This creamy chicken and cauliflower rice soup is a soul-warming comfort food that’s perfect for rainy spring days. I dreamed it up earlier this year when I was doing Whole 30, but it’s remained a favorite ever since.

It all started when I was making Thai red curry chicken over cauliflower rice.

Cauliflower rice – essentially just finely grated cauliflower – is a little shorter than regular white rice and it reminded me of the pastina pasta that’s used in chicken and stars soup.

Even though I hadn’t had chicken and stars or chicken and rice soup in years, I immediately started craving it.

This creamy chicken and cauliflower rice soup was the answer to my craving. Plus. it was a nice change of pace from the Whole 30 roast vegetable soup that I had been relying on for an easy snack.

The cauliflower rice amps up the nutrition, and adds more flavor to the soup than plain white rice does.

Adding coconut milk to the broth makes the soup rich and creamy while keeping it Whole 30/paleo friendly.

The coconut milk does add a slight Thai vibe to the soup (a tablespoon of curry paste would feel right at home stirred into the broth) but it’s nothing too out there.

To make the soup

Start by sautéing some onion, celery, and carrot in ghee or olive oil.

You might be tempted to just throw everything in the pot, but this step is actually really important. It helps the vegetables soften (otherwise it takes for-ev-er) and helps develop their flavor.

Once the vegetables start to soften, it’s time to add the broth or stock.

Since this soup is so simple, I like to use a good quality, flavorful stock like this browned chicken stock that’s rich in color and flavor. Quality store-bought broth also works – look for one that’s roasted or browned if possible.

Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce it down to a simmer and add the chicken.

For this soup, I poach the chicken in the broth, then shred it and return it to the pot along with the riced cauliflower. I really like the contrasting texture of the long pieces of shredded chicken with the smaller pieces of cauliflower.

Add some canned coconut milk at the end to make the soup nice and creamy.

If you aren’t concerned with keeping the recipe paleo, you can also go the more traditional route of stirring a tablespoon of flour into the vegetables before adding the broth and swapping the coconut milk out for dairy milk.

You’ll also love these healthy soup recipes:

• Creamy Quinoa Soup with Mushrooms
• Easy Cabbage Soup
• Chicken Sweet Potato Soup
• Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Goulash Soup
• 20 Vitamix soup recipes

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Chicken Cauliflower Rice Soup Recipe

Course Soups and Stews

Cuisine American

Keyword cauliflower rice soup

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 337kcal

Author Lauren Keating

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons Ghee or olive oil
• 1 small Onion chopped
• 2 Carrots peeled and diced
• 2 stalks Celery diced
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Fresh Thyme
• 4 cups Chicken Stock or broth
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 1 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
• 2 cups Cauliflower Rice
• 2 cups Canned Coconut Milk full fat
• ¼ cup Fresh Flat-Leaf Parsley

Instructions

• Melt the ghee in a large soup pot. Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook for 5-8 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the thyme.
• Pour in the chicken stock and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Add the whole chicken breast. Cover and simmer 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
• Remove the chicken from the pot and use two forks to separate it into shreds. Discard the bay leaf.
• Return the shredded chicken to the pot, along with the cauliflower rice. Simmer 5 minutes, until the cauliflower is cooked. Stir in the coconut milk and parsley and cook until warmed through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

Cauliflower rice can be found in the produce or frozen section of stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market, and is becoming easier to find in traditional grocery stores, too. You can also make your own by using a food processor or large knife to cut a head of cauliflower into small, grain-sized pieces.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 337kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.002g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 296mg | Potassium: 719mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 3641IU | Vitamin C: 35mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 2mg

I hope you all like soup as much as I do, because I’ll be sharing a ton of new soup recipes this year! Not just because it’s unacceptably cold outside, but because I’ve signed on as a contributor to the Food Fanatic web site. I’m the new “soup fanatic” and I’ll be creating two new soup recipes for them every month. And I get to share them here, too! I might not post every single one here on Healthy Delicious, but I’ll definitely share my favorites.

Soup fanatic or not, I’d probably be sharing a soup recipe right now anyway. It was 47-degrees inside my house when I woke up the other morning. If I disappear suddenly, it’s probably because I couldn’t take anymore and up and moved to a tropical island someplace. All I want to do is curl up with a bowl of chowder or creamy potato soup to keep me warm.

Loaded baked potato soup usually seems like a good idea at the time, I almost always end up regretting it: it’s so heavy and creamy that it zaps all of my energy and leaves me with a stomachache. Luckily, I have a few tricks up my sleeve for a lighter loaded baked potato soup without the heaviness of traditional recipes. This way, I get to enjoy my soup and the rest of the day, too!

First, I use white potatoes instead of the more common russets. White potatoes have a medium level of starch and a smooth, creamy texture that blends up beautifully without the addition of milk or cream. Since their skins are very thin, you can blend them right into the soup for extra nutrition (plus who ever feels like peeling potatoes anyway?)

Instead of using all potatoes, I blend in some cauliflower. Cauliflower has a mild flavor that is almost unnoticeable after it’s blended in with the potatoes, and it keeps the soup from becoming too dense. I’ve found that using a 2:1 ratio of potatoes to cauliflower results in the best flavor. You can tell it’s there if you’re paying attention, but this is definitely still potato soup! (If you’re looking for a pure cauliflower soup, try this creamy cauliflower soup with piri piri shrimp.)

I love sour cream on my baked potatoes, and a dollop of Greek yogurt in this soup adds a similar tanginess while also helping to bring the flavors of the soup together.

Top the potato soup with plenty of scallions, extra-sharp cheddar cheese, and crumbled bacon. When I’m in the mood for something a little spicier, I also love to add a few drops of hot sauce.

274 calories, 8 grams fat, 34 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams fiber, 12 grams protein, 6 Points+.

You can also see my Lighter Loaded Baked Potato Soup Recipe on Food Fanatic.

For Sunday Supper this week, we’re celebrating Father’s Day! When most people think of Father’s Day, they probably think of backyard barbecues, bacon, or beer. My Dad can cook a pretty mean ribeye, but grilling just isn’t what I think of when I think of him and food. What do I think of? Split pea soup. Kale and pig knuckle soup (way before kale was trendy). Bratwurst boiled in beer. Pinklewurst, bloodwurst, head cheese and other icky meats. Liver and onions. Peanut butter and pickles. Cream cheese and jelly.

Basically, a lot of stuff that I had no interest in making (except for the kale soup, which is awesome but not exactly seasonal.) He’s Polish and we ate Mrs. Ts all the time when I was a kid, so I made pierogi. And I went ahead and made ’em healthy by using whole wheat flour and swapping out some of the potato in the filling for cauliflower.

These pierogi are a little labor intensive but, once you get the hang of it, they’re pretty easy. They also freeze really well, so you might as well go ahead and make extra.

As for the age-old question of what to serve with pierogi besides sausage? I served them with a salad that I’ve been loving lately: spinach, strawberries, toasted almonds, and blue cheese with balsamic vinaigrette.

Happy Father’s Day!