Easy, dairy-free, healthy chicken pot pie soup or turkey pot pie soup recipe that’s also gluten-free, Paleo and whole 30 and great for a winter comfort food!
Comforting non-dairy healthy chicken pot pie soup or dairy free turkey pot pie soup that is creamy, yet healthy with cauliflower puree, broth, and a little hidden coconut milk, plus natural butter flavor coconut oil or ghee as dairy free alternatives to cream. what a great way to use leftover turkey! This soup recipe happens to be gluten free and Whole 30 and since its dairy free its easy to make it vegan or paleo. See *sub notes for Paleo, or vegan pot pie soup. The coconut, potato and cauliflower puree make a great substitute to heavy cream and flour roux in a savory recipe like this one.
economical tip: buy a fresh poultry herb mix that has thyme, rosemary and sage
yield: big pot of chicken/turkey pot pie soup, recipe can be divided in half. It’s nice family size or for Meal prep leftovers
Ingredients
For the dairy free “cream”:
- 6 tablespoons (natural) butter flavoured coconut oil by Nutiva (or ghee or vegan butter)
- Two small onions or one large onion
- 5-8 garlic cloves, minced or crushed, to taste
- Approx 880- 900 ml turkey or chicken stock, fresh or thawed for best taste (plus a little extra if needed to cover the veg fully as they cook)
- 9-10 nugget potatoes or 3-4 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks (*see paleo note)
- 3 1/4 cups cauliflower florets
- Optional, half of a small zucchini, peeled well from green skin and roughly chopped (surprisingly it adds nice flavor to soup)
- 1 can of coconut milk, top solid part only (1 cup of unsweetened almond milk can be subbed but it will not be so thick n creamy)
- 10 or more sprigs of fresh thyme, stem removed
- 2/3 tbsp rosemary, finely diced
- optional 2 bay leaves
- Good 2-3 dashes of lemon juice
- Optional, 1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- Optional, 1/2 tsp of cayenne
- Optional, tiny pinch of nutmeg OR tiny pinch of turmeric and if desired a pinch of nutritional yeast
- Salt and pepper
- variation:1/4 cup sherry/dry white wine can be added see note below*
For the pot pie filling:
- 1/2 of a rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked turkey or chicken (about 3 cups/3-4 breasts or thighs. Tip: If you are not using leftover meat and cooking the chicken or turkey especially for this soup, use bone in skin on drumsticks, thighs or breasts and after browning, deglazing with sherry* and braising in extra broth, reserve some of the tasty juices to add to the soup earlier on so the veg can cook in that delicious broth).
- 2 tbsp natural butter flavor coconut oil by Nutiva or ghee or sub olive oil
- 2 cups/ One small bunch of thin carrots peeled and chopped small (approx 5-6 skinny carrots. if you don’t have much prep time sub as much of the fresh carrots as needed with frozen or canned carrots and peas, but fresh tastes best)
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- Optional: 3/4 Cup Frozen peas and carrots (can be omitted Or subbed with extra peas and potatoes or more meat)
- 1 Cup Frozen peas, no need to defrost ( if you love peas you can use 1.5 cups, it will just be a chunkier soup)
- 5-8 nugget potatoes or 3-4 large Potatoes peeled and diced, optional, can be subbed with extra meat
- optional, one sage leaf, finely diced
- Few thyme sprigs, stem off
- optional, 2 bay leaves
- Optional, 3 tbsp of flat leaf parsley, Stems removed and chopped fine
- 1 pack of fresh dill, Stems removed and chopped
- Salt and Pepper
- Flavorful optional leek variation: 1-2 leeks, white and light green parts only, cut in half lengthwise and then into cm slices
- variation 2: add a cup of sliced white mushrooms (and omit or keep the leek) sauteeing them with the celery for about 8-9 minutes. It will make it chunkier so you can decrease the frozen veg a bit or thin the soup out as desired by adding a few spoonfuls of broth and shaken coconut milk.
- Flavorful variation 3: a little chopped deli ham or fried bacon pieces can also be added
[recipe-driections]
- First make the dairy free “cream”substitute: In a medium or large pot melt some of the oil and sauté the onions until translucent for five minutes, stirring often, then add the garlic and sauté a minute longer stirring often. Deglaze the pot with the sherry or 1/4 cup of the broth. Simmer to cook most of it off. Add the first batch of potatoes that are for the “cream” to the pot, with enough broth to cover it. Simmer on medium for about 10 minutes in the broth. In the meantime chop the cauliflower etc.
- Add the cauliflower, broth and herbs meant for the “cream”. Make sure to cover with stock and as the stock evaporates add a little more stock. Cook until potatoes and cauliflower are very tender, approx 20-25 min, adding the chopped zucchini and a good dash of lemon juice just as the other veggies are getting a bit tender, in the last 10 min. In the meantime sauté the filling ingredients as in the instructions below.
- Take pot off the heat. Break the veg up with a wooden spoon. Add the top cream part of the coconut from the top of the can (a bit of the water is ok too).
- After a few minutes (I let it cool slightly to avoid hot soup splashing up) use an immersion blender to purée them. (If you don’t have an immersion blender you’ll need to let it cool longer and put it in a regular blender).
- Season to taste with the rest of the butter flavor coconut oil, lemon juice, plenty of sea salt and black pepper and cayenne.
- For the filling ingredients: In a large fry pan melt the oil and add diced potato and celery (and leek or mushrooms if using) and sauté for 8 minutes or so, then add carrots, thyme and sage leaf. Stir often. Sauté until everything is pretty tender. Remove sage leaf. Add veggies and bay leaves to the pot of soup. Add frozen peas and mixed frozen peas and carrots, as well as as some chopped parsley, if using, to the soup. Cook about 4 minutes until everything is tender, adding most of the dill and shredded/diced turkey or chicken in the last couple minutes or so to warm it.
- Season with extra salt and pepper (keep in mind that since there is no butter in here unless you are using ghee, so there is no salt present and sea salt is less salty so a lot of sea salt is needed). Adjust seasoning to taste with lemon juice, butter flavor coconut oil and Cayenne. Fish out the bay leaves. Garnish with lots of chopped fresh dill which really is an unsung hero for flavour.
- [/recipe-directions]
note* variation: the chicken can be made from scratch with the recipe, by browning bone in skin on pieces seperately first, setting it aside and braising it and a 1/4 cup sherry/dry white wine can be added to deglaze the pot and then cook with the soup
*Paleo note: Potatoes are allowed on the Whole 30 diet, but if you find they upset your stomach and want to skip the potatoes replace with more cauliflower and solid cream part of coconut milk
*Vegan pot pie soup sub: sub the stock with (chicken flavoured) veg broth and the meat with more potatoes and veg as above and if desired, sub meat with sauteed white mushrooms (or perhaps jackfruit?) for similair texture and/or with corn.
Enjoy this hearty, healthy, dairy free chicken pot pie soup any day or turkey pot pie soup after Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner when you have turkey leftovers!
Did you make this recipe or find this post helpful? Leaving a review helps our community! 🙂
Never miss a post! Follow this blog or my facebook page Pinch of Wholesome (formerly Dairy Free Indulgence) to stay posted on more delicious recipes! The follow buttons on mobile/cell are almost at the bottom of the page, and on the PC they are on the sidebar.
I will never spam you. It is your follows, shares, views and likes that encourage and allow me to continue this blog and keep sharing these dairy-free healthy recipes with you!
If you like this recipe and share it, tag me on instagram @pinchofwholesome #pinchofwholesome, I’d love to see your versions of my recipe 🙂
Now Chrissy Teigan’s chicken Pot pie soup is legendary, but for those who cannot do dairy this is a healthy lactose free and dairy free chicken pot pie soup option that is perfect for chicken or turkey leftovers!
*Nutiva‘s vegan natural butter flavored coconut oil is made by fermenting herbs and the result is coconut oil that tastes and smells like butter (and no I do not work for them lol just love to use their butter flavored coconut oil for recipes like these!) Its available online and in many stores by the coconut oil
Pinch of Wholesome 