Healthy home made chicken soup
This recipe starts with a roasted chicken. Either ready cooked at the local grocery store or oven roasted at home. My favorite though is to roast it in a cob cooker with hickory chips. This gives the soup a nice hickory smoke flavor. Wow, getting hungry as I type. At this point you can use the whole chicken for a lot of soup or, as we do it, eat some of the chicken one day and then use the rest of it for soup the next. If you don't feel like messing with it today fridge it or freeze it till you do. Sometimes we will freeze one decimated carcass and add a second one later.
The soup process.
Put the leftover chicken in a large enough pot to cover with water and boil for about an hour. I use a 6 quart pot. Then let it cool enough to handle the chicken parts. I usually skim off most of the fat that floats to the top. Separate the chicken meat from bones and other inedible parts, then cut into pieces. It's amazing how much chicken meat is left from a chicken done this way. I usually pour the water (now a nice broth) threw a strainer to get rid of small pieces of yucky stuff and pour it back into the pot. Dump the chicken meat in and add union, garlic, herbs, spices and whatever chopped veggies are desired. Be sure to put firmer veggies in first so they can cook longer to soften as needed. I find that soups are more interesting if veggies are not over cooked so each one retains it's own flavor. Don't be afraid to experiment with different ingredients. For example, I don't particularly like Brussels sprouts but quartered and put into soup is excellent.
List of ingredients. Adjust to your liking. Dice into half inch square.
- Chicken stock
- Chopped chicken meat
- Onion
- Garlic, minced
- Peppers: red, green, chili as desired.
- Rutabaga
- Beets
- Carrot
- Bok choy or other greens
- Spices and Herbs
Spice to taste. Can be as simple as salt and pepper, or poultry seasoning. We like to use Poultry seasoning, Rosemary, Pepper and Salt or low sodium substitute.