Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup

January in Hartford is a crime against humanity. I say this every year and I mean it more every year. The temperature has not been above twenty degrees all week. The wind comes off the Connecticut River like it has a personal grudge against my face. The sky is the color of depression. The sun sets at 4:30 PM, which means by the time I leave the hospital it is dark and cold and I am driving home through a city that looks like the surface of the moon if the moon were sadder and had more potholes.

I combat January the only way I know how: with soup. This week I made three different soups. Monday, sancocho — the big one, the everything stew, beef and chicken and pork ribs with yuca and green banana and corn and calabaza, enough to feed an army or one Puerto Rican woman who refuses to let January win. Wednesday, sopa de pollo con fideos — chicken noodle soup, but the Puerto Rican version with thin vermicelli noodles and sofrito and a squeeze of lime that makes the whole thing bright and alive and the opposite of January. Friday, crema de calabaza — creamy calabaza soup with coconut milk, the one I serve at the hospital that the patients love, but this time I made it at home for me and Eduardo because we needed it.

Eduardo has a cold. He denies having a cold. He says it is allergies. In January. In Hartford. Where the only thing blooming is ice. I told him, Eduardo, you have a cold, sit down and eat this soup. He sat down. He ate the soup. He had three bowls. Then he said, I feel better. I said, Of course you feel better. The soup worked. The soup always works. This is not medicine. This is Puerto Rican engineering.

Sofia is back in school and already stressed about college applications and AP exams and the general anxiety of being a seventeen-year-old in January, which is a combination of age and weather that I would not wish on anyone. I made her sopa de pollo and sat with her while she ate and I did not ask about grades or applications or anything stressful. I just sat. Sometimes the best thing a mother can do is sit and be quiet and let the soup do the talking. This is hard for me because I am not a quiet person. But for Sofia, I am learning to be quiet. The soup fills the silence.

This week called for soup—not the light, brothy kind, but something richer, something that could hold the weight of Eduardo’s stubbornness and Sofia’s anxiety at the same time. I wanted a bowl that felt like a whole meal, like a conversation you didn’t have to have out loud, and this creamy chicken and mushroom soup was exactly that. Here’s how I made it.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks celery, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced into coins
10 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup egg noodles or thin vermicelli, broken into pieces
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Build the base. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Cook the mushrooms. Add the sliced mushrooms to the pot. Cook undisturbed for 2–3 minutes to allow them to brown slightly, then stir and cook another 3 minutes until they have released their liquid and it has mostly evaporated.
Season and thicken. Add carrots, thyme, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir well to coat. Cook for 1–2 minutes to remove the raw flour taste.
Add the liquids. Slowly pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Add the milk and heavy cream and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
Cook the chicken. Add the chicken pieces directly to the simmering soup. Cook for 15–18 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and tender and the broth has thickened slightly.
Add the noodles. Stir in the noodles and cook for an additional 6–8 minutes until tender. If the soup thickens too much, add broth or water a splash at a time.
Finish and serve. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and fresh parsley. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately with crusty bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup — Because January Doesn’t Get to Win