There are few things more comforting than a bowl of chicken soup. With so many recipes out there it’s hard to improve upon your family’s classic recipe. This recipe is all about ease and making the soup a little heartier. The lemon zest adds a freshness to the soup that I’ll never leave out again. Grab your crockpot this fall and make a huge batch of creamy chicken soup.

Tips:

• You can cut the cooking time even further if you want to use a rotisserie chicken. I recently discovered the package of pulled chicken at Costco and it’s a great time saver.

• Avoid adding your pasta to the soup when storing. The pasta will continue to soak up the broth and you will be left with soggy noodles and no broth left in your soup.

• This can easily be made gluten free by using a gluten free flour to thicken the soup and either subbing rice or a gf pasta.

Creamy Chicken Soup

Serves 4-6

PREP 15 minutes

COOK 5 hours on low

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken skinless chicken breasts

1 small onion, diced

6 carrots, peeled and cut into coins

2 ribs celery, sliced thin

1 bay leaf

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme

Zest of 1 lemon

6 cups chicken stock

Salt and pepper, to taste

Rind of parmesan

3/4 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 lb. pasta of your choice, cooked and drained

Parmesan cheese, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In the pot of your crock pot add the chicken, carrots, onions, bay leaf, thyme, lemon zest, chicken stock, and rind of parmesan. Set the crock pot to low for 5 hours.

2. At 4:30 hours into the cooking, remove the chicken from the pot. Using two forks, shred the chicken, then add it back to the soup.

3. Add the heavy cream to the soup. Ladle some of the hot broth from the soup into a bowl and add the flour. Mix the flour into the hot water until there aren’t lumps. Slowly drizzle this mixture into the soup, stirring. Allow the soup to cook for the additional 30 minutes, giving it time to thicken. Taste for salt and pepper. Remove the rind of parmesan before serving.

4. Add some pasta to each serving bowl. Ladle your chicken soup over the noodles. Sprinkle some additional parmesan and serve. Try with our homemade oyster crackers.