Chicken Soup Recipe
My mom’s chicken soup has been my favorite meal my entire life. She learned to make it from her mom. I love it so much that I even wrote my college essay about how I used to make it with my mom as a kid. I have no idea why I didn’t write about being homeschooled my whole life, or a near death experience, but thankfully I got into college anyway.
Getting right to it, here’s what you need:
I have only ever had success making the chicken soup using one of the two options above.
Chicken
Either a whole chicken, or if you want to try making a smaller portion to start, buy two to four whole, bone-in chicken thighs/legs
Carrots (about a pound)
Celery (half a celery heart, can include the leaves)
Onion (two)
Flat Italian parsley, but curly parsley also works
Potatoes (optional)
Brown rice (short grain), orzo, or egg noodles
Pecorino romano cheese (mandatory - Locatelli brand recommended)
Chop the carrots into short logs, and celery into either short logs or smaller pieces (depending on your preference) and place into a large soup pot. Halve or quarter the onion (halving recommended), quarter the potato and put in the pot. Put the chicken in the pot, and cover with water. If using a whole chicken, definitely make sure it covers the entire chicken and then a good some. Put a healthy bunch of parsley into the soup.
Add in the entire bouillon cube pack, or pour half of the container of bouillon powder into the pot. Season with a healthy grind of fresh black pepper.
Turn on the heat, and bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer until the chicken starts to fall off the bone.
In the meantime, make either the brown rice, orzo or egg noodles. In my family, everyone has a different preference, but we always at least make brown rice, which is my favorite.
Once the soup is done, use tongs or two serving spoons to lift the cooked chicken out of the soup and into a casserole dish. If you want, you can pull the chicken apart and place the meat back into the soup, or just place however much chicken you’d like directly into your bowl on top of the rice or orzo. The reason we separate it is to do our best to eliminate any bones floating around, and also because leaving the bones in the soup in the fridge will turn it gelatinous. If you do the latter option and end up with extra chicken after the soup is gone, it’s perfect for turning into a chicken pot pie. Bones are great for saving for chicken stock.
Place your rice or orzo into your bowl, then add the chicken (if it hasn’t been put back into the soup), and then ladle on your soup with all the veggie goodness. The soup should be a warm golden color, with small pools of chicken fat sparkling at the surface. I always fish around for at least half of an onion and lots of carrots, which are my favorite.
Top with a generous scoop of Pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper.
There isn’t anything better.
