Creamy Italian Chicken Soup
with potatoes / pancetta / peas
This soup has clean Italian flavors and gets a creamy finish from the addition of heavy cream. It's hearty enough on its own, but feel free to add crusty bread on the side. This recipe was last featured in 2017.
Ingredients
- Rotisserie chicken - 1/2, shredded
- Onions, medium - 1, chopped
- Carrots - 8 oz, chopped
- Pancetta - 4 oz, chopped
- Potatoes, russet - 1 lb, peeled and cubed
- Peas, frozen - 1 cup
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Flour, all-purpose - 2 Tbsp
- Italian seasoning - 1 tsp
- Paprika - 1/2 tsp
- Garlic powder - 1/4 tsp
- Stock, any type - 4 1/2 cups
- Bay leaves - 2
- Heavy cream - 1/4 cup
- Vinegar, balsamic - 2 tsp
- Crusty bread (opt) - for serving
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Rotisserie chicken - (If making Thursday's meal, shred chicken for that meal at the same time.) Take meat off the bone and shred. Use a knife and fork or your hands. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Onions / Carrots / Pancetta - Prep as directed. Combine onions and carrots in one container. Store pancetta separately. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Potatoes - Peel and cube potatoes. If not cooking them right away, soak in water to prevent browning.
- Peas - Defrost peas.
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Make
- Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil and then pancetta. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pancetta is crisp. Use a slotted spoon to transfer pancetta to a paper-towel lined plate. Strain off all but 1 Tbsp / 15ml (for 4 servings; adjust if customizing) oil. Return pan to heat.
- To heated pan, add onions and carrots with a pinch of salt. Saute until tender, ~4 minutes. Add flour, Italian seasoning, paprika, and garlic powder and cook, stirring for 1 minute more.
- Add stock, potatoes, and bay leaves to pot. Bring to a simmer. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer until potatoes are tender, 13 to 17 minutes (depending on the size).
- When potatoes are tender, stir in chicken (reserve Thursday’s portion if you shredded it at the same time), cream, peas, and vinegar. Continue to simmer soup just until chicken is warmed through. Taste and season with some salt and pepper.
- Divide soup between bowls. Sprinkle pancetta on top. Serve with crusty bread for dipping.
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
Most Helpful
Yummy and very satisfying! As another reviewer said, I omitted the oil for cooking the pancetta and didn't defrost the peas as it didn't seem necessary. It came together easily with the rotisserie chicken. Saving as a favorite!
1 Helpful34 reviews
This is a delicious, versatile soup. I could not find pancetta, so I used bacon. I think other meat or beans would be fine substitutes for the chicken. Delicious with sourdough bread!
0 HelpfulWe had microwave bacon, so used that instead of getting pancetta. That may have been why ours was so bland - no grease. Also wasn't very creamy. Not sure what was up since the only change we made was bacon for pancetta.
0 HelpfulLoved it! I didn't have any chicken so I used some frozen smoked ham and it was fabulous. I did leave out the vinegar because I wasn't sure if it would go with the ham. Didn't miss it.
0 HelpfulThis was so yummy! I added some extra veggies that I had on hand - celery, green bell pepper and fresh garlic to the saute and then fresh spinach at the end. I also didn't use rotisserie chicken, but rather tossed some boneless/skinless chicken breasts in salt/pepper and Italian dressing then seared them and threw them in the soup at the same time as the potatoes to finish cooking. I then shredded the chicken as I was eating it in the soup. I was generous on the spices and added some more stock, as I'd added more ingredients. Since I had more volume, I doubled the cream and upped the vinegar a bit to roughly match the original recipe proportions. We very much enjoyed this soup and was the perfect meal for my husband who was not feeling great post COVID-vaccine!
0 HelpfulI love how quickly and easily this soup came together. It was much lighter than we expected.
0 Helpful