Homemade Chicken Soup

Who doesn’t love chicken soup?  I always like to keep some on hand, especially when the weather changes and sniffles start appearing.

My daughter who is a junior in college wasn’t feeling well and I whipped up a batch for her.  I don’t really have a strict recipe, but it’s hard to ruin this soup, especially with my two special ingredients.

I like to start with my favorite stock pot.  This hammered copper pot from William Sonoma was a gift from a friend who needed an interim place to stay, using our guest room for a few weeks. It is 9.5″ tall and has 11.75 quart capacity. What a perfect gift as I use it frequently and always think of him when I do.

Chicken~~I use anything with bones.  For this recipe, I purchased 1.5 lbs. of drumsticks, 1.5 lbs of boned breast, and 1.5 lbs. of thighs.  You can take a whole chicken and cut it up….it’s the bones that give it the most flavor.

Next I add carrots and onions, cut up into chunks.  You can add as much as you like. I added 3-4 large carrots and 2 onions.

Next comes celery~~include the leafy tops.

A bunch of parsley…..

I fill the pot with tap water.

Here is what it looks like.

I finish with some salt….again, try not to over salt it as you can always add more later. However, if you do over salt it, I understand you can add a potato and that will absorb it…but I haven’t tried it to confirm.  Add pepper if you’d like.

Bring the stock to a boil and then simmer~~for a few hours.  If the water evaporates a lot then you can always add more.

Strain the soup in a colander.  Remove the chicken, de-bone it and remove the skin.  Cut the meat into bite size pieces (it will more than likely just fall off the bone).  Cut up the carrots. You can cut up the celery and onion, however, often times I just remove it because it is so soft.

Put aside in a bowl.  Skim the fat off the broth.  If you decide to refrigerate the broth, the skimming of the fat will be easier as it solidifies.

Add the chicken and the vegetables back into the broth.  Now here are my two secret ingredients.

Better than Bouillion~~this organic chicken base can add more flavor to the broth, if it isn’t to your liking.  I believe it punches up the taste and is a great substitute for more salt. I add it a spoonful at a time, until the broth is at the desired flavor.

Reames Homestyle Egg Noodles~~these hardy noodles add some bulk to the soup. They taste like real homemade noodles and you can find them in the freezer section of your grocery store.  My friend, Sue Frome, turned me onto to these noodles and I always keep a few packages on hand. Add the noodles to the chicken soup and cook for approximately 20 minutes, or until desired tenderness.

I don’t know how many servings this makes since I freeze most of it in portions to use in the future.

As the weather gets cooler, it is so nice to have a bowl of hot, homemade, chicken soup!

Enjoy!

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