Soup weather is upon us, and this soup (like all rich chicken broths) is not only delicious, it’s also incredibly soothing, healing, nourishing, anti-inflammatory, plus it’s a wonderful cold and flu remedy. This is the perfect time of the year to get into it: it freezes well, and you can adjust the vegetables to what you have on hand, and what’s in season. It’s a really versatile recipe.
The key to making this soup extra delicious is to incorporate a homemade bone broth base. Sometimes store bought liquid broths just don’t compare, and they often contain dubious additives such as extracts, preservatives and flavour enhancers. I often make big batches of homemade bone broth to use as a liquid base in dishes like; curries, butter chicken, slow cooked meats and stews, pumpkin soup, and I even cook my rice in it. Most often I’ll use it to make quick chicken soups like this. You can also add in some flavour bombs in the last few minutes of cooking too, sometimes I’ll add in a little extra crushed garlic, freshly grated ginger, fresh thyme or oregano, pepper and a good pinch of quality salt for extra nutrients and flavour! The good thing is, you can do it all to taste.
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
- 1 carrot, finely diced
- 2 sticks of celery, finely diced
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- Optional: 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
- Leftover roast chicken (I used roughly 1/2 of the meat from a whole chicken)
- 1.5 L homemade chicken bone broth
- 3-4 kale leaves, stems removed, finely sliced, or use 1 cup baby kale leaves, roughly chopped
- 1/2 – 3/4 cup frozen organic corn
- 3/4 cup organic frozen green beans
- The leaves from 2-3 stems of fresh thyme or oregano
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 Tbsp of ghee for cooking (use coconut oil if dairy free)
Method
- Heat a large saucepan on medium heat. Once the pan is heated, add some ghee, the carrot and celery and sauté until the veggies have some colour on them. Place the lid on top and allow the carrots and celery to partially steam for a few minutes.
- Add the spring onion, herbs, garlic, turmeric powder and ginger if adding it in, and stir. Sauté for a few minutes until the garlic becomes fragrant.
- Add the homemade bone broth, kale leaves, corn, green beans in and bring to a soft boil.
- Once all the veggies are cooked, add the chicken in at the end. Because it’s all ready cooked, you don’t need to cook it again, it just needs to heat up in the liquid.
- Taste and adjust as desired. If it needs a little more flavour, add in a little more crushed garlic, salt, pepper, fresh herbs and stir in.
- Serve in bowls and enjoy.
Jordan Pie is a qualified Nutritionist and GAPS practitioner. Jordan is also a healthy recipe developer, freelance food photographer, cookbook author, and educator. With a profound passion for empowering others with knowledge on food additives and harnessing the therapeutic potential of food as medicine, Jordan strives to inspire positive lifestyle changes and foster a deeper connection to nourishing, wholesome foods.
