The Very Best Chicken Soup Recipes

THE VERY BEST CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• In a 3-quart soup pot, simmer the stock. Add the chicken and poach until opaque and firm, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the carrots to the broth and cook until fork-tender, about 10 minutes. Add the fennel, greens, and beans and simmer.
• Shred the chicken into 1-inch strips with your hands. Add to the pot and simmer until the chicken is heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into 4 shallow soup bowls and serve.

THE BEST CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

Steps:

• Add 3 of the carrots, 3 stalks of the celery, half the onion, the chicken, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf to a large stock pot. Separate the parsley leaves from the stems and reserve the leaves. Add the stems to the pot. Cover with 3 quarts water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook until the broth is golden and the chicken is cooked through, 40 to 50 minutes.
• Use tongs to remove the chicken from the pot and put in a large bowl to cool. Strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl or other container. Discard the solids. Wipe out the stockpot and pour the strained broth back into the pot.
• Cut the remaining 2 carrots diagonally into 1/4-slices. Cut the remaining 2 celery stalks into 1/2-inch slices. Dice the remaining half of the onion. Add the cut vegetables to the stock and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
• While the vegetables are cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the noodles until al dente, about 5 minutes, then drain and reserve.
• When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and tear the meat into bite-size pieces. Discard the bones and skin. Add the meat back to the pot along with the cooked noodles. Chop the reserved parsley leaves and add to the pot. Season with 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons salt and some pepper and bring to a simmer to reheat.

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.

BEST CHICKEN SOUP EVER

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in large stock pot.
• Add diced chicken pieces to pot to brown chicken, and cook for 5-10 minutes.
• Add onions, celery, garlic and carrots and saute so everything begins to "sweat".
• Add all seasonings and cook for a few more minutes.
• Add chicken stock to mixture in pot and stir.
• Add spinach leaves to stock and stir.
• Bring this to a boil, uncovered.
• Reduce to simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes, seasoning broth to taste.
• Add 1 cup of water to pot, bring to boil again.
• Add the bag of noodles directly to pot and cook for another 15 minutes.
• Once noodles are cooked, remove pot from heat.
• When cooled, you can refrigerate or freeze.

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Remove and discard excess fat from chicken. In 4-quart Dutch oven, place chicken, giblets (except discard liver) and neck. Add celery, carrot, onion, parsley, salt, pepper and water. Cover; heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer about 2 hours or until juice of chicken is clear when thickest part is cut to bone (at least 165°F).
• Remove chicken and vegetables from Dutch oven. Discard giblets and neck. Skim 1/2 cup fat from broth; reserve. Transfer broth to large bowl; reserve 4 cups (reserve remaining broth for another use).
• In Dutch oven, heat reserved 1/2 cup fat over low heat. Stir in 1/2 cup of the Bisquick™ mix. Cook and stir until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in reserved 4 cups broth. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Add chicken and vegetables; reduce heat to low. Heat about 20 minutes or until hot.
• In medium bowl, stir remaining 2 cups Bisquick™ mix and the milk with wire whisk or fork until soft dough forms. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto hot chicken mixture (do not drop directly into liquid). Cook uncovered over low heat 10 minutes. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer.

THE ULTIMATE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

Steps:

• Pat chicken dry with paper towels; sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a 6-qt. stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken in batches, skin side down; cook until dark golden brown, 3-4 minutes. Remove chicken from pan; remove and discard skin. Discard drippings, reserving 2 tablespoons., Add onion to drippings; cook and stir over medium-high heat until tender, 4-5 minutes. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add broth, stirring to loosen browned bits from pan. Bring to a boil. Return chicken to pan. Add celery, carrots, bay leaves and thyme. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, until chicken is tender, 25-30 minutes., Transfer chicken to a plate. Remove soup from heat. Add noodles; let stand, covered, until noodles are tender, 20-22 minutes., Meanwhile, when chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones; discard bones. Shred meat into bite-sized pieces. Return meat to stockpot. Stir in parsley and lemon juice. If desired, adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper. Discard bay leaves.