Rich And Creamy Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup Recipe

Soup has been a staple dish in the human diet going back to some of the earliest civilizations in human history — take ancient Mesopotamians, for example, who were using hippopotamus as the protein of choice in their batches of soup. While hippopotamus is not a commonly used ingredient today, our love of soup is still going strong, and plenty of variations have cropped up over the centuries. Soups are regularly consumed across the globe in a wide variety of styles and flavors; from a chunky warming chowder to a refreshing gazpacho, there is a soup out there for everyone.

This rich and creamy chicken cordon bleu soup, created by Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye, is inspired by the French cordon bleu dish. Succulent pieces of chicken are fried and then cooked with salty ham in a richly creamy and cheesy broth. Served with a generous garnish of croutons, parsley, and cheese, this soup makes a wonderfully comforting homage to the French bistro classic. While this modern take on the cordon bleu may not have been on the menu in ancient Mesopotamia, it will always be on ours — and, perhaps on your weekly dinner menu, too.

To begin this rich and creamy chicken cordon bleu soup recipe, first you will need to gather the ingredients. You will want olive oil, chicken breasts, butter, an onion, garlic, flour, chicken stock, cream cheese, heavy cream, cheddar cheese, diced ham, and salt and pepper, to season. Be sure to have croutons and parsley on hand for serving.

Heat the olive in a wide, deep pan over a medium-high heat.

Add the diced chicken to the pan and season well with salt and pepper.

Fry for 4 to 5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken from the pan, reduce the heat to medium, and add the butter to the pan.

Add the diced onion and garlic and fry for 6 to 8 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent.

Stir the flour into the onion mixture.

Pour in the chicken stock to the pan and mix well. Allow the mixture to simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the cream cheese, heavy cream, and grated cheddar cheese.

Stir until the ingredients are combined and the soup is simmering gently.

Return the chicken to the pan along with the diced ham.

Simmer for a final 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve the soup topped with croutons, a little more grated cheese, and fresh parsley.

If you enjoy your French cuisine you may well have come across a cordon bleu before. Simply put, it is a delicious concoction of breaded meat that is first stuffed with cheese and ham before being fried — a well-cooked cordon bleu is a thing of beauty. Directly translated, cordon bleu means blue ribbon, which in itself doesn't particularly describe the dish at hand, or in fact, any dish at all.

The term cordon bleu originated from a highly prestigious order formed in the 16th century by French nobility who, amongst other things, enjoyed incredibly decadent feasts. The name was then co-opted in the late 19th century by the now famed culinary art school Le Cordon Bleu. Whichever way you look at it, the name cordon bleu denotes prestige and superior quality, so if a food item has the seal of the blue ribbon, you know it is going to be good.

This soup is inspired by the concept of a classic chicken cordon bleu, taking all the important elements of the dish and resembling them into a comforting and decadent dish. The creamy cheesy liquid and the topping of cheese replicate the oozy molten cheese center of a cordon bleu, and the chicken, chicken stock, and ham add important savory, meaty and salty qualities to the soup. Finally, the croutons represent the classic breading of a cordon bleu, which are an important garnish that completes the dish.

One of the great things about soup is how easily adaptable it is as a dish. Whether you want to change it up a little to suit your own personal preferences, tweak it to make it suitable for specific dietary needs, or heap in the veggies to give it a real vitamin boost, such changes are easily made. To make this soup recipe more of a meal, why not add some diced potatoes and carrots to the mix? As well as giving it a starchy boost, you'll add some nutrients and lightness to the soup. Green vegetables also make an excellent addition, adding a burst of color and breaking up the richness and creaminess of the dish. Spinach, green beans, kale, or even leeks make excellent choices, pairing well with the other flavors in the dish.

To add a bit of a spin to this rich and creamy cordon bleu soup recipe, you can substitute out the chicken for a different kind of meat. Pork and veal are both used to make this dish and will work well in the soup. If you want to mix up the flavors a bit more, adding a different variety of cheese makes a big difference. We recommend using Emmental or Gruyère cheese as additions, either in the soup, as garnishes, or as both.