A Homemade Chicken Soup Recipe

This homemade chicken soup recipe is easy to make and results in a wonderfully flavoursome meal.

Below, there's also a recipe for Jewish chicken soup made in (almost) the traditional way. Good for seeing off a cold or 'flu!

This chicken soup recipe will deliver you the very best results if you treat it as an organic chicken soup recipe!

Use only the best quality fresh free-range chicken - or even better, organic free-range chicken. Aside from moral scruples about the miserable lives of factory-farmed birds, if you eat free-range chicken you are getting a far tastier, more nutritious and healthy soup for your pains.

Organic and free range chicken is more expensive - necessarily. The birds are more labour-intensive to rear and the food given them is better quality. Nevertheless, you can still make a very inexpensive chicken soup if you use cheap cuts such as chicken wings. You can also use left-overs from a roast chicken, for example.

Low fat chicken soup

A low fat chicken soup recipe may be preferred by some people, whether for dietary reasons or taste.

If you want to make a low fat soup it's very easy to adapt this very easy soup recipe by removing the skin and skimming off the fat. A lot of the fat on a chicken carcase is just under the skin, so by removing it you are lowering the fat content considerably.

If you are not on a low fat diet for health reasons, it's always worth remembering that both the taste and many of the vitamins in food are to be found in fat. On the other hand, modern birds tend to be fattier - even free-range ones.

If you can, buy from a trusted local supplier. There are some dubious outfits which will try to command premium prices for birds of doubtful origin. Properly farmed, organic and free-range chicken is a valuable food resource which can be a part of a green lifestyle.

This home-made, simple chicken soup is made from common and easily obtainable ingredients. You can, of course, ring the changes by varying the herbs and vegetables used.

Here is the full recipe - and a shortened picture recipe, too.

First, saute onions and bayleaf and rosemary	Add the chicken; after a minute or two add the water	Add the vegetables towards the end

Ingredients

2-3 medium onions

2 or 3 garlic cloves

1 pound of chicken pieces

3-4 carrots

2-3 stalks of celery

fresh rosemary - 2 or 3 small stalks

fresh thyme, 1 or 2 snippets

bay leaf

fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Chop the onions fairly finely and sweat them in olive oil. You can add the chopped or minced garlic, rosemary and bay at this stage.Add the chicken pieces and stir the mixture frequently over a medium heat so that the chicken gets slightly seared. Don't allow the onions to brown too much. Browning releases flavours but too much will cause a slightly bitter flavour.

Add enough water, preferably pure, filtered water, to cover everything. Add salt and pepper and adjust the seasoning by adding more herbs or veg if required. Celery heads (the leafy top bits) are good in moderation for developing the flavour of the liquid.

Add the chopped herbs and vegetables. When the mixture comes to the boil, turn down the heat to a very gentle simmer. (This helps the meat to become tender rather than tough.)

When the chicken is thoroughly cooked, remove the bones and skin and break up larger pieces of flesh. Return the meat to the pan. Check that everything is well cooked. You can add well-chopped parsley at this stage to enhance the flavour. Adjust the seasoning with sea salt and ground pepper, as you like.

When you are satisfied that everything is cooked and properly seasoned, serve the soup with hunks of brown bread and butter.

This homemade chicken soup recipe will serve two or three people for a hearty meal - or more if served as a starter.

A Jewish homemade chicken soup recipe

Here's a homemade chicken soup recipe based upon traditional Jewish chicken soup. In Jewish tradition the liver should not be included but in this recipe we use the whole bird after cleaning, including gizzard and neck, though personally I draw the line at using the feet.

Chicken soup has almost iconic status in Jewish lore. It is thought to promote health and ward off colds and 'flus. It's even jokingly talked of as"Jewish penicillin". There may be something in this: oscillococcinium is a homoeopathic remedy based on chicken or duck liver which is often used against those very complaints. This remedy is very popular in France and has a bit of a following in the US and elsewhere.

At any rate, if you are stricken with a cold, or you are recuperating from 'flu, this is a great soup for helping you back to your usual energy levels. It's also very tasty - so no need to reserve this homemade chicken soup recipe just for when you are sick!

Ingredients

1 chicken

water to cover

1 large onion

2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 stalks celery

1 handful of chopped parsley or parsley root

seasoning; salt pepper, pinch of nutmeg

Method

Put the chicken into a deep pan and cover with water. Bring it to the boil and simmer it for around two hours. Skim off any excess fat. Add all the other ingredients and cook for another hour. Strain the soup and check the seasoning. You can add some strands of noodles (lokshen) 5 minutes before serving if you like.

I hope you find this organic homemade chicken soup recipe as delicious as we do!

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