Homemade Chicken or Turkey Soup
Chicken Soup to Cure What Ails You
Whenever I'm not feeling good or suspect that a cold is coming on, I like to make a big pot of homemade chicken soup. This is a basic recipe and there are all kinds of vegetables, rice or noodles that can be added to it depending on what your tastes are.
For this recipe I used chicken legs, but you can use any type of chicken or turkey that you have on hand.
Alter your soup
I had defrosted chicken legs for dinner but we ended up going out and I didn't have time to make them, so instead I made soup. Normally for chicken soup I'll either use chicken breasts (healthier choice) or leftovers from a roasted chicken.
Please note: If you find that your soup is too thick simply add more water, or a canned or boxed chicken broth.
Ingredients
- 5 -6 chicken legs with backs attached
- 8 - 12 cups of water
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 ribs of celery chopped
- 2 -3 carrots peeled and sliced
- 2 -3 tsp. of dehydrated chicken broth (I find this adds a bit more flavor) *optional
- fresh ground pepper
- 4 -5 dashes of Tabasco sauce
- 3 pinches of garlic sea salt (if you have it
- if not regular sea salt)
- 3 -4 cloves of garlic chopped
Instructions
- To cook the chicken legs as well as making the broth you want to put all the chicken legs into a large soup pot and cover them with fresh cold water. On medium high bring the water to a boil and cook until the chicken legs are done. This will take approximately 35-45 minutes. Remove the legs from the pot and set aside to cool. Once the broth has cooled down a bit pour the broth through a large plastic Ziploc bag with a small hole in the bottom corner to remove the fat from the broth. This is the method that I use for skimming.
- Prepare and chop the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic.
- In the soup pot, add the chopped onion, celery, carrots, and garlic to the skimmed broth cooking it on a medium-high setting. Add the Tabasco sauce, fresh ground pepper, and garlic sea salt. Bring to a boil and then turn the burner down to medium-low.Add the dehydrated chicken broth, *optional. Let that cook while you prepare the chicken legs.
- Remove the skin and bones from the chicken legs.
- Chop up the chicken and add it to the pot.
- Cook for approximately thirty minutes or until the carrots are fully cooked. Stir every 15 minutes or so.
- Serve and enjoy!
Do you make your own homemade soups?
Photos I took while making this soup.
Picture #1. Cooking the chicken legs.
Picture #2. Preparing the onions, and celery.
Picture #3. Chicken has been skinned, boned and chopped.
Picture #4. Spices have been added and the soup is cooking.
Picture #5. Amount of garlic sea salt that was used.
To Soup or Not to Soup - Homemade vs. Store Bought
I realize that many people do not have the time to make their own homemade soups or just do not like to cook. I'm interested to find out from my readers who makes their own soups and who buys ready to eat soup.
Add More Ingredients to Your Soup
The one thing I like about making soup is that every time I make it, it turns out different depending on what I add to it. Below are veggies, pastas, rice, and spices that I've used in the past to make chicken soup.
- Veggies that are fresh,canned or frozen. If you plan to add frozen or canned, you may want to wait until the last 15 minutes of cooking time before adding. Cauliflower, corn, beans, broccoli, potatoes, turnip, peas, cabbage, or any type of vegetable that you like.
- Pasta: I like to use the alphabet pasta because you can add it without cooking it first. If using an elbow pasta or something larger I suggest cooking it before adding it to the soup.
- Rice: If you have any leftover rice kicking around in your fridge soup is a great way to use it up. When adding rice that has not been cooked yet I generally cook it before adding it to the soup.
- Lentils and or barley will make any soup hardier.
- Spices: Slap Ya Mama Cajun spice is one of my favorites to use to any type of soup that I may be making. If someone in your house doesn't like spicy you can always add it once served. Other spices you may want to add include; marjoram, bay leaves, Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, celery seed, garlic powder, onion powder, all seasoning spice, cumin, or hot pepper flakes. If I've missed a spice you like, please let me know in the comment section.
What's a soup kitchen?
— Paris HiltonIf I missed something that you like adding to your chicken soup, please let me know.
© 2013 Susan Zutautas
