatoes because it was what I had. Very yummy!
Tremendous! Amazing!
How would you recommend doing this in a crockpot? Do you?
Same process, just add the kale in at the last 30 minutes-1 hour to prevent the kale from getting soggy.
It’s real good!
Are your nutrition values for the entire recipe, or is it for one serving?
Thank you.
This was so delicious! We grow kale so always have it on hand and I needed to finish off some chicken breasts I had in the fridge. Since it was a chilly day, soup sounded lovely – and this did not disappoint! I didn’t add carrots as I didn’t have any on hand, and I substituted the heavy cream with 1 cup oat milk (it’s what we had but I didn’t want to change the flavor profile so I lessened it slightly). I also added some spices to both the chicken and the potato/onion/garlic mixture in addition to salt and pepper: dried parsley, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, and alio olio from Trader Joe’s!
Otherwise, I followed the recipe and it turned out great! We will definitely be adding it to our usual rotation.
Delicious! Thank you ☺️
I rarely write comments but I had to let you know this recipe is fantastic! Absolutely delicious, Thank you!!
A wonderful hearty cold weather soup. I replaced half of the cream with half and half, just so I’d feel less decadent. The soup was delicious served with oatmeal sourdough bread made from your recipe.