Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Soup is a spicy warm-you-up cheddar cheese soup with chicken breast and carrots, inspired by everyone’s favorite buffalo chicken wings.
Buffalo chicken recipes are a favorite of mine. After all, I’ve made buffalo mac and cheese, buffalo chicken chili, and more with the famous duo of hot sauce and chicken.
They’re especially great to make in the winter because hot sauce will warm you up from the snow and ice outside. Novembers in Pennsylvania result in bundling up and cranking the heat on high.
Soup is one of my favorite go-to dinners because they are one pot, comforting, and combat any crazy winter weather going on outside.
Naturally my mind wandered to buffalo chicken dip. Is there a way to turn this into dinner? Since it uses cheddar cheese, I thought why not make a cheese soup with chicken and hot sauce? And that’s how Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Soup was born. Spicy, cheesy, flavorful. All that you want in a soup (and more).
A quick cheese tip – shredded cheese melts a lot quicker than cubed cheese. I just bought pre-shredded cheese because it was on sale, but if you use a block of cheese, grate it before adding.
For the chicken I prefer dark meat, so in the photos you see shredded chicken quarters. However in the recipe below, I made it with boneless skinless chicken breast because it’s the fastest way to make this soup.
Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
- 1 small boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch pieces, patted dry, and lightly salted
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock or broth
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2-4 tablespoons hot sauce
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat the oil. Once hot, add the chicken in a single layer. Cook for 4 minutes or until brown then flip and cook until no longer pink in the middle, another 3-5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and keep warm.
- Add the butter to any meat drippings left in the pan. Once melted, add onion, carrots, and a big pinch of salt. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds.
- Stir in the flour until everything is coated and a roux (paste) is formed. Slowly whisk in the broth, scraping up any brown bits left on the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer. Simmer until the soup thickens, about 5-8 minutes.
- Taste and add salt as necessary. Depending on how salty the broth is, you may need to add up to 1 teaspoon.
- Add half of the soup to a blender then puree for 30 seconds (be very careful as hot liquid expands when blended). Add the rest of the soup then puree until smooth.
- Pour the soup back into the pot and bring back to a simmer. Stir in the cheese until melted then stir in the milk, 2 tablespoons hot sauce, and chicken. Taste and add additional hot sauce and salt as necessary.
Notes
*Hot soups expand much greater in a blender than cold soups. Use extra caution and do not overfill the blender. Pulse a few times before turning the setting on low.
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