11 Chicken Soup Recipes That Go Beyond the Basics

Chicken soup is so much more than just a sick day standby. In fact, a lean, protein-packed chicken soup is one of the most versatile dishes you can make. Plus, is anything cozier or more comforting than chicken soup? If you want to add a little variety to this classic comfort food, we’ve got just the recipes for you.

Whether you want to spice things up with some serious heat, make a creamier soup, or add unexpected flavors and textures, it’s surprisingly easy to shake things up and cook a chicken soup that’s anything but boring. For all your cold-weather soup dinners, try one (or all) of these delicious recipes.

Salsa Verde Chicken and Rice Tortilla Soup

If you love salsa verde, then the Salsa Verde Chicken and Rice Tortilla Soup is the chicken soup for you! Combining the comfort-food goodness of chicken and rice with a spicy, savory green chile flavor, this warm and cozy soup features lean chicken and plenty of veggies along with the rice and tortilla strips for a complete, filling meal.

The toppings—lime, cilantro, sour cream—add just an extra bit of creaminess and brightness, too.

Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

Looking for something a little heartier than your usual chicken noodle soup? Instead of the long noodles most of us are used to, this recipe calls for gnocchi as the “pasta” for more heartiness and a fantastic flavor and texture.

Add plenty of veggies and a slightly creamy consistency, and you’ve got a perfect, satisfying fall dinner.

Caribbean Chicken Soup and Parsley Dumplings

The Caribbean Chicken Soup and Parsley Dumplings is part soup and part one-pot meal. It’s a set of flavors—pumpkin, sweet potatoes, corn, and coconut milk—you might not eat as much if you’re unfamiliar with Caribbean cuisine.

Add some fresh dumplings, and you’ve got a delicious and filling soup.

Thai Green Curry Chicken Soup

This Green Curry Chicken Soup features all the Thai flavors you love, turned into a classic comfort food soup. Green curry is at the heart of this spicy, flavorful soup, which also includes chicken, ginger, peas, coconut milk, cilantro, and lime.

It’s a perfectly warm soup, both in the spicy and comfort sense.

Pesto Chicken Noodle Soup

Give classic chicken noodle soup just a bit of a twist with the Pesto Chicken Noodle Soup. It starts out pretty similar to all of your favorite winter-day chicken soup recipes.

The biggest twist is simply the addition of pesto to give it a fresh, bright flavor you might not have paired with chicken soup before.

Ginger Peanut Chicken Noodle Soup

If Asian-inspired dishes are more your speed, then the Ginger Peanut Chicken Noodle Soup is perfect for putting an Asian-inspired twist on classic chicken noodle soup.

Ginger and chicken broth forms the base, with shredded chicken, plenty of veggies, comforting noodles, and just the right blend of spices. Topped with roasted peanuts, it’s a savory and delicious soup that gives comfort food a new flavor.

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Lemon chicken is one of those foods that works, no matter the season, but transformed into a soup, it’s perfect for the cooler months.

In this Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup, the classic lemony, herby flavor permeates the soup, while fine-grained orzo provides a new twist on adding pasta to chicken soup, with a texture closer to rice than long noodles.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

You’ll want to break out your slow cooker for this Chicken and Wild Rice recipe. It’s a creamy soup with plenty of flavor. However, instead of being a “cream of” style of soup recipe, this one gets its creaminess from the slow cooking and a flour/low-fat milk combo.

With flavorful wild rice and veggies, it’s a chicken soup that feels warm and rich without being heavy or indulgent.

Crock-Pot Parmesan White Bean Chicken Soup with Roasted Delicata Squash

On the surface, the Crock-Pot Parmesan White Bean Chicken Soup with Delicata Squash looks like a pretty standard chicken soup. The twist is the white beans and kale, which add more body and flavor.

However, the real flavor punch comes from serving each bowl with rounds of roasted delicata squash. It’s savory and nutty and just tastes like fall.

Tuscan Chicken Tortellini Soup

The Tuscan Chicken Tortellini Soup is yet another variation on “chicken noodle” soup, in which “noodle” is reinterpreted as delicious pockets of cheese-filled goodness.

Veggies, a Tuscan spice blend, and white beans fill out the basic chicken soup, turning it into a perfectly Mediterranean meal for all seasons.

Hearty Chicken Pumpkin Soup

Looking for the ultimate fall comfort food? Try this Hearty Chicken Pumpkin Soup. With its nutty, rich pumpkin base and lean chicken, this recipe combines a basic blend of veggies with an unexpected, rich flavor and consistency thanks to pumpkin.

All combined, it makes a perfect fall soup that’s both warm and comforting.

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These recipes are sure to be a hit across the board. While most are designed for the classic simmer-on-the-stove cooking method, you can also find plenty of hearty Instant Pot soup recipes. No matter which method you use, the results will be warm, satisfying, and, most importantly, comforting.