Find out if cream of chicken soup is gluten-free, the ingredients are in your favorite brands, and how to make your own at home.
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If you enjoy a quick shortcut when making home cooked meals like casseroles, stews, soups, or crockpot meals, you may have come across recipes that call for cream of chicken soup. This soup is full of chicken flavor and a rich creaminess that is such an easy addition to many comfort foods.
If you’re following a gluten-free diet or are just getting started with one, you may have wondered if this canned soup or homemade variety contains gluten.
You might wonder if you can still add canned cream of chicken soup to your favorite crockpot meal or casserole dish.
You might be curious if this means you’re going to have to start making it from scratch if you want to enjoy recipes that call for it at all moving forward.
In this post, we’re going to answer some pressing questions about this popular soup and find out what cream of chicken soup is, what it’s used for, and made from. Then we’ll talk about some popular brands and their ingredients to help us get a better understanding of what most cream of chicken soup recipes include.
Finally, we’ll wrap this post up with answers to the questions you’re probably here for: is cream of chicken soup gluten-free? Are there other brands of this soup that are safe for folks on a gluten-free diet? Is cream of chicken soup dairy-free?
Find out all of this in this post dedicated to this flavorful, savory, and comforting soup – cream of chicken!
What is cream of chicken soup?
Cream of chicken soup is well known as a soup made with a roux of butter and flour, chicken stock, and sometimes cooked chicken. The soup has a thick and creamy almost gravy-like flavor and texture. The liquid of the soup is usually made from milk or cream and chicken broth.
This soup is smooth, velvety, and perfect to enjoy on its own or in casseroles, crockpot dishes, or other home cooked meals.
Cream of chicken soup can be made at home using just a few ingredients or bought at the store under some name brand labels, like Campbell’s. Generic store brands are also offered at many stores, and you can find Great Value, Kroger, or H-E-B varieties of this soup as well. These canned options make it quick and convenient to add this ingredient to your favorite recipes.
Read on: Gluten-free chicken broth
Read on: Is chicken broth gluten-free?
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Read on: 25 Gluten-free dairy-free chicken casserole recipes
Read on: Is chicken stock gluten-free?
What is cream of chicken soup used for?
Cream of chicken soup can be enjoyed plain on its own as a bowl of soup. It can also be added to many different recipes, like chicken casseroles, soups, and other crockpot dishes.
Cream of chicken soup provides a ton of flavor and creamy texture to a dish, which is why it’s so popular. Adding a can of cream of chicken soup can save you from having to make a sauce for a crock pot or casserole dish. And adding a can of this soup to a larger pot of soup can help you thicken your soup without having to add any flour or thickening ingredients.
Cream of chicken soup ingredients
A recipe for cream of chicken soup that you make at home likely contains butter, flour, chicken stock or broth, and heavy cream or milk. It’s likely also seasoned with salt, pepper, and maybe onions, and other seasonings. I like to add poultry seasoning to my homemade cream of chicken soup recipe.
Different brands who make cream of chicken soup will use different ingredients in their soup recipes, but many share similar ingredients. Many of these are considered “condensed” soups, which means they need to have water added to them to become a soup consistency.
Let’s take a look at three popular cream of chicken soup brands and what their ingredients are to help us get a better idea of what goes into this soup when bought from the store.
Read on: Is chicken stock gluten-free?
Campbell’s cream of chicken soup ingredients:
“Chicken stock, modified cornstarch, vegetable oil, cream, wheat flour, chicken meat, chicken fat, contains less than 2% of: salt, whey, dried chicken, monosodium glutamate, soy protein concentrate, water, yeast extract, natural flavoring, beta carotene for color, soy protein isolate, sodium phosphate, celery extract, onion extract, butter, garlic juice concentrate.”
There is also a “contains” note that says “contains: wheat, milk, soy.”
Great Value cream of chicken soup ingredients:
“Chicken stock, wheat flour, chicken fat, chicken meat (cooked chicken meat, water, modified food starch, salt, sodium phosphate), modified food starch, contains less than 2% of: cream, salt, soybean oil, sea salt, potassium chloride, whey, soy protein concentrate, cooked mechanically separated chicken meat, monosodium glutamate, yeast extract, natural flavor, cornstarch, beta carotene (for color), maltodextrin, lactic acid.”
There’s also a note that says “contains milk, wheat and soy.”
Kroger cream of chicken soup ingredients:
“Chicken stock, modified corn starch, chicken meat (cooked chicken meat, water, modified corn starch, salt, sodium phosphate), chicken fat, wheat flour, contains less than 2% of: cream, salt, soybean oil, whey protein concentrate, soy protein concentrate, cooked mechanically separated chicken meat, sea salt, potassium chloride, yeast extract, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, flavoring, maltodextrin, lactic acid, beta carotene (for color).”
H-E-B cream of chicken soup ingredients:
“Chicken stock, wheat flour, cooked white chicken meat (white chicken meat, water, rice starch, salt), chicken fat, soybean oil, whey protein concentrate, corn starch, contains less than 2% of: sea salt, potassium chloride, soy protein concentrate, cream, salt, chicken broth, dextrose, natural flavor, yeast extract, garlic powder, onion powder, beta carotene (color), lactic acid, spice.”
What is gluten?
Gluten is a protein found in most wheat products, and acts as the “glue” that helps to hold wheat, barley, kamut, spelt, farro, durum, bulgur, rye, and semolina together to maintain their shape.
Gluten is naturally occurring, and therefore is impossible to strip away from the grain. If a grain naturally has gluten in it, there’s no way to make that food gluten-free.
Gluten can be found in some canned and packaged products in the form of wheat, wheat flour, malt flavor, or malt barley.
Is cream of chicken soup gluten-free?
Most canned cream of chicken soup is not gluten-free. As you can see in the brands we looked at above, all four contained wheat and gluten ingredients.
There are a few brands that have gluten-free cream of chicken soup options, like Pacific Foods, Great Value (look for the gluten-free version of this soup), Mom’s Place, or Vivian’s Live Again.
Another option I’ve seen is a gluten-free cream of chicken powder from Judee’s. To make this soup, you add the powder with cornstarch, water, and desired seasonings. You can use it on its own, or added to chowders, chilis, stews, and casseroles.
Read on: 25 Gluten-free chicken soup recipes
Read on: 25 Gluten-free chicken recipes
Read on: Is cream of mushroom soup gluten-free?
Read on: Dairy-free cream of mushroom soup
Can you make your own gluten-free cream of chicken soup?
You can definitely make your own gluten-free cream of chicken soup at home. With the right ingredients, like gluten-free flour and a gluten-free chicken stock or broth, you can know for certain what ingredients are being added to your soup and that it’s completely gluten-free.
Try my gluten and dairy-free cream of chicken soup recipe with step-by-step instructions.
Is cream of chicken soup dairy-free?
Cream of chicken soup is not dairy-free, as it usually contains cream of milk in some form or another. I haven’t seen many great dairy-free cream of chicken soup options at grocery stores, so making your own at home may be your best option.
You can make cream of chicken soup at home to be dairy-free, by substituting milk or cream for a dairy-free substitute, like oat milk, coconut milk, or cashew milk. Any dairy-free milk alternative is a good choice, but I particularly like any option that is thick and creamy, like a cashew, oat, or coconut milk.
If you’ve been wondering if you can enjoy cream of chicken soup on your gluten-free diet, I hope this post has given you some hope that it is possible!
By making it at home or choosing a brand that’s dedicated to making a gluten-free option, you can still enjoy this ingredient in all your favorite recipes for casseroles, stews, and soups.
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