Cream Of Mushroom Soup w Air Fryer BLT Chicken

About

Do you like having a soup and sandwich combo for lunch? This Keto adaption takes that classic combo and turns it into a high fat, low carb air fryer recipe. Instead of a standard BLT sandwich, you’ll be making a small chicken breast stuffed with bacon, lettuce, and tomato filling. The chicken is fried in just 15 minutes in your air fryer, and it comes with a golden mustard topping. All the while, a delicious pot of cream of mushroom soup is stewing on your stovetop. Simple flavors of cremini mushrooms (also known as “baby bellas”), celery, green onion, and a hint of dill are blended into a thick and creamy soup. Not only is this a yummy hot lunch, but you can easily convert the recipe for your meal prepping needs. You can increase the chicken and soup to as many servings as you need for the week without increasing your cooking time. Both components of the meal can be stored in your refrigerator in air-tight containers for up to 4 days.

I Don’t Have An Air Fryer

Don’t own an air fryer? No problem! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees while you prepare your stuffed chicken breasts. Cook the prepared BLT chicken on a well-seasoned sheet tray or a tray lined with parchment paper. Cooking times may vary, but your chicken should be done in approximately 25 minutes. Make sure to use a thermometer to ensure the chicken is done. If your want the top of your chicken to be more golden, finish it under a broiler on high heat.

Can I Use Other Mushrooms?

If you’re not able to find cremini mushrooms, you can substitute them with others. Remember, cremini mushrooms may also be called “baby bellas” or just brown mushrooms, depending on where you live. The most direct substitution would be portobello mushrooms. Portobello mushrooms will keep your soup tasting rich and savory. Shitake mushrooms will also offer these benefits to your meal.

Ingredients

6 oz brown mushrooms
2 ½ oz celery
1 medium – 4 1/8" long scallions
2 tablespoon butter, unsalted
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
½ tsp, chopped garlic
2 oz cream cheese
2 tablespoon cream heavy whipping
1 ½ cup chicken broth
1 ½ teaspoon dill weed, fresh
12 oz chicken breast boneless skinless raw
½ teaspoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
⅛ teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
½ oz lettuce
1 oz tomato
2 teaspoon real bacon bits
½ tablespoon mayonnaise

Instructions

Get the soup started by chopping mushrooms, celery, and green onion. You’ll be blending these ingredients later, so a rough chop is fine here. Melt the butter in a soup pot over low heat, then add your chopped ingredients. Stir the pot until the ingredients are covered in butter, and season them with salt, pepper, and minced garlic. Cover the pot with a lid and allow the ingredients to cook down on low heat until the celery is tenderized – 10-15 minutes.
Remove the lid and stir the ingredients together in the pot. Add cream cheese to the pot, and stir until the cream cheese is completely melted and coating the ingredients. You may pull your cream cheese out before this step so it can soften at room temperature. Pour the heavy cream and chicken broth into the pot and stir everything together once more. Return the lid to the pot and bring the soup to a simmer.
Allow the soup the simmer, covered, until the celery is soft enough to break down with a utensil. Once the vegetables are soft, remove the pot from the stove. Use a hand blender or a standing blender to blend the soup. It should be creamy and fairly thick, and you may still see very small bits of mushroom. Once the soup is blended, return it to your stove and stir chopped dill into it. Bring the soup to a simmer and allow it to bubble, this time uncovered until it reduces to approximately 1 cup of soup per serving.
While the soup is reducing, prepare 6-ounce chicken breasts by patting them dry with paper towels and butterflying them. Instead of spreading the butterflied breasts open, leave the chicken breasts in their original position. Rub a ¼ teaspoon of olive oil into the top of each breast, and sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Squeeze a ½ teaspoon of brown mustard (your choice of plain or spicy), and use a marinade brush to spread the mustard over the seasoned breasts.
Turn on your air fryer to preheat to 375 degrees. Dice lettuce and roma tomato into small pieces and add them to a mixing bowl. Mix the filling with bacon bits and mayonnaise. Then, use a large spoon to stuff each butterflied chicken breast until the filling is used up. To secure the stuffed chicken breasts, use toothpicks to seal the openings and keep the filling in place. Make sure the toothpicks are completely submerged into the chicken so they don’t burn in your air fryer.
Place the chicken breasts in your air fryer. If your air fryer trays are removable, you can prep the tray with pan spray and leave it out of the air fryer while it preheats. Cook the BLT chicken for 15 minutes or until done. You can use a meat thermometer to check the chicken has reached 165 degrees for doneness. The chicken itself should have golden edges, excess fat will have released from the meat, and the mustard topping will be golden and provide a light crust. Serve 1 BLT chicken breast with 1 cup of cream of mushroom soup per serving.