Marry Me Chicken Soup
The famous creamy sun-dried tomato chicken, turned into a soup. Sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and Parmesan make a rosy broth that tastes far richer than it is, and white beans make it a full meal.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb (680 g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup (55 g) dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, no salt added
- 1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, rinsed
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 5 cups (1.2 L) low-sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp salt
- a pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1 cup (240 ml) half-and-half
- 1/2 cup (50 g) grated Parmesan
- 3 big handfuls (90 g) baby spinach
- torn basil, to serve
Method
- Put everything from the onion to the red pepper flakes in the slow cooker and stir. Lay the chicken on top. Cover and cook.
- Lift out the chicken, shred it and stir it back in.
- Last 30 min: stir in the half-and-half and Parmesan. Cover and cook on LOW 20 minutes, then stir in the spinach until it wilts.
Freezer: Freeze before the half-and-half, Parmesan and spinach go in, up to 3 months.
- Wake it up
- Top with torn basil and a little extra Parmesan.
- Next day
- Simmer leftovers until thick and toss with cooked penne for Tuscan chicken pasta.
- Half batch
- Halve everything and use a 3- to 4-quart cooker.
- Swap
- Dairy-free: use a can of coconut milk in place of half-and-half and 2 tbsp nutritional yeast for the Parmesan.
- Serve with
- Garlic Cheese Toast
Estimated nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 367
- Protein
- 36.7 g
- Fiber
- 6.1 g
- Sodium
- 568 mg
- Carbs
- 27.3 g
- Fat
- 13.5 g
- Sat. fat
- 5.8 g
This recipe is one of 100 in Easy Slow Cooker Soups and Stews Cookbook, each with a color photo and nutrition facts per serving.
View on AmazonWhat makes it taste like Marry Me Chicken?
Three ingredients carry the flavor straight over from the famous skillet dish. Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped and cooked all day, turn the broth a deep rose color and give it a sweet-tangy backbone that plain tomatoes cannot. Garlic and Italian seasoning cook alongside them for hours, so the broth smells like the original dish long before the dairy goes in. The third is Parmesan, stirred in with half-and-half at the end, the same way the skillet version finishes with cream and cheese. Cannellini beans are the one addition the soup makes that the original skillet dish does not: they turn a sauce built for chicken into a meal that does not need a side.
Should the chicken go in whole or already cut up?
Whole. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs go into the slow cooker in one piece, laid on top of the onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, diced tomatoes, beans, Italian seasoning and broth below them. Cooking them whole keeps them from drying out over 6 to 8 hours, and thighs hold up to the long cook far better than chicken breast would. Once they are fall-apart tender, lift them out, shred with two forks, and stir the shredded chicken back into the pot before the dairy goes in.
When does each ingredient go in?
The order is short, three stages:
- At the start: onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, diced tomatoes, cannellini beans, Italian seasoning, broth, salt and red pepper flakes, stirred together, with the chicken thighs laid on top. Cover and cook.
- When the chicken is done: lift it out, shred it, and stir it back into the pot.
- Last 30 minutes: stir in the half-and-half and Parmesan. Cover and cook on LOW for 20 minutes, then stir in the baby spinach until it wilts.
How do you wake it up before serving?
Top each bowl with torn basil and a little extra Parmesan. The basil is the one fresh note in a soup that otherwise cooks all day, and it is worth tearing by hand rather than cutting, since torn leaves bruise less and release their smell right as the bowl reaches the table.
Can you freeze Marry Me Chicken Soup?
Yes, with one rule about timing: freeze it before the half-and-half, Parmesan and spinach go in, for up to 3 months. The tomato, bean and shredded chicken base freezes well on its own. Thaw it, bring it back to a simmer, then finish it the same way: stir in the half-and-half and Parmesan, cook 20 minutes, and stir in the spinach at the end.
What do you do with leftover Marry Me Chicken Soup?
Turn it into pasta. Simmer the leftover soup until it thickens, then toss it with cooked penne for a quick Tuscan chicken pasta, instead of serving the same bowl of soup a second night in a row. The sun-dried tomato and Parmesan flavor is close enough to a cream sauce that the switch to pasta barely needs anything added.
Smaller batch, a dairy-free swap, and what to serve with it
For a smaller batch, halve every ingredient and use a 3- to 4-quart slow cooker instead of a 6-quart one. To make it dairy-free, use a can of coconut milk in place of the half-and-half and 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast in place of the Parmesan. Garlic cheese toast is the easiest side, since there is already bread-worthy broth to dunk it in.
This is one of 100 recipes in the Easy Slow Cooker Soups and Stews Cookbook, including Slow Cooker French Onion Soup and Crockpot Birria Soup, every one with a color photo, nutrition facts per serving and a freezer note.