Creamy Tuscan Chicken Soup with Bacon

Say hello to comfort food season with this Creamy Tuscan Chicken Soup with Bacon!! Everything you love in a soup: cozy, delicious, so simple to make, healthy, veggie packed, and loved by all! Make this on the stovetop or Instant Pot for ultimate ease. Recipe is Paleo, Whole30 and Keto friendly.

My favorite season? Oh that’s an easy one: soup season!! While I enjoy summer, I always look forward to making a huge pot of soup to enjoy. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, BRING IT ON!!

This delicious Creamy Tuscan Chicken Soup with Bacon came to fruition while I was busy preparing for a speaking engagement to my local MOPS group. Any MOPS moms out there?? I have sweet memories of my preschool children coming with me to this morning of mom bonding when we lived in Germany. So when I was asked to speak to a group of moms about meal prep, the family dinner table, and raising healthy eaters, I was so excited!

A little off topic, but stay with me. One of the strategies in meal planning that I like to tell people to try, is taking an inventory of everything in your fridge, freezer, and pantry. And creating as many meals as you can with foods you already have and need to use up!!!

So this soup was born!

Creamy Tuscan Chicken Soup with Bacon

Last weekend I purchased a HUGE bag of spinach that I use for smoothies, but still had plenty left. I also had some mushrooms that desperately needed to be used within a 24 hour period, and some bacon I had purchased when my favorite brand (Pederson’s Farms) was on sale at the beginning of September. That was the start of the ingredients I needed to use up, and so I created a meal centered around it. And I knew I wanted it to be soup!

Things I usually always keep on hand: chicken breast, canned diced tomatoes, canned coconut milk, and chicken broth.

So I set to work with my ingredients, and even added in some other things: onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, and fresh basil. The final product?

SOUP PERFECTION!!

As I mentioned above, you can make this soup in the Instant Pot or the stovetop. Its obviously a little more hands off by completing in the Instant Pot, but the cook time is probably going to be about the same regardless of which option you choose.

Ingredient swaps:

Other ways to vary this soup:

• Use sausage or tuscan beans in place of chicken
• Use half and half or cream cheese in place of the coconut milk if you can tolerate dairy. The coconut milk does not have a flavor in this soup!
• You can also top with parmesan cheese (my kids loved this)
• Use potatoes or gnocchi in place of mushrooms if not following a lower carb diet, or just because they both taste yummy 🙂

So many yummy ways to enjoy!

Enjoy!

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Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Servings 5

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Ingredients

• 5 slices bacon
• 1.5 lbs chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 small yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 8 oz baby bella mushrooms
• 1 14oz can diced tomatoes
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup coconut cream*
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp sea salt + more to taste
• fresh basil to serve (optional)

Instructions

For the stovetop:

1. Begin by heating a large stockpot to medium high heat. Once hot, spray with cooking oil, then cook bacon for 4-5 minutes per side. Remove the bacon from the pan, reserve 1 tbsp bacon grease in the pot. Return the pot back to the stove, set to medium heat.

2. Toss in raw chicken breast, and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken and set aside with the bacon. Return the pot to the stove and keep hot. Add in 1-2 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil.

3. Now saute the onion, garlic, and mushrooms for about 6-7 minutes. Once fragrant and lightly golden, toss in the diced tomatoes, and chicken broth. Return the chicken to the soup, stir in coconut cream, Italian seasoning, and salt. Reduce heat to a simmer for another 5-10 minutes before serving.

4. Top with bacon and fresh basil to serve.

For the Instant Pot:

1. Select the saute function on the Instant Pot. Once hot, coat the pot with cooking spray, then add the bacon. Cook until desired crispiness (about 4-5 minutes per side). Remove the bacon and reserve 1 tbsp of the bacon grease in the pot. Keep the saute function on, add the onion, garlic, and mushrooms to the pot. Saute for about 3-4 minutes. Then select cancel.

2. Place the raw chicken breast, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, Italian sesoning, and salt into the pot. Secure the lid, and select manual. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes, then use a quick release.

3. Once steam is completely released, remove the lid and stir in the coconut milk. Serve hot, top with bacon and fresh basil.

Recipe Notes

*If not following a dairy-free diet, you can also use half and half or cream cheese.