Awesomely Fantastic Homemade Chicken Soup

This awesomely fantastic Homemade Chicken Soup recipe is the ultimate in comfort food! Let it simmer on your stove top all afternoon, and enjoy the big batch of good-for-what-ails-ya all week.

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Welcome to the April 24, 2016 edition of Sunday Scratchups: Your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales and affordable foods! This week I picked up a couple of clearance chickens for less than $2.00 each after sale price + coupon, so scratched up this Awesomely Fantastic Homemade Chicken Soup.

Whole chickens often go on sale or clearance, and weekend afternoons are a great time to cook up a big pot of homemade chicken soup. (You can also make this with chicken parts, when packs of leg quarters etc. go on sale.) Just leave the soup bubbling on the stove all afternoon while you go about your other activities, and your whole house will smell great! Mr. 9 originally dubbed this Awesomely Fantastic soup after just one bite, then asked to be in the photos today — since he’d earned the naming rights. 😉

This homemade chicken soup also freezes exceptionally well for later evenings when you might be under the weather, or unable to invest a whole afternoon cooking it up.

Awesomely Fantastic Homemade Chicken Soup

Ingredients

3.5-5 lb whole chicken or chicken parts (see Note)
One bay leaf
Parsley, to taste
Turmeric, to taste
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Water, to cover (as much as possible)

3 small or two medium onions, chopped
5 whole carrots, peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 Tbsp thyme
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp parsley
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

Directions

Remove chicken innards, if present. Place chicken in large pot with cover (I used a big 7 quart Dutch oven). Add enough water to cover the chicken, then add the bay leaf plus a little parsley, turmeric, sea salt, and black pepper to taste.

Bring to a rolling boil and skim off fat, then reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook for about two hours (or until chicken falls apart easily), stirring occasionally.

Turn off heat. Use tongs to remove chicken into separate bowl, then shred chicken, discarding skin and bones. Discard bay leaf.

Skim broth again if necessary, then add shredded chicken back in along with veggies, thyme, garlic, parsley, turmeric, cayenne, sea salt, and pepper. (See Note)

Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook for another 2 hours or until vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally.

Serve hot!

Optional: Add noodles for the last 10 minutes or so of cooking time and cook them in the soup until al dente, then serve.

Note: If you use a larger chicken, reserve some of the cooked shredded chicken for other purposes rather than adding it back into the soup. Use it in everything from chicken fried rice to chicken & avocado taquitos!

A chicken in every pot…

I’ve been meaning to write this one up for a while, because it’s just that darn good. Noodles or matzo balls would be lovely in here as well, but you don’t even really need them because this soup has such a rich and beautiful chicken flavor on its own. Gluten free, dairy free, great for a rainy day, and good for what ails ya: Give it a try when you’re next in need of comfort food.

Awesomely Fantastic Homemade Chicken Soup, printable recipe

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Awesomely Fantastic Homemade Chicken Soup

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Gluten free, dairy free, great for a rainy day, and good for what ails ya: Give this chicken soup a try when you’re next in need of comfort food.

Course dinner

Cuisine soup

Keyword chicken, chicken soup, homemade chicken soup, soup

Total Time 4 hours hours 58 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 3.5-5 lb whole chicken or chicken parts See note
• 1 bay leaf
• parsley to taste
• turmeric to taste
• sea salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• water, to cover (as much as possible)
• 3 small or two medium onions, chopped
• 5 whole carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 Tbsp thyme
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp parsley
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• sea salt to taste
• black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Remove chicken innards, if present.
• Place chicken in large pot with cover (a 7 quart Dutch oven is perfect).
• Add enough water to cover the chicken, then add the bay leaf plus a little parsley, turmeric, sea salt, and black pepper to taste.
• Bring to a rolling boil and skim off fat, then reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook for about two hours (or until chicken falls apart easily), stirring occasionally.
• Turn off heat.
• Use tongs to remove chicken into separate bowl, then shred chicken, discarding skin and bones.
• Discard bay leaf.
• Skim broth again if necessary, then add shredded chicken back in along with veggies, thyme, garlic, parsley, turmeric, cayenne, sea salt, and pepper. (See Note)
• Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook for another 2 hours or until vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally.
• Serve hot!

Notes

If you use a larger chicken, reserve some of the cooked shredded chicken for other purposes rather than adding it back into the soup. Use it in everything from chicken fried rice to chicken & avocado taquitos!

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