How To Make Chicken Soup

When you’re making chicken soup to help you go through a tough day, it is important that you make it with comforting ingredients that you already have lying around in your pantry.

The following are simple ingredients that can be used to make the best chicken soup:

• Chicken: Go for skinless bone-in chicken thigh. There are several reasons for this. Chicken thighs remain moist and tender, unlike chicken breast which might become dry after prolonged cooking. Similarly, these are less fatty which ensures that the broth remains flavorful and yet healthy. You will need 10-12 bone-in chicken thighs for this recipe.
• Broth: It’s perfectly okay to use store-bought chicken broth for this recipe. But if you have the time and want the most delicious and comforting broth, try making your own. All you need is some chicken thighs that are simmered for hours. This recipe calls for 5 cups of chicken broth.
• Vegetables: No soup is done without adding some veggies into the mix. Choose vegetables that go well with chicken flavorwise. Some such include carrots, onions, celery, leeks and garlic. You will find the exact measurements of these veggies in the detailed instructions below.
• Herbs and Spices: Chicken soup is all about the flavor so herbs and spices form an important part of the ingredients list. Fresh thyme, tarragon, bay leaves, and parsley are great to add freshness to your soup. In terms of spices, ground black pepper, kosher salt, and some paprika will do the job.

1. Gather Your Supplies

The following are the exact measurements of ingredients you will need for 5 servings of this recipe:

• 5-6 skinless bone-in chicken thighs
• 5 cups of chicken broth or water
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 peeled and diced white onion
• 4 large carrots that are chopped
• 3 ribs celery
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme and tarragon
• 1 bay leaf
• fresh chopped parsley

2. Start With The Broth

Despite its reputation, making chicken broth is actually a pretty easy step. Simply, boil the chicken thighs in a large stockpot. Bring down the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes or until the chicken is entirely cooked.

If you’re using store-bought chicken stock, simply cook the chicken thighs in the stock for about 10 minutes.

3. Sautee Your Veggies

As your chicken is cooking, get your veggies ready for the next step. Take a large Dutch oven and heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Add in garlic, carrots, onions, leeks, and celery, and cook until they become soft.

Then, add some grated ginger to the mix. Let it cook for 1 more minute. Add in salt, black pepper, bay leaves, thyme, tarragon, and some paprika to season the veggies.

4. Shred The Chicken

Check on the chicken. If it is properly cooked, take the chicken out of the pot. Then, carefully transfer the broth from the pot into the Dutch oven. It’s best if you use a strainer so as to avoid getting any fat.

Once the chicken is cool to touch, transfer it to a chopping board and shred it with two forks. Then let the chicken rest for a bit. Do not transfer it to the pot at this point. It might cause the meat to be rubbery and overcooked.

5. Simmer

Allow the mixture in the Dutch oven to simmer for 45 minutes on low heat. Check to see if the veggies are cooked properly. Once they are cooked, add in your shredded chicken.

Cook the soup for an additional 1-2 minutes and add your final garnish. Sprinkle some chopped parsley from the top.

6. Serve

You can remove the dried thyme, tarragon, and bay leaves from your soup if you like during serving. Take spoonfuls of the chicken soup and serve it in a large warm bowl.

You can have it as it is or serve it with some bread or breadsticks.

In general, chicken soup can take anywhere between 1 hour to overnight. It depends on the recipe you’re choosing. In this case, the cooking time for chicken soup is 2 hours.

This time includes the prep time for preparing your veggies and the overall cooking time. However, the cooking time can become elaborate if you’re using a slow cooker. In a slow cooker, chicken soup takes up to 8 hours on low.

Cooking time is important for chicken soup because it is important to not overcook the chicken but cook it enough so that all the flavors seep into it.

One way to ensure this is to not add the shredded chicken into the broth immediately once it's done. Allowing the broth to cook on its own helps bring out flavors from the veggies and the aromatics.

Having said that, it is also important the chicken thighs are cooked properly as nobody likes a raw chicken thigh in their chicken soup.

If you want to make a vegetarian version, simply swap the chicken broth for a vegetable broth and replace the chicken with chickpeas. 

Besides, there are several other tips that will help make the best chicken soup:

• If there is any foam on top of the broth while you’re boiling the chicken, remove it immediately as it might affect the clarity of your broth.
• Another great tip is to add vegetables in stages based on their cooking times to avoid overcooking.
• Season gradually and taste as you go. It's easier to add salt than to fix an oversalted soup.
• For flavorful chicken soup, add a splash of lemon juice at the end. This brightens the flavor and just down the richness.
• Do not serve the chicken soup immediately. Allowing it to rest for a bit helps the flavors meld with each other.

It is quite impossible to make soup for one. When we make it, there’s usually plenty of it to store. Luckily, chicken soup is also incredibly easy to freeze and lasts up to several months.

Depending on how much space you have in your freezer, you can either store your chicken soup in freezer bags, freezing trays, or just some air-tight containers.

If you’re using a freezer bag, remove as much air as you can from the bag before sealing it up. Do not fill the freezer with the soup as the liquid expands during freezing. Make sure that the freezer bag lies flat on the freezer floor.

Using containers is also a good option because it helps you portion control and also ensures that your soup remains safe for a long time.