This simple chicken and vegetable soup is a staple in our household. It’s a dish I turn to again and again because it’s so economical, so simple to make, so easy to vary and it’s a great way to get children to eat less-attractive parts of a chicken!
And did I say that it’s really tasty too?!
Here’s why I love it:
It’s very economical
Chicken carcasses cost next to nothing compared to buying specific meat cuts, such as breast. In the most recent batch I bought they were £1.60 ($2.11) for a 600g carcass.
This soup uses one chicken carcass to make three meals for my family. This means the meat portion of the dish costs 18 British pence (25 American cents) per plate.
Using this zero-waste approach as the base for a soup will not only give you plenty of meat, but also the skin provides fat and cooking the carcass in water gives a natural broth.
It’s child-friendly
My son likes chicken, but complains when I put ‘knobbly bits’ (like those on a chicken carcass) on his plate. This way I can use the parts of the chicken he wouldn’t necessarily eat – they all get blended up into a smooth chicken and vegetable deliciousness.
It gives you the benefits of broth
This soup gives you the benefits of broth without having to make a separate broth beforehand. The cooking chicken creates broth and that is blended into the soup.
It’s low histamine
Because this chicken is only cooked for an hour and a half, and because there’s a lot of meat on the bones, the resulting broth which forms the base of the soup is much lower in histamine than a bone broth-based dish would be.
It’s an easy way to make lots of meals
I routinely make enough of this soup to serve my family (of three) at three meals. I have sometimes doubled it up and made enough for six meals. The hands-on time for the process is less than 45 minutes. Six meals for 45 minutes work? I’ll take that!
Timings
I often make this soup in the morning to eat at lunchtime. This is how I do it:
The night before: take the chicken carcass out of the freezer.
Soup day 8am: prepare the vegetables, put the onions and root vegetables in the pan with the chicken, bring to the boil and then turn to a simmer for an hour.
Soup day 9:30am: add the greens to the simmering pan and cook for half an hour.
Soup day 10am: turn off the heat, fish out the carcass, leave it to cool, leave the lid off the saucepan of stock and vegetables.
Soup day 10:45am: pick the meat off the carcass, blend the soup in batches, leave it to cool.
Soup day 12pm: portion out the soup, gently reheat the lunch portion, freeze/refrigerate the other portions.
Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Makes 6-9 servings
Ingredients:
250g/9oz onions (c.2 medium)
600g/1.3lbcarrots
200g/7oz mushrooms
1 chicken carcass (mine usually weighs around 600g/1.3lb)
250g/9oz greens (cabbage, spinach and Cavolo Nero are three favourites of mine)
seasoning: salt, pepper and spices/herbs (I love to use 1tbsp nigella seeds)
Method:
- If you buy your chicken carcasses frozen, get one out of the freezer the night before and leave it in the fridge to defrost.
- Chop the onions, carrots and mushrooms roughly and place them a very large (and preferably wide) saucepan.
- Add the chicken carcass to the pan, nestling it within the vegetables (you may need to squash the carcass to get it to fit into your saucepan).
- Pour water over the chicken and vegetables – for a thick soup I use 1.5 litres/quarts, for a thinner one 2 litres/quarts. Try to cover as much of the chicken as you can in liquid.
- With the lid on, bring the mixture to the boil and then turn the heat to very low so that the liquid is just simmering.
- Leave to cook, covered, for an hour.
- Roughly chop your greens.
- Returning to the pan, add the greens, submerging them as best you can under the water. Re-cover and cook for a further 30 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and remove the chicken carcass from the pan, placing it on a plate to cool.
- Leave the lid off the vegetables and broth, stirring a few times to help them cool down.
- Once the chicken is cool enough to handle pick all the edible bits off the carcass.
- In batches, blend the chicken with the cooked vegetables and stock.
- If you want to eat the soup right away, pour the smooth result back into the saucepan and warm gently. If not, leave it to cool and enjoy later.
This chicken vegetable soup will last 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator and also freezes really well.
Make it yours!
There are so many ways to vary this soup. Here are some ideas:
- Use sweet potato, swede or yam
- Swap the onions for leaks, pairing with potato
- To make it colourful, use beetroot
- For a richer texture, add cream
- For a richer texture, but dairy free, add cold porridge before blending
- If you want a more filling meal, add rice or a grain such as millet to the cooking liquid
- Use differing spices and herbs
How I like to serve this soup
This soup is wonderful piping hot, with a drizzle of cream and sourdough bread with butter on the side. The bread pictured above is from my ebook Spelt Sourdough Every Day.
If you like this recipe, you might also like: