Cold Remedy Chicken Soup
About once a week, I roast a whole chicken for my family to eat off of for the rest of the week. Recently, I have had some requests to share some of the recipes I use for the leftover chicken (that recipe can be found here https://mostlywholefoodie.com/2016/02/14/roasted-chicken/) . This week, my daughter and I have been battling a nasty cold, so I’m using the remaining chicken to make chicken noodle soup. This can be a great way to clear out some room in your vegetable drawer, too. I’m just using the typical veggies for chicken soup today but you could throw in zucchini, bell peppers, jalapeños if you want a kick! Turn it into “everything but the kitchen sink soup”!
Today I used:
- 1 lb bag of carrots
- Small bunch of celery
- 2 yellow onions
- Roasted garlic
- 2 tsp tumeric
- 1 Tbsp thyme
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- Roasted chicken (minus the breasts) including the bones
- 4-6 cups warm tap water
- Handful of chopped parsley leaves
Using a large Dutch oven or stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons of EVOO over medium heat while you chop up your carrots, celery and onions.
You want to cut your veggies to about the same size so they cook evenly. I don’t peel my carrots because that’s where a lot of good vitamins and minerals are and we need all that we can get around here. If you rinse and scrub them first, you should be safe from dirt and grit getting in the soup.
When you add the veggies to the hot oil and stir every few minutes for about 15 minutes, until the onions are translucent and carrots begin to soften. This is also a great time to add some S&P. While the veggies are cooking, take off as much meat from the chicken as you can.
Don’t worry about getting very little piece. You’re going to put the bones in with the broth in a bit and the remaining meat will melt off
Even though we had already eaten off of this chicken twice already, I still got a lot of meat to use for the soup!
Now it’s time to mince your garlic. I rarely buy raw garlic anymore. The olive bar at my grocery store has the most delicious roasted garlic! I love the flavor it adds to my dishes and I even steal extra oil to use in addition to olive oil a lot of the time.
It is totally fine if you use raw garlic. I won’t judge 😉
When the veggies are ready, add the garlic, tumeric and thyme. Stir them in and let them cook for a minute or two before placing the chicken bones on top and covering with liquid.
*Tumeric is a yummy spice that has many many healthy benefits so I always put it in my chicken soup when we’re sick 🙂
Even though we making our own stock by cooking the bones in the liquid, I want more flavor so I’m adding 4 cups of chicken broth before adding 4-6cups more water (until the bones are mostly covered)
Bring the soup to a simmer, cover and let cook on low for about an hour, until the carrots are nice and tender.
Don’t worry! I didn’t forget about the rest of the meat. We’re just going to chop that into bite size pieces and set aside until the hour is up. Since it’s already cooked, we don’t want it to get tough.
While the soup is simmering, go ahead and make the rice or noodles that you want to have with it. I like to use egg noodles just because that’s what I grew up eating 🙂 I recommend tossing the noodles in a little bit of olive oil after boiling them, to keep them from sticking together, and keeping them in a separate container and adding them to individual bowls of soups when you’re going to eat it so they don’t get all mushy from soaking up too much liquid.
When the carrots are tender and all of the goodness has melted off of the bones, fish the bones out and stir in the chicken meat and chopped parsley and cook another 10 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles and enjoy! Let me know what you think 🙂
