Description
This Get Well Chicken Soup is nourishing, cozy, and easy to make. Packed with garlic, ginger, lemon, and broth to support healing.
Ingredients
Scale
To cook the chicken & make the stock
- 1 whole chicken or 2 bone-in breasts & 2 thighs (bone in or boneless)
- 6 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1/2 yellow onion, skin removed
- 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, quartered
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 peels of lemon rind (use a vegetable peeler)
Soup preparation
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/2 yellow onion, sliced thinly
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (additional if needed)
- mince the ginger you used for the stock
- 3 carrots, small diced
- 4 stalks of celery, small diced (reserve any celery leaves for garnish)
- 3 cups chicken broth, addition from the stock made
- zest and juice from 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
To cook the chicken & make the stock
- Place all the ingredients for the stock in a large stock pot. If you are using a whole chicken, make sure the chicken is covered with water. If you are using cut up pieces of chicken, you will need less water to cover it with water. I used around 6 cups. Cover the pot and bring this mixture to a rapid simmer. Turn you heat down but still keep it at a light simmer. Move your lid so that some air can escape but the majority of the pot is still covered. For whole chicken, simmer for 50 minutes. For cut up chicken, simmer for 30 minutes.
- Turn the heat off. Remove the chicken to a bowl or cutting board to cool. Skim the top of the broth to remove any foam. Strain the broth into a large bowl. Remove the ginger and set aside. Dischard the remaining items.
- To prepare the soup, wipe the pot clean and return to your stove over medium heat. Add in the butter, onions, garlic and salt. Mince the ginger that was in the stock and add to the pot. Saute for 2-4 minutes or until softened.
- Stir in the carrots and celery and saute for 2 minutes. Pour in the homemade stock (around 5 cups) and add in the store bought broth. Bring to a slow simmer uncovered for 8 minutes.
- Meanwhile, shred the chicken. When the soup is ready, stir in the chicken, lemon zest and juice and garnish with parsley.
- Serve right away or cool and freeze in glass containers for another time.
Notes
- If you are using store bought cooked chicken with store bought broth, skip to step 3.
- If the lemon juice is not a flavor you enjoy, skip it and just add the lemon zest as a garnish when you serve the soup or leave out all together.