This warm, hearty soup is going to be the easiest thing you do all day! Today’s “Pantry” Chicken Soup was literally created with my pantry in mind. Open up your pantry…what do you see? Some cans? Great! That’s what you will need to make tonight’s dinner.

Today’s recipe is more of a “suggestion” than a “recipe”. I mean, it’s a recipe too, but I would like you to consider doing something a little different today. Do you think you could make a soup using just what is in your pantry, freezer, and fridge?

The inspiration for today’s recipe?

Once upon a time, many moons ago, I shared this blog with one of my good friends, Sarah Anderson. One of the best parts of sharing the blog with Sarah was our planning/brainstorming weekends together. We would sit down at a Mexican restaurant (always Mexican) and crank out as many ideas for the blog as we could come up with. Sarah was never afraid to try new things, and she always seemed to be up on the latest trends long before I was. If you have been around the blog for a long time, this face may look familiar…

Many of the ideas Sarah brought to the blog came from what she needed in that season of her life. When she had babies and toddlers, she shared snack ideas for babies and toddlers, when she was trying to be frugal, she shared the price per serving to make her recipes, and when she learned she had a severe gluten allergy, her recipes became about that.

So one day, Sarah had this idea to try to use only the ingredients she had in her pantry, fridge, and freezer to make her family dinners for a whole week. She came up with a plan for herself and then created printable sheets that matched her vision so everyone else could try it with her. She called her mini-series the “T.I.E – Til It’s Empty” food week. Sound interesting!? It was! You can check out her first post about it here, and you can get to her free printables here.

So how about it? Will you accept the challenge?

Maybe you aren’t ready to commit to eating out of your pantry for a whole week. That’s fine! Maybe you could swing just one slow cooker soup though? I literally decided what was going in my soup based on what was already in my kitchen, so my soup may seem a little random to you.

Necessity is the mother of invention. If you need to make it work, you will make it work.

Here’s how I made my soup…

I started with chicken broth.
I wanted the soup to be hearty, so I grabbed some beans and corn.
I wanted the soup to be creamy, so I used some leftover cream cheese.
My package of boneless chicken breasts had more than I needed for another recipe, so I used half for this soup.
We had onions, so I added some chopped onion.
I opened up my cupboard with seasonings and pulled out a couple I thought could be interesting together.
In the end, the soup was still more bland than I wanted, so I dug around my pantry, trying to find something that would give it just the right flavor, and guess what I found…PESTO sauce! {affiliate link}

I totally forgot I had that in there! I had never even opened the jar! It was perfect,. and just two tablespoons of it pulled the whole soup together! I was so pleased. My husband was too. He said it tasted great!

So, now it’s decision time…

Which will you choose? Will you use my recipe below? You certainly could! It sure does taste great!

OR

Will you dig around your pantry and get creative? If you do, drop us a comment and tell us what you came up with! I would love to hear your ideas!

Here is what you will need to make my “pantry chicken soup”:

2 cups fat-free chicken broth
1 (15.5 ounce) can chickpeas
1 (15.25 ounce) can corn
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup whipped cream cheese
2 tablespoons jarred basil pesto sauce

Here is what you do:

Add the broth, chick peas, corn, tomatoes, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, chili powder, and cumin to the slow cooker and mix together. Place chicken pieces in the soup mixture. (You will be shredding the chicken after it cooks, so do not worry about chopping the large chicken breasts.)

Cook soup in slow cooker for 4 hours on HIGH or for 6-8 hours on LOW.

Carefully transfer chicken breasts to a plate and use two forks to shred the chicken. Set aside.

Whisk the cream cheese and pesto sauce in with the soup. Carefully add the chicken back in with the soup. Mix and allow the soup to cook on LOW for 10-15 minutes, allowing the cream cheese to melt in the soup.

Mix together one last time before serving.

Makes 6 servings.
One serving is 1-1/2 cups.
One serving is 8 Green, 3 Blue, 3 Purple Points.

Print Recipe

Slow Cooker Pantry Chicken Soup

8 Green, 3 Blue, 3 Purple Points per serving

Makes: 6 servings

Calories: 265

Author: Alisha Hughes

Ingredients

• 2 cups fat-free chicken broth
• 1 (15.5 ounce) can chick peas
• 1 (15.25 ounce) can corn
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup whipped cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons jarred basil pesto sauce

Instructions

• Add the broth, chick peas, corn, tomatoes, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, chili powder, and cumin to the slow cooker and mix together. Place chicken pieces in the soup mixture. (You will be shredding the chicken after it cooks, so do not worry about chopping the large chicken breasts.)
• Cook soup in slow cooker for 4 hours on HIGH or for 6-8 hours on LOW.
• Carefully transfer chicken breasts to a plate and use two forks to shred the chicken. Set aside.
• Whisk the cream cheese and pesto sauce in with the soup. Carefully add the chicken back in with the soup. Mix and allow the soup to cook on LOW for 10-15 minutes, allowing the cream cheese to melt in the soup. Mix together one last time before serving.