Homemade chicken soup - but you don't have to be sick to deserve or enjoy it - you do, so do! Good for body and soul!

Homemade Chicken Soup

(3 pound) whole chicken

carrots,

celery,

onion,

water

salt and pepper

chicken bouillon granules

Put the chicken, carrots, celery and onion in a large soup pot and cover with cold water. Heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken meat falls off of the bones (skim off foam every so often).


Take everything out of the pot. Strain the broth. Pick the meat off of the bones and chop the carrots, celery and onion. Season the broth with salt, pepper and chicken bouillon to taste, if desired. Return the chicken, carrots, celery and onion to the pot, stir together, and serve.


Your basic chicken soup recipe found in most general cook books. It is the old reliable of chicken soup recipes. I appreciated the hint to cut the carrots, celery and onions in half. I had always cut them up in small pieces, and then when I would drain the broth, it was messy to try to retrieve the cut up veggies to put them back in the broth. This is so much easier! When I drain the broth, I place a paper towel in the sieve. It makes for a nice clear broth. I also cook up some noodles to add to the soup. I do not like to add the noodles directly to the pot of soup, because the noodles will aborb too much of the broth.

I give this a three as written. But with changes it moves up to a four. I added some fresh herbs, and did not use the veggies that were in the stock, because the veggies had lost all of there flavor. I used freshly chopped veggies. Then I added 2 cups of water with 2 cubes of chicken bouillon.

Absolutely wonderful recipe! I used about 2 1/2 lbs. of cut up chicken and used 4 packets of Goya Chicken Bouillon and I think that probably was the secret to seasoning this soup.  I used baby carrots and put two whole (scrubbed with the peel on) potatoes in the bottom of the pot with chicken.  I followed the instructions and let it cook, took the chicken off the bone and returned everything to the pot after I cut up the veggies.  I then added some frozen vegetable soup cut veggies (celery, peas, onion, potatoes, okra, etc.) and ditalini pasta.  My son has a cold and this soup really hit the spot with him, even in 110 degree weather! I really recommend this soup recipe!  I put half in individual containers in our freezer and my son, who wants soup every day, will be set for at least a few days!

This recipe is very tasty though it is also very basic - which is perfect for the beginner chef.  Once you begin to "doctor" your own recipes, you will see that the more flavors you add to chicken broth, the better. For example, why stop with carrots and celery? In addition to these things, I add a potato, tomato, fresh basil, fresh parsley, red peper, onion, etc... Make sure to be generous with the salt as stock can be quite bland unless seasoned appropriately. I even use a couple of bay leaves and a couple of peppercorns during the cooking process.  Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer. I use a lid on my soup to keep evaporation to a minimim, though I "vent" the lid with a wooden spoon during cooking (kind of props up the lid) so that it isn't completely sealed shut...  Add water 1/2 way through cooking if necessary.  Boullion is OK, but not necessary if you have the appropriate blend of chicken, veggies and herbs.  Serve with rice or your noodle of choice.  Never cook noodles in the broth - always in a separate pot because the starch will ruin your soup. The more you times you make this recipe, the more you will enjoy it - as it is definitely a process of trial and error. ENJOY!

Wonderful soup, I cooked the soup w/out carrots & potatoes most of the day, adding them in the last hour.  For a little extra taste I added some cumin.  The whole family loved it, great for a blustery and rainy day here in the great northwest!

Pretty good soup. I used a roasted chicken carcass from our previous nights dinner as I feel it adds more flavor then the uncooked chicken. I also used canned chicken broth in lieu of the water, along with my usual seasonings. We're eating a lot of soup these days as it's frigid here in northwest N.J.! Thanks Jill!

Yummy. I followed the recipe as written - and at the end - added "uncooked star shaped pastas" and cooked an additional 10 minutes - making it Homemade Chicken Soup with Stars. I submitted a photo of the finished project.

This is a great recipe to work with as your base for your own chicken noodle soup. I usually follow the general idea of it to make my stock adding a bunch of garlic and a couple other spices. Then I add my own veggies to the soup. If you like beans in your chicken soup add beans. Basically add whatever you enjoy!

This was the first time making Chicken Soup from scratch and I was surprized at how simple it was. My husband wanted homemade noodles with it so I used Pat's recipe for "Basic Pasta" and it turned out GREAT! We added the noodles to the soup and let them boil for about 15 minuites and served. I saved the leftovers and they tasted even better the second time!!! I also added a bit more water while the chicken was boiling. I will definatly be making this again!

homemade chicken soup

Servings: 10

Author : Jill

Ingredients

Instructions

Top Similar Recipes from Across the Web