What is your best chicken soup recipe EVER?

Small fryer hen stuffed with a head of garlic, wrapped in cheese cloth and simmered for a few hours in water with stalks of celery, a few sprigs of fresh dill fern and whole peppercorns.
Add in matzo balls formed with minced mushroom, grated carrot and grated red bell pepper to steep after the chicken has been removed and the broth filtered clear. I take the chicken apart and serve it on it’s own platter with sprigs of fresh cilantro, green onion stalks and hothouse small tomatoes.

Not a full recipe, but any good chicken soup should be made by simmering chicken bones in water with a bit of vinegar for 6–8 hours. Bone broth is extremely savory and I believe it has magic healing powers. The book “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon goes into a lot of why it’s so healthy.

Roast a chicken

Eat the chicken

Put all the parts you don’t eat in a pot
(Hearts, livers etc ARE NOT included)

Cut up an onion, throw it in the pot
Cut up a carrot, throw it in the pot
Cut up a celery stalk, throw it in the pot

Put some salt in, too and fill the pot with water

Simmer (just baaarely simmer, do not boil) for 2 or 3 hours

Strain out the solids, giving you chicken stock.

Cool the stock in the fridge (or outside in the winter) and skim off the fat

When you feel like having soup, put stock in a pot.
Add
Green beans
Chicken meat
Corn
Diced tomato
Diced potato

Simmer until the veggies are as soft or crunchy as you like.

MMMMM!

This is really economical. Chicken stock is $2 or $3 per quart. This gives you 2 to 4 free quarts after you finish your roast chicken.

I know of a delicious chicken stew like soup thats really good if you like. But I’ll have to get back to you on that tomorrow. I don’t exactly measure so I’ll have to give the measurements some thought.
Let me know if your interested.

I do the same thing as @jaytkay except I put all kinds of herbs in it—oregano, rosemary, basil, sage, a bay leaf. Sometimes I put half a lemon in it, or lemongrass.

If I want chicken soup, I’ll take the meat off the bones and put that in the stock. I don’t do that much any more since the stock is much more valuable as stock than soup. Oh, and I do put the liver, heart and neck in to boil.

Mine will taste a lot more rich, I think.

A friend of mine told me about the Univ of Nebraska Chicken Soup Study and sent me the link for the recipe
http://www.unmc.edu/chickensoup/recipe.htm

The only difference is that I buy backs/necks and wings and roast them then cover with water and begin the recipe as described
(and it cures a cold too)
:-)

@jaytkay that’s my whole roasted chicke ritual, only I leave it on the simmer for more like 6 hours and you have stock

This has been my go=to for a long time, but it isn’t a traditional chicken soup.

Chicken, Spinach & Gnocchi Soup
adapted from a Food Network cookbook

Ingredients:

1 package of pre-made gnocchi
1 bag of baby spinach
skinless chicken breasts
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp unsalted butter
salt
parmesan (optional)

Directions:

1. Bring water to boil in a large pot throw in chicken and cook until it is cooked through.

2. Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil over high heat, then salt generously. Add the gnocchi and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. Slice your garlic and shred the chicken, reserve chicken stock.

4. Add ¼ cup of chicken broth, garlic, butter and sugar to a large pot over medium low heat. Bring it to a simmer and cook, uncovered until the garlic is tender, about a minute.

5. Add the spinach add let it wilt for about 30 seconds. Add 3¾ cups of chicken broth, the chicken and bring just to a simmer. Stir in gnocchi and bring to a full boil.

6. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with grated parmesan if desired.

@fundevogel gnocchi, spinach and garlic, oh my! I am trying that soon.

@jaytkay It’s one of my favorites!

Thanks for the great recipes and tips. It is about the fourth day of winter here, so it is definitely chicken soup weather. I am going to try these tips and recipes. I appreciate your ideas and time.