Ready in about 20 minutes, this creamy keto chicken noodle skillet uses a whole rotisserie chicken and lupini noodles, the high-protein dinner I lean on, with 42.9g protein and 9.1g net carbs.
Think of this as a cozy bowl of chicken and rice soup, but creamy instead of brothy. I wanted something that tasted like it had simmered for hours, and a whole rotisserie chicken gets you there in about 20 minutes. The roasted flavor carries straight into the sauce, and raw chicken just doesn't hit the same way. One of my readers brought this to a dinner party, and a scratch soup cook said it tasted like something that had been going all day. That's the rotisserie doing its thing.
What makes this recipe stand out
Rotisserie chicken shortcut Shred it while it's still warm. I learned this the hard way: warm rotisserie pulls apart loose and juicy, but cold rotisserie fights you and shreds into dry, stringy pieces. I get 4-6 cups from one bird, which loads this keto chicken noodle skillet with protein.
Lupini noodles that actually hold up I've tested every low-carb noodle out there, and lupini is the only one that keeps its shape in a hot, brothy sauce the way regular pasta does. Lupini beans are packed with protein and fiber, so the noodles add real substance without spiking the carb count.
Arrowroot-thickened sauce Instead of flour, I use arrowroot powder for that silky, creamy body without the extra carbs. One thing I figured out after a lumpy batch: let the arrowroot cook a full 2-3 minutes before you add any liquid. Rush it and the whole sauce clumps.
I've been making this since I first found lupini noodles, and I went through probably a dozen variations before landing here. The arrowroot was the breakthrough. Before that I tried xanthan gum, which worked but gave the sauce a slightly gummy pull that bugged me. Arrowroot gets you a cleaner thickness. The sauce coats everything without feeling heavy, which is exactly what I want from a weeknight skillet dinner.
The smell when the broth goes in is what gets people. One reader said it reminded her of her mom's winter dinners growing up, and I get that. There's something about chicken, celery, carrots, and a creamy sauce together that hits a very specific place. My family requests this by name, not because it's keto (they don't care about that), but because to them it's just a good dinner.
Lupini pasta is a pantry staple for me, but it can be hard to find. I usually order mine from Amazon or Thrive Market since I haven’t seen it stocked at my local store yet. I stick with Carba-Nada or Lupii. Carba-Nada has a slightly firmer bite that holds up better as the broth cooks down, and Lupii is a little softer but still solid.
If you can’t find lupini, here are the substitutes I’ve actually cooked with:
Cauliflower rice Use about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chicken broth instead of the full amount. The cauliflower doesn’t absorb liquid the way lupini does, so you need less.
Hearts of palm noodles They only come as spaghetti or lasagna sheets, so the texture is different. Drop the broth to 1/4 to 1/2 cup and add them a minute or two later than the recipe says, or they go mushy fast. One of my readers used these on a snow day and said they held up better than she expected.
Shirataki noodles Comes in lots of shapes, but the texture is rubbery and won’t work for everyone. Rinse them really well and pat dry before adding. Use 1/4 to 1/2 cup broth.
Let the dish cool completely before storing. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. I’ll be honest though: the lupini noodles absorb most of the liquid as they sit, so the texture is noticeably better fresh out of the skillet. If you’re reheating leftovers, warm on the stovetop over low heat and add a splash of broth or cream to loosen the sauce back up. Microwave works too at 30-second intervals.
Freezing: I’ve frozen this and it works, but the noodles soften more than I’d like after thawing. My workaround is freezing the sauce and chicken separately, then cooking fresh noodles when I reheat. Freeze in a sealed container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating on the stovetop.
Remove all the chicken (dark and white meat) from the rotisserie chicken. Shred or chop into bite-sized chunks. Set aside. Should end up with 4-6 cups of shredded chicken.
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Stir in the celery, carrot and onion. Cook until vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for 30-60 seconds or until fragrant.
For this step
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup sliced carrot
1/4 cup finely diced yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
3
Add the broth and noodles
Stir in the arrowroot powder or cornstarch and let cook for about 2-3 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Slowly whisk in heavy cream, followed by chicken broth. Increase the heat to medium-high. Stir in the lupini noodles and cook for 4-6 minutes or until the pasta is just al dente. Overcooking the noodles can make them break when you stir in the chicken.
For this step
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 cups chicken broth
6 oz lupini pasta
4
Add the chicken
Add the chicken and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
For this step
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Nutrition
Per serving: 1/4 of recipe
Calories
534
Fat
35.1g
Protein
42.9g
Total carbs
21.4g
Net carbs
9.1g
Nutrition is an estimate calculated from the ingredients listed. Brands vary, so check labels if you track closely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do the lupini noodles need to be cooked before they go in the skillet?
No. I stir them straight into the skillet after the cream and broth go in, then cook them for 4-6 minutes until they are just al dente. They cook right in the sauce and soak up most of the liquid as they go, so add a splash more broth if the pan looks dry. Don't overcook them or they can break when you stir in the chicken.
What can I use as a substitute for arrowroot powder?
I've tested a few options here. Cornstarch works as a 1:1 swap and thickens about the same way. If you want to skip starches entirely, 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum does the job, but whisk it in slowly or you'll get clumps. My preference is arrowroot because it gives the cleanest texture, but cornstarch is the easiest backup.
How do I make this skillet dish with raw chicken?
I use raw chicken thighs or breasts when I don't have a rotisserie on hand. Cube them into bite-sized pieces, season with salt and pepper, and sear them in the skillet with the butter first. Once they're golden on all sides, add the vegetables and keep going with the recipe as written. The chicken finishes cooking while the noodles simmer. Check that the pieces have reached 165 degrees before you serve.
Can I replace the heavy cream?
I've made this with full-fat coconut milk instead of heavy cream and it works well, especially if you're dairy-free. The coconut flavor is subtle once it cooks down with the broth and aromatics. Half and half is another option if you just want something lighter, though the sauce won't be quite as rich. I'd skip nut milks for this one since they tend to thin out and separate in a hot pan.
How can I lower the carbs even more?
I'd start by cutting the carrots in half or leaving them out entirely. They add a lot of flavor, so I keep them in mine, but the onion and celery carry enough on their own if carbs are your priority. Swapping the lupini noodles for shirataki or cauliflower rice drops the count further; my noodle swap notes above cover how to adjust the broth for each one.
Can I make this in a slow cooker or Instant Pot?
I haven't done a full slow cooker version of this yet, but the challenge is the noodles. Lupini would overcook and turn to mush if they sat in liquid for hours. If you wanted to try it, I'd do everything except the noodles on low for 3-4 hours, then stir them in for the last 10-15 minutes. For the Instant Pot, my hamburger helper uses a similar one-pot approach if you want another quick dinner in that style.
I stirred a big pinch of dried thyme in with the veggies and now it tastes like the chicken soup my grandma made! The rotisserie chicken stays really tender either way. This is how I make it now!
Chicken noodle soup was the first thing I dropped going keto, so this mattered. The celery and carrots in that cream broth work. Garlic could push harder though.
Two cloves is the floor, not the ceiling. I usually go three. Sometimes I’ll bloom a little garlic powder in the butter before the aromatics go in. That mellows it out but you still get it in the broth. Chicken noodle soup was a real one to give up going keto. Glad this brought it back, David.
I usually do slow cooker keto chicken noodle, four hours for a pot of watery broth. This was twenty minutes and the cream sauce actually stuck to the noodles.
Keep the heat at medium-low when the cream goes in, mine looked like it might break for a second before I pulled it back. Came out silky. Does the arrowroot actually stabilize it, or is it mostly the heat control?
Kristen, both. The arrowroot gives the cream something to hold onto, but crank the heat and it breaks down anyway. I always back the burner off at that point for the same reason.
Arrowroot makes a cleaner sauce than cornstarch if you can find it. Stays glossy, doesn’t get thick and heavy. The broth and cream coming together with the chicken took me straight back to the soup my neighbor would drop off whenever we were sick growing up. Hadn’t thought about it in years. Four stars only because the lupini took me a minute to trust, but the rest of this is exactly what I was after.
Over 40 grams of protein in a skillet dinner done in under 25 minutes. Four containers portioned before noon, lunches handled. I cannot be normal about this one.
Lupini noodles were my sticking point. I’d heard mixed things and thought they’d go rubbery in a cream sauce. Made this on a night when it was still 94 degrees outside and figured if it was going to let me down, at least it’d be fast. The sauce came together thicker than I expected and those noodles held up completely fine (better than fine, actually). Docking a star because my broth ran a little thin, but that’s probably on me for not measuring the arrowroot carefully enough.
I always measure the arrowroot twice. Even a little short and the sauce won’t tighten up the way it should. Nice that the noodles finally won you over, Dana.
My son took one bite, looked up and went ‘wait, these are the noodles?’ Then just kept eating. Found him at the fridge the next morning finishing the leftovers cold. That tells you everything.
Shred the rotisserie chicken while it’s still warm and freeze it in 4-cup bags ahead of time. Pulled one out and this was on the table in under 12 minutes. Lupini noodles are the only low-carb pasta I’ve tried that don’t turn to mush in a brothy dish, and this one settled it for me.
Frozen bags work here because the broth absorbs everything once it’s simmering anyway. I do the same portioning after Costco runs. And lupini holds where rice pasta would’ve given up 5 minutes in.
I had one bad experience with lupini noodles before this. Different recipe, they smelled fermented the whole way through and I pretty much wrote them off. Made this anyway because I had a rotisserie chicken that needed to go and I was out of better ideas. Somewhere in the first few minutes of simmering with the broth and butter, it actually started to smell good. By the time the chicken went in, it smelled like actual chicken noodle soup. Not a keto version of it, just the thing itself. The noodles picked up the broth in a way that pasta in a skillet dish actually doesn’t do as cleanly. This is the recipe that changed my mind.
My son asked what kind of noodles I used because they tasted ‘different but good.’ I said regular noodles. He’s 9. First time a keto dinner didn’t turn into a whole thing.
I was skeptical about lupini noodles. Figured they’d be rubbery or fall apart in the broth. Grabbed a rotisserie chicken on the way home and went for it anyway. Held up great. Creamy, filling, done in under 20 minutes. Going in my weeknight rotation.
Lupini surprised me too when I first tried them in broth. Most noodles fall apart, these actually firm up a little as they sit. Weeknight rotation is the goal.
I’ve tried every low-carb noodle substitute and lupini pasta was the one I kept skipping (the smell out of the bag, you know). Made this anyway because I had a rotisserie chicken sitting there and figured worst case I’d just eat around the noodles. Yeah, no, I completely get it now. They hold up in the broth in a way shirataki never does, no slimy collapse halfway through the bowl. The whole skillet tastes like actual chicken noodle soup, not the ‘close enough’ version.
Made this with a rotisserie chicken we had from the night before, and my wife (who tolerates most of my keto cooking without complaint) stopped mid-bowl to ask what I put in the broth. She thought I’d added something special. It’s just butter and cream, but you’d never know it.
Ha, ‘tolerates most of my keto cooking without complaint’ is basically a standing ovation from her. Butter and heavy cream in that broth just fool people every time.
My mom made chicken noodle soup every time I was sick growing up, and I’d kind of written it off as something I couldn’t have anymore on keto. Made this on a weeknight and it brought that back. The broth, the cream, the lupini noodles soaking it all up. Close enough.
Just made this for the third time and finally feel like I have it dialed in. Shirataki works if you can’t find lupini (rinse really well, pat dry before they go in), and they soak up the broth in a way that thickens the whole thing naturally. Also learned the hard way: shred the rotisserie chicken while it’s still warm. Way looser and juicier than when it’s cold and kind of resistant.
Warm chicken is not optional. You lose like 10 minutes just trying to pull cold rotisserie apart and it never shreds clean. Good call on patting the shirataki dry too – skip that step once and the whole thing goes watery.
If you let the arrowroot cook the full 2-3 minutes before adding the broth, the sauce sets up without lumping. Learned that the first time. The lupini pasta absorbs a lot of liquid as it sits, so eat it fresh rather than banking on leftovers.
Snow day, no lupini in the house, so I subbed hearts of palm pasta and just went with it. It absorbed the creamy broth sauce really well without going mushy, which I did not expect at all. If you’re in the same situation, throw it in a minute or two later than the recipe says and it holds up perfectly.
