Chicken Soup

Chicken soup comes together with tender chicken, hearty vegetables, and fragrant herbs simmered low and slow in a rich broth. It’s simple, nourishing, and comforting—the kind of meal that warms you from the inside out. Perfect for sick days, chilly nights, or whenever you need a little extra comfort.

Love More Apple Chicken Soups? Try My Tuscan Chicken Soup or this Marry Me Chicken Soup next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Perfect for both sick days and cozy family dinners, this soup is nourishing, hearty, and deeply satisfying. The golden broth is rich with flavor, the chicken turns fall-apart tender, and the veggies add just the right balance. It makes a generous batch, so you’ll have plenty to enjoy now and extra to freeze for busy nights later.

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Ingredients You’ll Need

For the Soup Base:

• 1 whole chicken (about 3 lbs) – Don’t go cheap here, get the good stuff
• 4 carrots, halved – I don’t even peel them half the time
• 4 stalks celery, halved – Use the leafy parts too
• 1 large onion, halved – Yellow onions work best
• Water, enough to cover everything – Filtered if your tap water tastes funky
• Salt and pepper, to taste – Sea salt makes a difference
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules – Better Than Bouillon is my go-to

Why These Ingredients Work

Here’s the thing about using a whole chicken – my grocery store charges $1.29 a pound for it versus $4.99 for boneless breasts, and the flavor you get from all those bones is insane. I learned this from my neighbor Rosa who grew up in her grandmother’s kitchen in Mexico. She told me the bones are where all the good stuff lives.

Those three vegetables aren’t random either. Carrots add sweetness, celery gives you that classic soup taste, and onions make everything better – that’s cooking 101 right there. I start with cold water because my cooking teacher in community college drilled it into our heads that hot water makes cloudy broth.

The bouillon is my cheat code. Yeah, I said it. Sometimes you need a little help to get that restaurant-quality flavor at home, and I’m not too proud to admit it.

Essential Tools and Equipment

You need a big pot – I use my 8-quart Dutch oven that was my wedding present twelve years ago. Still works like a charm. Got a good knife for chopping, a cutting board that doesn’t slide around, and a ladle that actually fits in the pot. That’s it. Don’t overthink this.

How To Make Chicken Soup

Step 1: Get Everything in the Pot

Chuck that whole chicken in your pot along with the chopped carrots, celery, and onion. Pour cold water over everything until it’s covered by about an inch. Don’t measure – just eyeball it.

Step 2: Bring to a Boil and Simmer

Crank up the heat and get it boiling. You’ll see gross foam bubbling up – that’s normal. Once it’s really going, turn it down to low and let it bubble away gently for about 90 minutes. Set a timer because I always forget and end up with mush.

Step 3: Skim That Foam

Every twenty minutes or so, grab a big spoon and scoop off the foam. My mom never did this step and her soup always looked cloudy. Takes two seconds and makes all the difference.

Step 4: Remove and Shred the Chicken

After an hour and a half, that chicken should be falling apart. Carefully fish it out with tongs – it’s hot as hell. Let it cool on a plate while you deal with the vegetables. Pull all the meat off and throw away the bones and skin. I usually pick at it while I’m doing this because I’m hungry and impatient.

Step 5: Deal with Those Veggies

Scoop out the vegetables. I chop them up smaller and throw them back in because I hate waste. My husband prefers when I toss them and start fresh with new vegetables, but that seems crazy to me.

Step 6: Bring It All Together

Put the shredded chicken back in the pot with the broth. Add back your chopped vegetables if you’re keeping them. Heat it all up again on medium heat for maybe ten minutes.

Step 7: Season to Perfection

Now taste it. Add salt, pepper, and that bouillon. Start small – you can always add more but you can’t take it back. I probably use more salt than I should, but it needs it.

You Must Know

Don’t use hot water at the start. Don’t add salt too early. Don’t forget to set timers because time flies when you’re doing other stuff. Don’t try to rush it – slow cooking is what makes this work.

My Personal Secret: I throw a parmesan cheese rind into the pot during the last hour of cooking. Sounds weird, I know, but my Italian friend Maria taught me this trick when I was complaining about my soup tasting bland. The rind melts just enough to add this amazing depth without making it cheesy. Just fish it out before serving – I always forget and my husband finds it floating in his bowl.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Don’t skip skimming that foam – seriously. It looks nasty floating there anyway. Save the fat that rises to the top in a jar in your fridge. Use it for cooking potatoes or vegetables later. My grandmother did this during the Depression and never stopped.

Taste the soup every thirty minutes. Every chicken is different, every pot cooks different. What worked last time might not work this time. Don’t boil it hard the whole time or you’ll get mushy vegetables and stringy chicken.

If you’re adding noodles, cook them separately in salted water. Otherwise they soak up all your broth and get disgusting when you reheat leftovers. Learned this the hard way.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

Make It Your Own

Sometimes I throw in fresh thyme from my herb garden. Bay leaves are good too but remember to fish them out. My friend Janet adds a whole lemon at the end for brightness. My mother-in-law puts dill in everything, including this soup, and it actually works.

If you want it heartier, add diced potatoes in the last thirty minutes. Rice works too. My kids like it with those tiny star pasta pieces.

Noodle Options

Egg noodles are classic. Rice if someone’s gluten-free. Those little shell pasta work good too. Cook them separate though – I can’t stress this enough.

Make-Ahead Options

This soup tastes better tomorrow. The flavors get all married overnight in the fridge. I make a huge batch every other Sunday and freeze half in those plastic containers from the grocery store. Lasts about six months in the freezer.

You can make just the broth and chicken ahead of time, then add fresh vegetables when you’re ready to eat. Sometimes I do this because my husband likes his carrots with more bite.

Recipe Notes & My Best Tips

If your broth tastes weak, let it simmer uncovered for another twenty minutes to concentrate it. Don’t worry if it’s not crystal clear like restaurant soup – homemade should look homemade.

Three-pound chicken is perfect for this amount of water. Bigger chicken, more water. Smaller chicken, less water. It’s not rocket science.

Don’t throw away that chicken skin before you start cooking. It adds flavor. Just toss it after.

Serving Suggestions

I serve this with saltine crackers because that’s what my mom did. My kids dip grilled cheese sandwiches in it. My husband eats it straight from the pot when he thinks nobody’s looking.

For company, I put fresh parsley on top and serve it with crusty bread from the bakery. Makes it look fancy even though it’s peasant food.

I hope this becomes your go-to sick day soup. Nothing beats homemade when someone needs comfort.

How to Store Your Chicken Soup

Storage Guidelines

Don’t leave it sitting out all day – two hours max then into the fridge. It keeps for four days in there, maybe five if you’re brave. I freeze it in old yogurt containers and it lasts forever.

Reheating Instructions

Heat it slow on the stove, stirring every few minutes. Microwave works but heat it in thirty-second bursts so it doesn’t explode everywhere. From frozen, just dump it in a pot and heat it slow – no need to thaw first.

Allergy Information

This recipe doesn’t have wheat, dairy, or nuts in the basic version. Just chicken and vegetables. If you’re vegetarian, use vegetable broth instead of chicken but honestly, why are you making chicken soup?

For gluten-free, skip wheat noodles and use rice or gluten-free pasta instead.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

Can I use chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken? S

ure, but use bone-in breasts or you won’t get much flavor. Cook for about forty-five minutes instead of ninety.

My broth turned out cloudy – what happened?

You either started with hot water or boiled it too hard. Still tastes fine, just looks different.

Can I make this in a crockpot?

Yeah, low for six to eight hours. Same ingredients, just takes longer.

Can I add other vegetables?

Course. Potatoes, corn, green beans – whatever you got. Add the hard vegetables early, soft ones at the end.

💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! I love hearing about your soup adventures and what you added to make it yours!