A Basic Chicken Soup Recipe
I always cook in big batches, if making a smaller pot of soup, you may want to use the lesser amounts.
Soup is without boundaries though, so don’t be afraid to experiment!
1 whole chicken
(or any fresh bone-in chicken you have)
5-10 carrots, chopped
5-10 celery stalks, chopped
5-10 potatoes, chopped
(red potatoes seem to hold together the best, but any will do)
3 large onions, chopped
1-3 small bags of tortellini
(you can use any pasta/noodles, tortellini is just added deliciousness)
1-3 bay leaves
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt
Pepper
First I clean the chicken by rubbing it down with salt, and giving it a rinse
Place the chicken in the pot, cover it completely with water, adding an additional inch or two of water above the chicken level for sufficient broth
To the pot add 2 of the chopped onions, a pinch of salt & pepper, and the fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, bay leaves)
If using a whole chicken, let that boil, covered, on medium-medium high heat for 1 1/2-2 hours, depending on the size of the chicken (if using individual chicken pieces, it’s usually only an hour)
I look for the meat to start separating from the bones, and be sure to skim the waste/foam/excess fat from the top of the pot
Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot to cool enough to handle
(I peel back the skin on the chicken, and pull out any bones that will release easily so it will cool faster)
Add the remaining ingredients (last onion, carrots, celery, potatoes), and a few more pinches of salt & pepper (to taste) to begin cooking
When cool enough, I break the chicken down by hand (some people shred with utensils, but by hand is the only way I know there won’t be any bone fragments, fat, tough tissue, etc) tearing it into medium sized chunks, and tossing it back into the pot as I go (if you shred it too finely it becomes stringy and gets lost in the soup)
Once the chicken is reincorporated, check the vegetables to see if they’re soft or near-soft (they usually are), if so, add the tortellini, which usually fully cooks in 15-20 minutes (it floats to the top when it’s done)
The vegetables should be fully cooked by then, and if so, your soup is done!
Some Notes:
*Sometimes we add shaved Parmesan to the bowls for an extra burst of yum.
*If you have fresh sage or oregano, you can add those to the onion & herb chicken boil, I wouldn’t recommend using them together though.
*If you don’t have or don’t have access to fresh herbs, ground and dried can be substituted. If going that route, I would add second pinches of them when you add the vegetables.
