I. Love. Soup. I really love it and I try to make it at least every other week, sometimes once a week! My friend once said I’m the soup queen and my heart smiled. A good soup is packed with amazing nutrients, a great protein and tons of flavor and that is exactly what this is!
Picture it – it’s December 2021. The week between Christmas and New Years. Noses are running. Kids are coughing. Parents are panicking about covid, of course, but also about all the other illnesses kids can get. So what does this mama do? She looks up all the veggies and herbs that have amazing healing properties and she whips up a soup that is ultra curing and tastes incredible.
So here is my Magic Chicken Soup. It was made twice during this week between the holidays and it was gobbled up both times. AND it is the perfect recipe to share with you all during this new year and state of runny noses and tired bodies.
One of the most important things to do with a soup is to let the flavors build. You don’t want to just add everything to a pot, cover with liquid and call it a day. Taking time to cook each thing and letting the herbs and spices mix and blend is key! After you add each ingredient, stir and let it sit for 2-3 minutes before moving on to the next step. Don’t rush the beginning steps before simmer time, trust me!
I LOVE to make my own bone broth but I don’t always have it on hand. There are so many amazing quality bone broths out there that I turn to when making soup. You can also make a quick version of your own broth by just adding water as your liquid. Since this is a healing soup though, and bone broth has WONDERFUL healing properties, if you add water instead of an already made broth, let it simmer on low for at least an hour and a half to extract the most out of those chicken bones!
Magic Chicken Soup
Equipment
- 1 Dutch Oven a large stock pot can also be used
Ingredients
- 3 ribs celery chopped
- 3 large carrots peeled, chopped
- 2 medium yellow onions chopped
- 1 1/2 inches ginger root grated, split in half
- 1/2 large lemon zest
- 2 tblsp fresh sage finely chopped
- 2 tblsp fresh basil finely chopped
- 7 ounces shiitake mushrooms thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large lemon, juiced or two small/medium size
- 2 pieces chicken on the bone 2 hind quarters or breast quarters. Or one of each
- 1 cup spinach and/or kale gently packed
- 1 tsp pepper
- 48 ounces bone broth (1 1/2 cartons) chicken or beef or homemade or water
- salt
- olive oil
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in dutch oven.
- Chop celery, carrots and onion and add to pot.
- Sprinkle with salt and add pepper.
- Once veggies start to get soft, add half the amount of grated ginger and all the lemon zest. Stir.
- Add chopped sage and basil. Stir.
- Rinse mushrooms and thinly slice them.In your pot, move veggies to the sides so you can see the bottom of the pot. Add a drizzle of olive oil and put the mushrooms in a little at a time and let them brown and cook slightly. Repeat this till all the mushrooms have been added and are almost fully cooked.
- Add half the amount of the lemon juice to deglaze the pot – either one small lemon or half of a large lemon – scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of it.
- Add the minced garlic and the rest of the grated ginger. Stir.
- Place chicken skin side down on top of the veggies.
- Add broth till chicken and veggies are completely covered. Usually takes one and a half 32 ounce cartons of broth. You can just cover with water also.
- Let simmer on low to medium heat till chicken is full cooked, at least 45 minutes.
- Remove chicken and shred off the bone and add back to the soup.
- Add in the spinach/kale and let it wilt into the soup.
- Add the rest of the lemon juice, stir and serve!
This is perfect. Can’t wait to make this month