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3 Comments Delicious old fashioned chicken soup recipe like your mum or grandma used to make at home. Made with a whole chicken, so it takes a little longer, but is so tasty! The ultimate comfort food.
Old fashioned chicken soup
Chicken soup is one of those quintessential dishes that most people grew up with. It has been used for centuries for its taste, of course, but chicken soup is also often used as a remedy for all sorts of ailments. Chicken soup is known as the ‘Jewish penicillin’. Precisely because of its healing properties.
If you have a cold or flu, you will often be served an old-fashioned bowl of chicken soup. And it often makes you feel better. Whether it is a placebo effect or not!
A miracle cure
The fact that chicken soup is considered a miracle cure is not really surprising. After all, cooking chicken in water releases all sorts of healthy substances from the chicken’s bones and flesh. One of the amino acids released is cysteine, which is similar to acetylcysteine, a drug used to treat bronchitis. It therefore acts as an expectorant. So a cup of old-fashioned chicken soup when you have a cold is not so crazy! It might just cure sore throats and make you feel a whole lot better.
Chicken soup is also typically one of those dishes that everyone has a variation of. You can find different types of chicken soup all over the world. In Greece it is called avgolemono (Greek chicken soup with egg and lemon), in Thailand you probably know Tom Kha Gai (Thai coconut chicken soup) and there are many more examples.
How to make old-fashioned chicken soup
Making this delicious pot of comfort food takes a bit of patience. You need the time because the longer it takes, the more intense the flavor of the soup will be. By then you don’t really need salt and pepper, as the flavors of the chicken and vegetables will do all the work for you.
I usually take at least two hours to make an old-fashioned chicken soup. But it’s no big deal if it takes longer. Having said that, I think you can make it very well in a slow cooker or instant pot.
I have made chicken soup in a slow cooker before and it was really good. The flavors really come out in the slow cooker. In this case, allow about 7-8 hours for the soup to cook. That said; I have not tried this particular recipe in the slow cooker, but I have made chicken broth before in it.
This recipe makes a lot of chicken soup, but you can freeze it. Just put the fresh parsley aside and add it when you reheat it from the freezer. No drama in freezing it, but fresh herbs taste better when they are fresh .
Questions asked about chicken soup
Making the chicken soup with something other than a whole chicken is possible but it will not have the same depth of flavor. A lot of the flavor comes from all the parts of the chicken, including the chicken bones. So I would advise for best results to use a whole chicken. If you don’t want the hassle of cleaning the bones you can use chicken thighs. Still not the same but it’s an option. Make sure to double check if the chicken soup has enough flavor.
You will need a pan that is large and sturdy. A Dutch oven or a large soup pot will probably work very well. Or any large pot for that matter. It needs to fit both the whole chicken as well as all the vegetables and at least 3 liters of water. You do cut the chicken into pieces before adding it to the soup but it will still all need to go in.
Well yes and no. For the first two hours of the cook you have vegetables in there and things like fresh thyme, celery stalks, onion, bay leaves and such. Once the chicken soup is cooked those vegetables will have given off all their flavor but the vegetables themselves are cooked to pulp. So best to remove them from the soup broth. You also take out the chicken with a big spoon and clean the chicken. You remove bones, skin and everything inedible. You pull the chicken apart into bite-sized pieces and add all the chicken meat back into the soup. Including fresh vegetables and fresh herbs.
The only thing left to do is to season the chicken stock with things like black pepper, teaspoon salt and fresh herbs.
Yes, it makes quite a bit of soup and while it is suitable for the whole family it might still be too much. You can freeze it in an airtight container or keep for 2-3 days in the fridge.
Old fashioned chicken soup
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken about 1.5 kg
- 3 liters water
- 2 leek washed, one in rough pieces and one in thin rings
- 2 large carrots 1 cut into pieces and 1 cut into small cubes
- 2 sticks celery 1 cut into pieces and 1 cut into small cubes
- 1 large onion coarsely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp rosemary
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Finely chopped fresh parsley
How to make the chicken soup
- Start by cleaning the whole chicken. Remove any excess fat and rinse under cold water. Cut the chicken into pieces, such as drumsticks, thighs and breasts.
- Bring a large saucepan with 3 litres of water to the boil. Add the chicken pieces to the boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes. This will help to remove any blood and impurities from the chicken. Pour off the water and rinse the chicken in cold water.
- Fill the pan with 3 litres of water again and add the chicken pieces, the large pieces of leek, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer for about 2.5 to 3 hours until the chicken is cooked and tender.
- Remove the cooked chicken from the soup and allow to cool slightly. Remove the meat from the bones and cut into small bite size pieces.
- Strain the stock (don't throw it away!!) and season with salt and pepper. Add the chopped leek, diced carrot and celery to the soup with the sliced chicken and simmer gently for a further 10-15 minutes to allow the flavors to melt.
- Garnish each serving with some freshly chopped parsley.
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
I love this chicken soup!
Good to hear! Thanks so much!
Making this old fashioned chicken soup takes a bit of time and work, but it is so worth it!