Chicken soup – it’s the magical elixir Mom gave you every time you caught a cold. It warms your heart, your soul…your kitchen. If you’ve got a little time, it’s not that difficult to make, and with fresh vegetables from your cool-season kitchen garden, it’s extra delicious.
This delicious soup features veggies from the garden and is great on a cold winter day. (Make some now and freeze it for later!)
Photo Credit: Mary Moore
You can grow lots of ingredients for chicken soup, including onions, carrots, bok choy and celery.
Photo Credit: Mary Moore
Hey, Chicken – your soup’s gettin’ cold… (After cooking the chicken, remove it from the broth, allow it to cool, then tear it into bite-sized pieces before adding back into the soup.)
Photo Credit: Mary Moore
Crisp cabbage and carrots, savory onions, garlic and leeks, as well as herbs like dill and parsley, all add wonderful flavor to hearty soups like this one. Try this recipe with your fresh vegetables and herbs for a warm, savory meal on a cold day – or whenever you’ve got a cold!
Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 small chicken, whole or cut into parts
- Water (enough to cover chicken in pot and have an inch or so of water above the chicken)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, whole or chopped
- 1 small bunch bok choy (or celery, if preferred), chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- ¼ cup dried parsley (adjust to taste)
- ¼ cup dried dill (adjust to taste)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (adjust to taste)
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- Flat dumplings (can be found in the frozen foods section of many grocery stores)
- 1 teaspoon dried chicken soup base to thicken broth if necessary (optional)
Directions
Unwrap chicken. If you’re using a whole chicken, remove the bag of innards (containing the liver, heart, gizzard and neck) stored inside the bird’s cavity. Thoroughly rinse the chicken, inside and out. (You can add the innards to the soup if you like, but I prefer not to use the chicken neck, as it has lots of small bones that can get lost in the soup.)
Place the chicken (whole or cut up) in a Dutch oven or other large cooking pot that holds at least 6-8 quarts. Cover the chicken completely in water, with at least an inch or so of water above it. (I usually add about 8-10 cups of water, but it depends on the size of the pot and chicken.)
Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Cook for about an hour or until the chicken is tender. Keep an eye on the water level – you may need to add more if enough water evaporates so the chicken starts to show above the waterline. Skim off the fat at the surface periodically and discard.
As the chicken cooks, you can prepare the vegetables. To prepare the bok choy (or celery), remove the hard base of the plant where the roots connect to the tender white base. With both bok choy and celery, you can use the tender stalks and the green leaves to add flavor and color. (The deep green leaves of bok choy add beta-carotene and calcium to the chicken soup.)
When the chicken is fully cooked, remove it from the water/soup and set aside to cool. Then add the onions, garlic, bok choy, carrots, dill, parsley, soy sauce, salt and pepper to the water. If the broth is not as thick and rich as you like, add a teaspoon of dried chicken soup base. Stir, and bring to a simmer. Add more water if needed.
When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones, and cut or tear the meat into bite-sized pieces. (Discard the bones.) Add the chicken back into the soup. Simmer on low heat until the vegetables are tender, around 20-30 minutes. Add dumplings to the soup and continue to simmer about 10 minutes. Serve your chicken soup warm, or freeze to enjoy later.
Whether you’re feeling under the weather or in need of some good comfort food, nothing warms you up on a cold day like homemade chicken soup. (And when most of the ingredients come from your garden, you’ll find it’s even tastier!)
