Chicken Mushroom Zuppa Soup
With a creamy chicken mushroom soup and flaky, crispy store-bought puff pastry, this homemade Chicken Mushroom Zuppa Soup is the ultimate comfort food and will instantly warm you up.
There is nothing more cozier and comforting than to have this Chicken Mushroom Zuppa Soup on a cold day. A hearty cream-based soup with chicken and mushroom and topped with a buttery, flaky, and crispy puff pastry.
You can enjoy the soup and puff pastry separately. Or rather crack through that flaky crispy puff pastry to reveal the piping hot creamy filling and dip the puff pastry into the soup so that the puff pastry soaks up the flavor of the soup. The soup is flavorful and will warm you up from the inside out.
Serve this as an appetizer to impress or as the main dish. This recipe is very simple to follow and your whole family will be asking for seconds!
What is Zuppa Soup?
Zuppa soup is a thick soup with puff pastry placed on top of the serving bowls like a hat. This soup originates from Italy and is usually known as “zuppa toscana” because it originates from the region of Toscana, Italy.
Typically, the Italian version of this soup does not use pastry. The addition of the puff pastry to the zuppa soup is believed to be influenced by French cuisine, which is the origin country of the pastry.
The dish originally entered Indonesia as an appetizer in well-known hotels. However, as time goes by, zuppa soup has become a mainstay menu, usually served at Western restaurants or big events such as wedding reception.
Ingredients You Need
Chicken Mushroom Cream Soup
- Chicken – Make sure to buy boneless chicken for easy preparation.
- Butter – To add richness. Cook together with flour to make the roux for thickening the soup.
- Onion – To add sweetness and savoriness.
- All-purpose flour – To make the roux for thickening the soup.
- Champignon mushrooms – You can substitute using your favorite mushrooms or vegetables such as carrots and peas.
- Chicken stock – For flavorful soup. If you do not have chicken stock ready, you can substitute it with water and add 1-2 teaspoons of chicken stock powder.
- Heavy cream – To add creaminess to the soup.
- Cheddar cheese – To add richness and contribute a wonderfully velvety, thick consistency.
- Black pepper – It adds warmth and depth of flavour
- Nutmeg – To add warmth and comforting taste and aroma.
- Bay leaves – The leaves add another layer of flavor to the soup and aroma. You can omit them if you don’t have them.
Puff Pastry
- Puff pastry – In this recipe, we use ready-made puff pastry that you can find at your local grocery store.
- Egg – Brush the top of the puff pastry with an egg to give it a golden brown finish.
- Dried parsley – For decoration.
How to Make
- Melt butter and add finely diced onion. Cook until the onion is translucent. Add diced chicken and cook until fully cooked. Add thinly sliced mushrooms and cook until they are wilted. Add flour and cook for about 2 minutes until the flour is cooked.
- Add chicken stock, bay leaves, salt, ground black pepper, and grated nutmeg. Bring to a boil. Add heavy cream. When it starts to simmer, turn off the heat and add the grated cheddar cheese. Cool the soup completely.
- Pour the cooled soup into individual serving ramekins.
- Cut puff pastry slightly bigger than the ramekins.
- Top the ramekins with puff pastry.
- Brush the puff pastry with egg wash.
- Bake until the puff pastry is golden brown.
- Serve immediately.
Pro Tips
- Cook the flour thoroughly – Flour gives a velvety, creamy mouthfeel and adds more body to the soup. You must cook it properly before adding the chicken stock to remove the raw flour taste.
- How to adjust the soup consistency – If your soup seems soupy, let it simmer until it thickens up a little. Please note that the soup will thicken a little more as the soup cools, so you want it to be slightly less thick than the finished dish. If it seems like the soup thickens up too much, then whisk in a little broth or water to thin it out again.
- Cool the soup – Cool the soup filling before topping it with puff pastry. The hot filling will melt the butter in puff pastry, resulting in less puffing.
Storage
Zuppa soup is best served right away, mostly because that is when the puff pastry crust topping is at its crispiest and flakiest. If you have leftovers, you can reheat them. Just know that the pastry crust will be softened and will not crisp back up again.
Refrigerate or freeze the soup for longer storage. The soup will last for 3 days in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer. Thaw the soup overnight in the refrigerator if frozen. One to one and a half hours before baking, thaw the puff pastry. Pour the soup into individual ramekins and top with pastry and egg wash. Bake as instructed in the recipe.
Chicken Mushroom Zuppa Soup
Ingredients
Chicken Mushroom Cream Soup
- 0.6 lb (250 gr) chicken breast fillet, diced into 1/2 inch/1.2 cm cubes
- 3.5 oz (100 gr) champignon mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp (45 gr) unsalted butter
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1/4 cup (30 gr) all-purpose flour
- 4 cups (1 liter) chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 nutmeg, grated
- 1 1/4 cups (100 gr) grated cheddar cheese
Puff Pastry
- 2-3 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
- 1 egg
- Dried parsley
Instructions
Chicken Mushroom Cream Soup
- Cook onion – Heat a large frying pan with medium heat. Add butter and onion. Stir fry until the onion turns translucent.
- Add chicken and stir fry until the chicken is cooked.
- Add mushrooms and stir fry until the mushrooms are wilted.
- Add flour and cook for about 2 minutes or until the flour is cooked.
- Add chicken stock little by little to prevent clumps and stir with each addition.
- Add seasonings – Add bay leaves, salt, ground black pepper, and nutmeg. Stir and bring the liquid to a boil.
- Add cheese – Turn off the heat and add cheddar cheese. Stir until the cheese is fully melted.
- Cool the soup completely before assembling the zuppa soup. Discard the bay leaves.
Assemble
- Preheat oven to 375F/190°C.
- Pour the cooled soup into individual serving ramekins.
- Cut the puff pastry slightly bigger than the serving ramekins.
- Top the ramekins with puff pastry, folding down the edges.
- Prepare egg wash – In a small bowl, lightly whisk an egg.
- Brush puff pastry with egg wash. Sprinkle the top with dried parsley to decorate.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown.
- Serve immediately while still hot.
