Homemade Chicken Soup

Well it's been a week and a half and I'm still sick...everyone around me is sick too. So far food wise I've tried beef bone broth and one night desperate for some summer in my life thinking it would revive me, I sent Jay outside to chip the ice off the barbecue so I could grill steak.  Obviously food doesn't heal you, or maybe it does...what do I know. But I think it's okay to try. For example chicken soup, delicious and comforting, probably won't magically make your cold go away but, it will make me feel better while I'm eating it.

To start your soup you will need a whole roasted chicken, or a whole chicken carcass. I made roast chicken last night for dinner, knowing we would only eat the breasts and I would be making soup today I cooked the chicken until the breasts were cooked, so the legs were still a bit underdone. Take either your whole chicken or the carcass and add to a large pot. Fill the pot with water to just cover the chicken. If you're like me and don't have a large stock pot, you may not be able to completely cover the chicken. But don't stress it's okay. Toss in some black peppercorns, a sprig of fresh thyme and a couple bay leaves. Cover the pot, and set on med-low and leave it to do it's magic for the day. You may need to come back and add more water to the pot throughout the day. 

I didn't add any salt to the pot at this point for a couple of reasons, first reason I brine my chicken before cooking. If you're cooking a whole chicken and have some time before I highly recommend brining it. It doesn't take long to prepare the brine, and it always results in a juicy, well seasoned chicken. Another reason being I like to taste as I season so I will wait until the stock is just about done before I taste and adjust seasonings. You can always add salt but you can't take it out if you have over salted it. If you're looking for a good brine recipe here is mine. It works well for turkey as well, just double the recipe.

I let my broth simmer on the stove over med-low from about 6.5 hours. You can do more or less depending on what kind of time you have. The longer you simmer the more flavourful your broth will be and less chicken bouillon you will need to add later. Strain your broth from the solids through a fine mesh strainer and put the broth and the solids to the side. Give your pot a quick rinse to remove any stray peppercorns, or other bits that may not be that great in the final soup. 




Add 2 tbsp butter to the pot melt over medium heat. Add 1/2 large Spanish onion diced, 3 carrots peeled and sliced (I slice mine into circle disks because lets be honest, I strongly dislike cooked carrots and they're easier to pick out this way. But you may dice them if you like.), 1 stalk of celery diced into the pot. Sweat the vegetables for a few minutes, then add 3 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tsp minced fresh ginger, and 1 tsp dried thyme. Saute for another minute or so then add the broth back to the pot, add the juice of 1 lemon and diced or pulled chicken. I used left over chicken from the night before plus any chicken left in the solids I strained out, I picked out and added back into the soup.

You will need to add some chicken bouillon at this point, I think I ended up adding 3 tbsp and I had approximately 16 cups of broth. So I would suggest adding a tbsp, stirring it, tasting your soup as you add. You can also adjust your other seasonings here such as salt and pepper etc. Your soup will definitely need some salt at this point but I don't adjust the salt until I have all the bouillon in as it is salty. 

You have a couple options here. You can simmer the soup until the carrots are tender and add cooked pasta, lentils or quinoa (whatever you like) in later or you can add your choice now and cook the soup until the pasta is done and carrots are tender. I personally don't like to add my pasta at this time, I prefer to add some cooked pasta and lentils in before serving because I don't like when I have left overs and the pasta absorbs all the broth. Just a personal preference, the choice is yours. Before serving garnish your soup with fresh thyme and parsley. I ended up adding cooked green lentils (my 1.5 year old loves them and doesn't eat meat for some reason, so I add them in whenever I can as something extra for her), and cooked orzo pasta. I hope you enjoy!

Just a quick "life hack" I'm not sure if this is common knowledge and I've been living under a rock or if I have came across something brilliant lol, I'm going with the first option but you can freeze fresh ginger and peel it using a vegetable peeler and use as needed but just running the frozen ginger over the fine part of a cheese grater or a micro-plane! I always bought jars of fresh minced ginger because I could never even come close to using a full fresh ginger before it went bad. Now I just keep my fresh ginger in the freezer in a zip top bag and pull it out and grate as I need it.  

Here is the full printable recipe for Homemade Chicken Soup.

Homemade Chicken Soup

Ingredients: 1 full chicken or carcass Cold water 4 Bay leaves Fresh thyme Black peppercorns 2 tbsp butter 3 carrots, peeled - sliced 1/2 large Spanish onion - diced 1 stalk of celery - diced 2 tsp fresh ginger - minced 3 cloves of garlic - minced 1 lemon - juiced 1 tsp dried thyme 2-3 tbsp chicken bouillon  Pasta, quinoa or lentils (optional) Method:  In large stock pot, place chicken carcass or full chicken into pot and cover with water. Add some peppercorns, 3 bay leaves, a sprig of fresh thyme and let simmer over medium low heat for the day. I simmered mine for 6.5 hours but you can do more if you have the time or less, I don't think I would do less than 3 hours unless you're in a pinch. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer and put the broth and the solids strained out to the side. Rinse your pot and put it back on the stove and add the butter. Let the butter melt over medium heat. Add carrots, onions and celery and cook until the onions start to sweat. Add the garlic, ginger, and dried thyme and continue to cook over medium heat for a few more minutes.  Add the broth back into the pot. Add a bay leaf, pulled or diced chicken (left overs and or from off the carcass), and chicken bouillon (taste while adding to avoid adding too much) and adjust seasonings to your preference. You will need salt, just add that after the bouillon to avoid over salting. You can either at this point add pasta if you like, or you can simmer until the carrots are tender and add some cooked pasta before serving. Your choice, I tend to add cooked pasta before serving that way I any left over soup I have doesn't have pasta in it which tends to soak up all your broth in the fridge.  Garnish with fresh thyme and parsley, enjoy.