
Do you love food mashups? I do. I recently heard about a new restaurant that opened up in my neighbourhood that serves Bannock Pizza. Bannock Pizza!! If I weren’t eating gluten free I would drive there right this instant and try it out. So genius yet so simple at the same time. It’s one of those things, that when you learn about it, you go “obviously.. why hasn’t someone thought of this before?”
Like this Butter Chicken Soup. I’m surprised it had never occurred to me before to put these two things together! But am I ever glad I did.
I can now eat two of my favourite things at the same time: soup and butter chicken. I think my life is complete.
Why It’s A Smart Choice
Butter chicken is typically made with whipping cream. While extremely delicious, the cream adds a significant amount of calories. Subbing the cream for evaporated milk and diluting the whole thing into a soup format, this recipe retains all the flavour of butter chicken but ends up being much lighter!
This recipe is the perfect thing to make when you have leftover rice… or chicken… but especially if you have both leftover rice AND chicken!
If you give this recipe a go, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or snap a photo and tag it with #smartnutritionrecipes on Instagram! I’d love to see your creations! Knowing someone has enjoyed one of my recipes always makes my day brighter.

Butter Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp canola or coconut oil
- 2 medium-large onions sliced
- 1 carrot grated
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp garam masala
- 2 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 798 ml cans diced tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth or 1 litre water and 1 heaping tbsp bouillon paste
- 2 340 ml cans evaporated milk
- 2 cups cooked rice I prefer and recommend brown rice
- 2 cups cooked chicken any cut, even rotisserie chicken would work
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- cilantro to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, heat the oil over low.
- Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown (see photo). This will take about half an hour.
- Add in the carrot, celery, garlic, garam masala, paprika, cinnamon, and salt. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes and chicken broth. Turn heat up to medium.
- Once soup is simmering, add the evaporated milk and blend until smooth (using either an immersion blender or by transferring to a stand blender).
- Stir in the cooked rice, cooked chicken, and lemon juice.
- Alternatively, the broth can be made and frozen. Defrost and add to leftover rice and chicken!
Nutrition
Calories: 338, Fat: 12.5g, Carbs: 36.5g, Fibre: 3.5g, Sugar: 16.5g, Protein: 22.5g
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This looks great Jessica! What is the nutritional difference of I use coconut milk rather than evaporated milk?
I used a can of coconut milk and evaporated milk. Was delish……
Awesome!
Made this in my crockpot, used butter chicken sauce instead of the spices. Used less cream as the sauce contained some. Tasted amazing
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know the crockpot version worked!
I made a vegetarian version last night with vegan chicken broth and pan-fried paneer in place of the chicken. It was great.
Awesome! Thanks for giving the vegetarian review! If you took a photo, Instagram it with #smartnutritionrecipes 🙂
When do you add the chicken broth?
Thanks!!
Oops!
Thanks for letting me know I missed that step. It gets added at the same time as the tomatoes.