Cozy up with a warm bowl of Creamy Buffalo Chicken Soup. Made with lots of veggies, hot sauce, and cream cheese, this is a soup that's just as satisfying as it is filling! Top with blue cheese, green onion, and tortilla chips for extra flavor.
The best creamy soup for fall
One of the best flavors out there is buffalo. You can't deny it! There's a reason why everyone craves buffalo flavored... anything, and it's because it's just good.
And I have to agree. My love for the hot-but-not-overwhelming flavor is made evident by all of the recipes I've shared. Take buffalo chicken meatballs, buffalo chicken dip, and buffalo chicken sweet potato casserole, for example. Buffchic is where it's at!
And to add to my ever increasing repertoire of buffchic recipes, I decided I needed to create a soup. Thus, creamy buffalo chicken soup was born, and thank goodness for it! This soup is creamy, thick, cozy, and slightly hot. It packs in so much flavor and is the perfect way to enjoy buffalo chicken in the fall!
So grab your ingredients and kitchen tools, and let's get to cooking!
Ingredients used to make this buffalo chicken recipe
You know what they say about soup... the more ingredients, the better! Which means this soup is downright delicious, because it uses a little bit of everything. The main ingredients consist of lots of veggies, stock, and chicken, and the seasonings consist of everything yummy, including hot sauce.
Main Ingredients:
- Ghee: To start, we'll use 2 tablespoon of ghee to sauté the veggies. You can use butter instead if preferred.
- White onion: White onion will be used to add flavor and crunch to the soup. ½ cup diced up into small pieces will be perfect.
- Carrots: Next up, grab about 5 carrot sticks and slice them into coins.
- Celery: 5 sticks of celery will add some extra oomph. Dice them up as well.
- Cauliflower: Cauliflower serves as a large part of this recipe. We'll be using 4 heaping cups, cut into florets.
- Chicken stock: We'll be using chicken stock as the liquid for this soup. You'll need about 4 cups.
- Chicken breasts: As for the chicken, 4 large breasts will be just enough. They should equal out to about 3 lbs.
- Cream cheese: Cream cheese is such a key ingredient in this dish! You'll need 4 oz, and you can use a dairy-free version if you'd like.
- Optional toppings: Finally, blue cheese, green onion, and tortilla chips all make delicious toppings. You can add extra hot sauce too!
Seasonings & Flavorings:
- Garlic: Include 2 cloves of minced garlic for all the flavor!
- Dried parsley: For an herby touch, we're using 1 tablespoon of dried parsley.
- Garlic powder: And because garlic cloves aren't enough, throw some powder in too! 1 teaspoon will be plenty.
- Onion powder: Similarly, add 1 teaspoon of onion powder.
- Dried dill: Finally, add 1 teaspoon of dried dill.
- Salt and pepper: Include ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
- Frank's Red Hot Sauce: If you'd like, add in ¼ cup of hot sauce for a dash of heat! I always use Frank's Red Hot Sauce - it's my favorite!
Tools needed to make this recipe for chicken soup
To make creamy buffalo chicken soup you'll need only a few kitchen items: those to cut veggies, those to cook, and those to measure out the ingredients!
- Cutting board
- Chopping knife
- Dutch oven or sauce pot
- Stirring utensil
- Blender
- Whisk
- Measuring cups: ½ tsp, 1 tsp, 1 tbsp, ½ cup, ⅓ cup, and 1 cup
How to make creamy buffalo chicken soup
Creamy buffalo chicken soup is easy to make and comes together in about 40 minutes. Just chop the veggies, sauté them on the stove, add the spices and chicken, and ta-da! Easy and delicious buffalo soup.
To begin, wash and chop the vegetables.
In a large dutch oven or sauce pot, heat the ghee over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the onion, carrots, celery, and cauliflower and let everything cook for 6-8 minutes or until it begins to soften.
Next, add the garlic, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, dried dill, salt, and pepper, and mix until well combined.
Pour in the chicken stock and hot sauce, and then add the chicken breasts and submerge them in the liquid.
Bring the pot to a boil, and once boiling, cook for 12 minutes.
Take the chicken out after 12 minutes and set aside. Ladle a little more than half of the soup into a blender (including half of the cauliflower, carrots, celery, and broth) and blend until smooth.
Then, pour the blended mixture into the remaining soup broth.
Add the cream cheese and whisk until melted.
Cut the chicken into small pieces and add them back into the soup.
Let simmer for 10 minutes over medium-low heat, and then it's ready to serve.
Top with green onions, blue cheese, tortilla chips, and more hot sauce if desired.
Creamy buffalo chicken soup substitution options
I'm all about customizing recipes and always encourage Erin Lives Whole readers to do what they can to make the dish their own! For this recipe, it's so easy to do that.
- White onion: Feel free to use a yellow or red onion if that's what you have on hand.
- Chicken stock: Any stock can be used in place of chicken stock, whether that's beef, veggie, etc.
- Chicken breasts: Feel free to use whichever meat you'd like. Turkey breasts make a great substitute, and tofu may work as well!
Cozy up with one of these soup ideas
It's undeniably soup season, which means I couldn't end this post without giving you a few more ideas to try out this week! Below are 5 delicious soup dishes that are all easy to make and come together in hardly any time. Enjoy!
- Healthy Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Butternut Squash Soup (Vegan, Dairy-Free)
- Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup (Dairy-Free)
- Easy Minestrone Soup
Recipe by Erin Morrissey and Photos by The Mindful Hapa
If you tried this recipe or any other recipes on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Follow @erinliveswhole on Instagram and tag me in any of the recipes you make so I can repost them!
Creamy Buffalo Chicken Soup
Ingredients
Method
- Prepare all veggies by washing and chopping.
- In a large dutch oven or sauce pot, heat ghee over medium-high heat. Once melted, add onion, carrots, celery, and cauliflower. Let cook about 6-8 minutes or until beginning to soften.
- Add in garlic. Then add in spices: parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, dried dill, salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
- Pour in chicken stock and hot sauce. Then add 4 chicken breasts and submerge in liquid.
- Bring pot to a boil, and once boiling, cook 12 minutes.
- Take chicken out after 12 minutes and set aside. Ladle a little more than half of the soup into a blender (including half of the cauliflower, carrots, celery, and broth) and blend until smooth.
- Pour blended mixture into remaining soup broth.
- Add in cream cheese and whisk until melted.
- Cut chicken into small pieces and add back into soup.
- Let simmer for 10 minutes over medium-low heat, then serve.
- Top with green onion, blue cheese, tortilla chips and more hot sauce if desired.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
- Don't Skip the Blending Step: Ladling just over half the soup into a blender and blending it smooth before adding it back to the pot is what gives this soup that incredible thick, creamy texture everyone goes crazy for.
- Soften the Cream Cheese: Make sure your cream cheese is softened before adding it to the pot so it whisks in smoothly without any lumps. Cold cream cheese takes forever to melt and can leave you with little chunks throughout the soup.
- Don't Skimp on Toppings: Blue cheese crumbles, sliced green onion, a drizzle of extra hot sauce, and a handful of tortilla chips for crunch take this soup from delicious to absolutely next level. Don't skip them!
Katie says
Holy Moly!! This is sooooo good! It’s the perfect amount of heat and the texture with the veggies and chicken is perfect. I always have high hopes with Erin’s recipes but this one really blew us all away. Definitely a new staple in this house!
Erin says
Hi Katie, I am so happy you loved it! Thanks for sharing!
Kelsey says
Sooo good!!! What a great soup recipe!
Erin says
Hi Kelsey, I am so happy you liked it!
Alana Miller says
This recipe has become a staple for the winter! Some soup is just not up to par with the favorite flavors of today and this beyond exceeded my expectations!
Erin says
Hi Alana, so glad you love it so much!
Danielle says
The best soup!!
Erin says
Hi Danielle, so glad you love it!
Erin Carswell says
So yummy! One of my favorite healthy soups - will def be making it again! Thanks Erin!
Erin says
Hi Erin, so glad you liked it!!
Gina McShane says
I love this soup. I’ve made it twice this month! My husband hates cauliflower but loved this soup also! I used rotisserie chicken the second time I made it and I think it has more flavor when you cook the chicken In the soup as the recipe says. Perfect winter comfort food
Erin says
Hi Gina, I am so happy you both enjoyed it and made it your own!
Mary says
This is literally my new favorite recipe. I typically don’t love soups but this is INCREDIBLE. I am absolutely obsessed with it and will be making it again this week. I omitted the cream cheese (didn’t have any on hand) and it’s still creamy and delicious (and healthier!). If you like buffalo chicken, you have to try this! It’s easy and guilt free.
Erin says
Hi Mary, thanks for sharing and love that you made it your own!!
Courtney says
Loved this so much and so did my boyfriend!
Erin says
Hi Courtney, so glad you both loved the soup!
Haley says
This soup is so so good!! So creamy, flavorful and filling. Thank you for putting this deliciousness in my life Erin!
Erin says
Hi Haley, thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Nikole says
THIS SOUP IS THE MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE!! My boyfriend and I were a little skeptical but decided to try because we both love buffalo chicken dip and WOW!! Did not disappoint!! We both loved it and he asked me to make it again a week later. Such bold flavor but not overpowering. Must try!
Erin says
Hi Nikole, I am so happy to hear you both love it so much!! 🙂
Alissa says
Love this recipe! My boyfriend loves buffalo anything and this is a delicious compromise for both our tastes ☺️
Erin says
Hi Alissa, so happy you both loved it!
Morgan says
This soup was AMAZING and so easy to make. This will definitely be a staple in my house!
Erin says
Hi Morgan, I am so glad you love it!
Courtney Hoppe says
You have the best recipes, Erin! I made this last night and it was delicious. I used frozen riced cauliflower and did not add the cream cheese. Highly recommend!!
Erin says
Hi Courtney, I am so happy you enjoyed it!
Samantha says
THIS SOUP IS EVERYTHING!!!! I made this last week and ate it for 4 days straight. I love anything buffalo chicken. I also used my immersion blender and the consistency was perfect. Smooth and creamy but also with those hearty bites loaded with soft veggies. Will definitely be making this again and again!!
Erin says
Hi Samantha, thanks for your kind words!! I am so happy you liked it!
B says
This soup feels like something that shouldn’t be good but it’s amazing!! All I had was Trader Joe’s frozen colorful cauliflower and their frozen tri-color carrots so the color of this was more purple... but the taste was amazing!! I used the trick someone mentioned above for the immersion blender and this turned out amazing! Super quick and healthy meal for my family. Thanks!!
Erin says
Hi! I am so happy you and your family enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Shannon says
I was a little apprehensive at first as I dont like cauliflower but this soup is AMAZING! So creamy with a nice kick—will definitely make this again!
Erin says
Hi Shannon, ah I love hearing that!! Thanks for sharing!
Bianca says
This was SO delicious and comforting on a cold day. If you are lazy like me and don’t feel like cleaning a blender, I stuck my immersion blender in there and just blended until it looked like about half of the chunks were gone. Did the trick!
Erin says
Hi Bianca, I am so glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing your trick!
Sara says
Our whole family loved this. We omitted the hot sauce for the kids but added it to our bowls.
Erin says
Hi Sara, I am so happy to hear that!
Sarah says
Made this for dinner tonight, and it was so so tasty! I added more veggies to bulk it up plus a bit more buffalo for more of a kick. Will definitely be making it again!
Erin says
Hi Sarah, I am so glad you liked it and made it your own!
Kaitlyn says
This was SO delicious and arguably one of the best soups I’ve ever had! I will now exist off of this soup and live happily ever after!!!
Erin says
Hi Kaitlyn, I am so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂