Homemade Chicken Soup

It seems like when you’re not feeling well that chicken soup is the magical cure. There’s so many recipes and different ways to make it, so of course, I’ve got to throw my tried and true version in the mix.

It starts with homemade chicken stock. In my home (especially with the rising cost of groceries), my husband and I are conscious about food waste and making sure we use food to its fullest potential. Any roasted chicken that I prepare or rotisserie chicken from the store becomes the base for stock–aka: liquid gold.

Once we get all of the chicken off the bone from a roasted or rotisserie chicken (check out my video on the 5 recipes that come from 1 chicken!), I take our pasta pot (a giant pot with a large metal insert for draining pasta) and fill it with water and place the chicken carcass, bones, and skin into the pasta drain insert and fill the pot full of water. I add just a couple vegetables at this point–carrots, celery, and onion–very rough chopped. They’re going to get boiled through and thrown away, this isn’t the point in the soup to overload with vegetables. I like a flavorful and strong stock, and we’re garlic fans in our home, so at this stage is where there’s a LOT (probably ~20 cloves) of chopped garlic added in too. Bring the stock to a boil over medium-low heat and then turn heat down to low, simmering for another 12-36 hours (it just gets richer!). I usually go about 18-24 hours. Plus the house smells amazing. When you’re ready, strain the stock to get all of the bones, large veg, etc out so all that remains is your smooth stock. I typically get about 2-3 gallons per batch and freeze it in jars so I always have it available for cooking.

Now, onto the soup:

Ingredients:

Chicken stock
Chicken pieces (diced or shredded, cooked)
Vegetables (I prefer a classic mirepoix: carrots, celery, and onion–but you can get as creative as you want), chopped into bite-sized pieces
Noodles (Totally a preference thing, I prefer wide egg noodles, others prefer the fideo cut noodles–whatever type of pasta noodle you prefer)
Herbs and spices (this is totally subjective on your taste–I use a bit more garlic and fresh cracked pepper. Others like things such as parsley, thyme, dill, oregano, and others. Experiment with your favorite combo!)
Splash of olive oil

Notice I didn’t give you any amounts in the above ingredients…you measure that stuff with your heart, but moreover, you can make a batch as large or small as you like. I typically make about a half gallon at a time.

Placing the dutch oven on the stove, I get it hot over medium-high heat and warm the olive oil. Adding my vegetables to the hot pot, I allow them to soften for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Then I add the chicken, chicken stock, and herbs/spices and allow it to come to a boil. Reducing the heat to medium, I allow it to simmer for about 30 minutes and then add the egg noodles. Once the soup begins to boil again on medium heat with the noodles, I turn it down to low and simmer for another 2 hours. This allows all the flavors to marry and for the soup to thicken just slightly. Serve immediately or can be reheated from the fridge for a couple days….if it sticks around that long!

This is one of those dishes that while it is time consuming, doesn’t take a lot of time to babysit–you can throw it together while doing other things in between. I made a batch a couple weeks ago for our home and to bring a container to a sick friend and kept coming back to it between clients throughout the morning. And it made the house smell great and warmed us up on a colder day!

Let me know in the comments if you make it, or what some of your favorite herb and spice combinations are!