Go To Chicken Soup Recipes

THE BEST CHICKEN SOUP EVER

Steps:

• Place chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Place celery leaves in pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and place in a bowl until cool enough to handle.
• Meanwhile, strain the cooking liquid, discard the celery tops and place the cooking liquid in a large pot. Place celery, carrots, onion, bouillon, soup mix and chicken broth in the pot and let simmer. Season with thyme, poultry seasoning, basil, peppercorns, bay leaves and parsley.
• Bone chicken and cut up meat into bite-size pieces. Return meat to pot. Cook until vegetables are tender and flavors are well blended, up to 90 minutes.
• Stir pasta into pot and cook 10 to 15 minutes more, until noodles are al dente. Serve hot.

BASIC CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Bring chicken, water, and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil in a large stockpot. Skim foam. Add onions, celery, and garlic. Reduce heat. Simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes.
• Remove breast, and set aside. Add carrots. Simmer, partially covered, for 40 minutes.
• Remove remaining chicken; discard back and wings. Let cool slightly. Remove meat from bones, and cut into bite-size pieces.
• Stir in desired amount of chicken; reserve the rest for another use. Skim fat. Season with salt.

HOMEMADE CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Put the chicken, carrots, celery and onion in a large soup pot and cover with cold water. Heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken meat falls off of the bones (skim off foam every so often).
• Take everything out of the pot. Strain the broth. Pick the meat off of the bones and chop the carrots, celery and onion. Season the broth with salt, pepper and chicken bouillon to taste, if desired. Return the chicken, carrots, celery and onion to the pot, stir together, and serve.

GO-TO CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Make the broth: Add the broth and 4 cups water to a large soup pot and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with salt. Submerge the chicken pieces into the broth. When the broth starts to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the breast and tenderloin start to separate, about 10 minutes, and then remove with tongs or a large strainer. Continue simmering the leg pieces until the meat pulls away from the bone, about 10 more minutes. Remove the legs from the pot. Allow to cool just enough to handle the meat.
• Prep the chicken: Shred the chicken pieces by hand and reserve the meat. (You can reserve the chicken bones to start or reinforce another stock.) Strain the broth if desired.
• Finish the soup: Add the carrots and celery stalks and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in the shredded chicken. When just heated through, after about 3 minutes, remove from the heat. Season with salt, stir in the parsley and celery leaves and serve.
• Chicken Noodle Soup
• Make the broth and prep the chicken for Go-To Chicken Soup, but this time cut 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks and the chicken into small dice. Add to the broth and cook over medium heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Add 6 ounces medium-wide egg noodles and cool until al dente, about 6 minutes. Before serving, stir in 2 tablespoons each chopped fresh parsley and fresh dill.
• Chicken Tortellini Soup
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the top off a head of garlic and rub with olive oil and salt. Wrap in foil and bake until very soft, 45 to 55 minutes. Meanwhile, make the broth and prep the chicken for the Go-To Chicken Soup. Squeeze out the garlic and mash into a paste before whisking into the broth along with 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary. Add the chicken, carrots and celery and cook over medium heat until tender, 8 minutes. Add 8 ounces of your favorite tortellini and cook until tender, another 8 minutes. Serve with pecorino Romano over top.
• Mexican Chicken and Rice Soup
• Make the broth and prep the chicken for the Go-To Chicken Soup. Add the chicken, carrots, celery and 3/4 cup long grain rice and cook over medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes. Add 1 cup diced tomato and cook another 5 minutes. Before serving stir in 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro and the juice of 2 limes. Garnish with additional cilantro.
• Asian Chicken Soup
• Make the broth and prep the chicken for the Go-To Chicken Soup, with the addition of a 3-inch piece of sliced fresh ginger in the broth. Discard the ginger. Add the chicken, carrots and celery and cook over medium heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Saute 2 cups quartered shiitake caps in 1 teaspoon peanut oil until soft, about 2 minutes. Transfer to the broth with 1 sliced small bok choy, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 2 teaspoons Asian chili garlic sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
• Chicken and Dumpling Soup
• For the dumplings, whisk together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon each onion powder and salt and 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives. Cut in 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter until pea-size bits form. Stir in 1 cup milk. Set aside and make the broth and prep the chicken for Go-To Chicken Soup. Add the carrots and celery and simmer until tender, 8 minutes. Make a paste of 3 tablespoons each softened butter and flour. Divide into 4 balls. Whisk each ball into the soup for a minute each. Add the chicken and 1 1/2 cups frozen peas. Return to a simmer, and spoon large tablespoons of dumpling dough into the soup, without overlapping. Cover and steam over medium heat until cooked through, 8 minutes.
• Matzo Ball Soup
• Whisk together 4 eggs, 1/3 cup room temperature chicken fat, 1/4 cup each seltzer and finely chopped fresh parsley and 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt in a medium bowl. Stir in 1 1/4 cups matzo meal and refrigerate 2 hours. Form into 16 balls. Gently slip the balls in a large pot of boiling salted water, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until cooked through, about 40 minutes. Add the matzo balls to Go-To Chicken Soup.

CLASSIC HOMEMADE CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Cut up your chicken into pieces (thighs, legs, breasts, etc) and place in a large stock pot.
• Fill with cold water to cover and put on high heat as you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
• Cut up all of your veggies. You can do this any way you like, but I like to leave these in large pieces so they don't get too mushy during the long cooking time.
• You can tie your dill and parsley together if you like.
• Put all the veggies and herbs into the pot.
• Add extra water if needed.
• Bring to a boil, and then let simmer.
• Simmer for 2-4 hours*.
• *The cook time is largely up to you. I like to cook mine for many hours to get all of the flavors out of the chicken, but really, once the chicken is cooked through, you can take it off the fire.
• If you prefer to have smaller pieces of carrots, potatoes, or celery in your soup, dice as much as you want and put it into the pot 30-40 minutes before it's done.
• ***TIP: There will be A LOT of fat on the top of this soup from the chicken skin. Traditionally, you would cook this the day before, refrigerate over night, and then remove the hardened fat layer. Easy as pie. But, if you want it the same day, you will have to skim the fat as the cooking progresses. So watch the soup over the 2-4 hours of cooking and skim as you go.
• Add salt and pepper to taste. (you will need a lot of salt. Don't fret. Start off with a teaspoon. Taste. Add another pinch. Taste. Add. And so on until you reach desired flavor.
• Take all the chicken out of the pot and remove the meat from the bones and skin. Discard the bones and skin. You can replace the meat into the pot or leave it on the side for people to put into their individual bowls.
• Make egg noodles, rice, or dumplings to accompany.
• Eat and enjoy.