I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season! Whether you celebrated it or not, I hope it was a relaxing time for all. I got to see my new nephew again and it was AH-MAZING! It’s incredible to see how big he’s gotten in a short 1 1/2 months! Dexter (my dog) is still not thrilled about losing his spot as the only “child” in the family, but I think once Dylan gets a little older they’ll be best buds. :)
Although I was sad to leave my little nephew and rest of my family to head back to LA, I’m a little relieved the holidays are at an end. There’s so much pressure during the holidays cooking and baking, it’s nice to get back to simple, cozy winter dishes. Today we have a pretty simple, but totally full flavored recipe for you all, our creamy chicken and farro soup…basically our twist on creamy chicken and rice soup, but a teensy-tiny bit healthier. We use milk instead of cream and we’ve swapped the rice out for farro. I just love the hearty texture and nutty flavor of farro, its so good and so filling!
This recipe makes quite a large batch, but it freezes well (it will be a little thinner and need to be re-seasoned a little bit, if frozen and defrosted) which is great, because we (some more than others) have a few more chilly months ahead of us! Enjoy! xx, Jenny
Here are some other comforting soup recipes you might like:
- Creamy Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
- Corn Chowder
- Easy Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Creamy Pumpkin Soup
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Spicy Red Curry and Coconut Noodle Soup
- Roasted Sweet Potato and Leek Soup
Also check out this post for our Best Soup Recipes!
Creamy Chicken Soup Recipe (with Farro)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cups dry farro
- 4 cups unsalted chicken stock
- 1/4 cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
- 1 diced yellow onion (about 1 1/4 cups)
- 2 diced celery stalks (about 3/4 cup)
- 1 large peeled and diced carrot (about 3/4 cup)
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon minced thyme
- 2 teaspoons minced sage
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 3 cups cooked and shredded chicken
- salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pour oil into a large pot and place over medium-high heat. Add farro and toast for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add stock and bring to a boil. Once mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and continue to simmer (about 20 minutes).
- While farro and stock simmers, place butter in a large saucepan and melt over medium-high heat.
- Add onion, celery, carrots, and garlic, season with salt and pepper and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes or until vegetables begin to turn translucent. Add thyme and sage and continue to sauté for 1 minute.
- Stir in flour and cook for about 2 minutes, continuing to stir, to remove the raw flour flavor as well as any dry flour pockets.
- Whisk milk into the vegetable-flour mixture and stir until no lumps remain. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes or until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Once the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, transfer mixture to the farro and stock mixture and stir to combine. Add shredded chicken and season with salt and pepper.
- Simmer soup for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the soup thickens, and farro is cooked through. Adjust seasonings and serve.
NOTES
- *Makes 3 quarts
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Anyone calculated the nutritional info on this recipe yet?
Hi Walter, I have updated this recipe with nutritional information. Thanks!
What is the serving size of the nutritional information?
It is per serving.
Excellent! Made this for my sick hubby today and he couldn’t say enough good things about it :-)
This soup is delicious.
Just made this tonight. I love farro, using it as my “go to” grain, and this soup was delicious. Since I like to just have a bowl of soup for dinner, I upped the vegetable quotient by adding fresh spinach while the soup is simmering in the final step.
Very, very good! I had fresh marjoram on hand, so used that, and a bit of dried thyme. Would def use poultry seasoning in a pinch.
Ooh, great call with the marjoram!
For the herbs (thyme and sage) are you calling for fresh or dried?
Fresh! You can use dried, but i would use about a third more than the amount listed :)
This is delicious! Thank you so much for the recipe. Outstanding!
Hi Jenny,
How could you make this recipe dairy free?
Can I cook the chicken in with the broth? I have raw chicken and I don’t want to cook first so I can save a step.
Yes you can!
I love this soup. Have made it numerous times and looking forward to making it again when the weather cools down. Including it in a recipe collection I’m putting together for my college age son who likes to cook.
I love this soup. Have made it numerous times and looking forward to making it again when the weather cools down. I’m including it in a recipe collection I’m putting together for my college age son who likes to cook.
Thank you for a great recipe! I substituted fennel for the celery, and accidentally switched out barley for the farro. I definitely will be making this again, possibly adding potato the next time. Definitely a rich and tasty soup for winter!
This tastes amazing…BUT mine isn’t soupy AT ALL…..
OMG….as my grandson would say, one of the bestest soups. It is now my favorite. It’s even better the next day.
I made this for dinner this week and it was awesome. Totally delicious and creamy and perfect for the rainy, cold Seattle nights. I ended up using a whole pint of milk (just because I’m bad at eyeballing and why not?) and it was super tasty. Thanks for a new winter staple!
I finished making this for dinner and it is really wonderful. I had farro sitting in my cupboard for months and this recipe revived my love for it.
Is there any other thing that can replace the farro ?
You can replace it with short grain brown rice! Or pearled barely!
I just finished making this for dinner tonight and it is delicious! Thank you so much for such a simple and yummy soup recipe for a cold winter evening!
This looks phenomenal! Question: About how much chicken (raw, boneless, skinless) would yield the appropriate amount of chicken, do you think? Is there a general rule of thumb regarding something like this? Thank you!
About two (6-7oz/each) boneless, skinless should be good for this recipe…although you can definitely adjust the amount to your liking!
a) This looks so delicious and warm and comfy and homey. This sounds absolutely perfect for this cold weather we are getting in Kentucky. It is going on the menu this week!
b) I have a dog named Dexter, too! He has 5 human cousins, from 5 months to 12 years old. He especially loves the ones who throw ball for him! Here are a million photos of him in Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dexter_mcbutts/
Yes please! This soup is killing it! I just want to dive into a bowl of it, like NOW!
This year I spent Holiday only with my partner and little one. It was a relief, but I missed all this business around :)
Oh yes, I’m making this right away.
Yummy! I’ve never cooked with farro but this looks amazing, got to try it..
If farro isn’t available and we were to use brown rice, would the quantity be the same…thanks Jenny and happy new year!
In this case (bc the grains will be swimming in broth/stock anyway), yes! :)