This homemade chicken soup is both hearty & filling .....Warming and wholesome, nothing beats a bowl of homemade chicken soup – and no, you don’t have to be sick or recuperating from an illness in order to enjoy it’s full benefits !
This is my husband’s favourite soup and my daughter has also recently developed a taste for it. I usually make a huge pot of it, which we have with freshly baked bread rolls for lunch, and I freeze the leftovers in flat, individual portions in re-sealable plastic bags (as they store much easier than bulky plastic containers, and are quicker to defrost this way, too).
This is my basic chicken soup recipe below. You can adjust it anyway you like. You can omit certain vegetables and add ones which you happen to have on hand, you can also add any type of fresh herbs (thyme works well) and if you like, you can even throw in a cup or two of cooked noodles or small pasta shells towards the end of the cooking time, to bulk the soup out a little.
For a lower fat version of this soup, I allow mine to stand for a few hours in the fridge so that the fat congeals and rises to the surface of the liquid, and I then simply skim it off and throw it away (actually, it is mixed into my stray village dog’s food as they could certainly do with the extra fattening up !)
Easy Homemade Chicken Soup
1 whole Chicken
4 Onions, chopped
3 large Carrots, sliced into rings
3 – 4 sticks of Celery, sliced
6 tsp’s Chicken Stock Powder (optional)
Water (+- 2 litres - depending on size of your pot)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Remove as much skin and fat from the chicken as you can. Place it (whole) in a large pot and add the onions, carrots, celery & stock powder. Add enough water to cover everything completely (around 2 litres) and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Turn the heat down and allow to gently simmer for about 2 hours. (During this time you can give it the occasional stir, and skim the surface of the pot of any sediment.)
After the 2 hours, remove from heat, take the chicken out & allow it to cool a little before removing all the meat from the bones/carcass. Chop the meat up & put it back into the pot. Taste for seasoning & add salt and pepper and return to heat for 5 – 10 minutes, stirring well to blend before serving hot.
If there is a lot of fat/oil on the surface of the soup, you can place it in a covered container in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. This will cause the fat to congeal on the surface of the soup & it can then be easily removed with a spoon.
You can also add 1 to 2 cups of cooked noodles to the soup at the final stage (when you add the chopped chicken meat back in) if you like.
This is my husband’s favourite soup and my daughter has also recently developed a taste for it. I usually make a huge pot of it, which we have with freshly baked bread rolls for lunch, and I freeze the leftovers in flat, individual portions in re-sealable plastic bags (as they store much easier than bulky plastic containers, and are quicker to defrost this way, too).
This is my basic chicken soup recipe below. You can adjust it anyway you like. You can omit certain vegetables and add ones which you happen to have on hand, you can also add any type of fresh herbs (thyme works well) and if you like, you can even throw in a cup or two of cooked noodles or small pasta shells towards the end of the cooking time, to bulk the soup out a little.
For a lower fat version of this soup, I allow mine to stand for a few hours in the fridge so that the fat congeals and rises to the surface of the liquid, and I then simply skim it off and throw it away (actually, it is mixed into my stray village dog’s food as they could certainly do with the extra fattening up !)
Easy Homemade Chicken Soup
1 whole Chicken
4 Onions, chopped
3 large Carrots, sliced into rings
3 – 4 sticks of Celery, sliced
6 tsp’s Chicken Stock Powder (optional)
Water (+- 2 litres - depending on size of your pot)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Remove as much skin and fat from the chicken as you can. Place it (whole) in a large pot and add the onions, carrots, celery & stock powder. Add enough water to cover everything completely (around 2 litres) and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Turn the heat down and allow to gently simmer for about 2 hours. (During this time you can give it the occasional stir, and skim the surface of the pot of any sediment.)
After the 2 hours, remove from heat, take the chicken out & allow it to cool a little before removing all the meat from the bones/carcass. Chop the meat up & put it back into the pot. Taste for seasoning & add salt and pepper and return to heat for 5 – 10 minutes, stirring well to blend before serving hot.
If there is a lot of fat/oil on the surface of the soup, you can place it in a covered container in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. This will cause the fat to congeal on the surface of the soup & it can then be easily removed with a spoon.
You can also add 1 to 2 cups of cooked noodles to the soup at the final stage (when you add the chopped chicken meat back in) if you like.
