Chicken Soup - The Ultimate Comfort Food
Do you have a favorite comfort food?
One that makes you feel cozy and warm and satisfied all at once?
For me, it’s chicken soup.
In our family, our grandma was the chicken-soup-maker.
And when she made soup, it was an EVENT.
My sister and I would head over to her house and help her chop veggies and taste-test the broth and cook noodles for what truly felt like an entire DAY.
In retrospect…she might’ve been trying to keep two bored kids occupied.
I can empathize with her now.
Sadly, none of us got my grandma’s recipe before she passed away.
And truth be told, I don’t think there really was a recipe - she just knew how to do it.
I’ve spent the past few years tinkering around in our kitchen, trying to replicate our family’s favorite soup and now I’d like to share it with you.
Now, before you start to panic, this soup does NOT take an entire day.
In fact, your hands-on time is pretty minimal.
But it still tastes delicious and comforting and familiar.
I’m sure it’ll be one of your family’s favorites from here on out.
Ingredients:
Chicken - 1 whole chicken, thawed
Salt - 2 tbsp, plus additional to taste
Carrots - 5-6, diced into 1-2” pieces
Onion - 2 large, diced
Celery - 5-6 stalks, diced into 1-2” piece
Allspice, whole - 3
Directions:
Place chicken in stockpot and cover with water, at least 2” above the top of the
chicken. Feel free to add more water if you want a larger quantity of soup. Add 1
tbsp salt.Bring pot to a boil; reduce to a simmer for roughly 1-1.5 hours. You’ll know the
chicken is fully cooked when the legs can be easily pulled off the carcass.While chicken is boiling, prep your veggies.
Pull the chicken out of the stockpot and allow to cool for a bit on a large pan/plate. Strain out the
soup, discarding any chunks of chicken skin that may have fallen off.Add onion, carrots, celery, salt (2 tbsp), and allspice to the soup. Bring to a simmer.
Once the chicken has cooled enough to not burn your fingers, debone it, adding
back in as much of the meat as you want and putting the rest on the side to eat
separately.Simmer your soup for another hour or until the veggies are soft.
Check for saltiness - add more to taste. (This will largely depend on how much
water you initially put into your stockpot.)
Notes:
*You can change the veggie quantities for your personal preference. We’ve added in
garlic, dill, and cabbage at various times. This is just the basic “classic” version of the
recipe.
*Add in whatever carb you want - noodles, rice, etc. Our family’s personal favorite is
potatoes on the bottom of the bowl and then traditional Polish kluski noodles added
in. A healthier, and still delicious, alternative is to use wild rice instead.
*If you really want to go wild, try this homemade kluski noodle recipe: the polonist - kluski egg noodles. We’ve made them a few times now and they are DIVINE.