Crema de Pollo (Colombian Creamy Chicken Soup)

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Chicken breast cooked in its own broth with carrot, potato, onion and cumin, then blended with milk and cream into a thick soup, with the shredded chicken put back in at the end. Half an hour, and it serves five.

Prep Time5

Cook Time25

Total Time30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: creamy chicken

Servings:

Calories: 236kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

1 chicken breast
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup onion diced
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 carrot peeled and cut into pieces
3 potatoes peeled and chopped
6 cups chicken broth or water
½ cup milk
½ cup heavy cream
Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat the butter in a large pot, add the diced onion and the chopped garlic and cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes.
Add the chicken, the cumin, the broth, the peeled and chopped potatoes and the carrot, peeled and cut into pieces, and bring it to a boil.
Let it cook until the chicken is tender, about 20 minutes.
Season with salt and black pepper, lower the heat and let it cool a little, then lift the chicken out. Letting it cool matters, because hot liquid in a sealed blender jug builds up steam.
While the broth cools, shred the chicken and set it aside.
Once the broth has cooled enough to handle, blend everything except the chicken.
Return the mixture to the pot, add the milk and the cream and let it cook for a few minutes.
Lower the heat, ladle the soup into bowls, put a share of the shredded chicken in each and serve immediately.

Notes

Let the pot cool before it goes anywhere near a blender. Hot liquid in a sealed jug turns to steam, the steam has nowhere to go, and the lid comes off with the soup behind it. Fill the jug no more than halfway, hold the lid down with a folded cloth and start slow. A stick blender used in the pot avoids all of it. The chicken is cooked in the soup and then taken out, shredded and put back at the very end. That is what keeps it as recognisable pieces rather than something blended into the purée, and it is the difference between a cream of chicken soup and a chicken soup that has been blended. Six cups of liquid for three potatoes and a carrot makes a thin base, and the potato starch plus the half cup of cream is what gives it body.

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