I was a bit off last week. Shaky, sore throat. I felt awful. My mate made me the most delicious secret recipe Bulgarian chicken soup and I swear it made me better over night. Naturally I asked for the recipe and was promptly denied. Apparently her dead grandmother would haunt us both until the end of our days if she gave up the family recipe. Trying to avoid the wrath of a smoted Bulgarian old lady ghost, I went for a poke around to find different chicken soup recipes. I’ve made four lots of different soup over the last week and this is by far the best recipe I’ve come up with.
What You Need
1 kilo of chicken thigh fillets
1 brown onion, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 zucchini, finely diced
2 broccoli heads, chopped into small pieces
1 bunch of continental parsley
3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder
10 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
8 cups of water
Salt and pepper to taste
What You Do
1. Place all ingredients into a large pot.
2. Bring to the boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
4. Remove chicken from the pot using tongs. Slice chicken into bit sized pieces and return to the pot.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Did You Know…?
That thyme is an antiseptic herb and was used by the Ancient Egyptians for embalming.
Do you have a favourite chicken soup recipe? Please share in the comments!
18 Comments
-
I put a whole chicken in the slow cooker with two onions, two carrots and some celery (roughly chopped as you’ll be discarding them later). Cover with water and add salt (about 1-2 tbsp). Then whack it on low all day or overnight. Strain the stock, shred the chicken and make it into whatever soup takes your fancy. I like it simple with some finely diced onion, carrot and celery sauted in butter then simmered with the stock for 10 min or so. Add some risoni and the chicken for another 10 min and you will be in chicken soup heaven. You don’t have to use a slow cooker for the chicken but my exhaustive research proves that it’s a lot nicer and easier that way.
-
Author
My friend uses a whole chicken too but I’m a touch lazier than her! ๐
-
-
BabyMacs is fab! Chilli blows all the snot out xx
-
Oh has she posted it? I’ll go look!
-
-
Chikhirtma (Georgian egg and lemon soup) for 6. These are the exact measurements, I’m always much looser in my interpretation, but this is seriously THE BOMB. Nowhere near as fiddly as it sounds ๐
melt 2 tbsp butter over low heat, add 1 cup finely chopped onions, 4 cloves garlic (sliced). Saute until soft. Sprinkle in 1.5 tbsp flour (substitute with arrowroot or cornflour for Mr Smaggle), stir (thick roux paste consistency). Gradually add 6 cups hot chicken stock (if lazy, use Marigold powder, otherwise, proper bone based stock), bring up to a low boil then drop to simmer. Add salt & pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp crushed coriander seeds, 1/8 tsp crushed fenugreek seeds, 1/8 to 1/4 dried red pepper flakes.
In a bowl, whisk 3 egg yolks and 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice until nicely blended, then whisk in a further cup of hot stock. Stir the egg mix into the main soup. Stir in some saffron and 1 1/3 cups shredded chicken (ie roughly chopped). Serve with equal amounts fresh choppped basil, coriander and mint.
-
That sounds INSANE!!!! It’s next on the list!
-
-
I wish I could claim it as my own.. but.. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/chicken-tortilla-soup/
Best.Chicken.Soup.EVER.
Quite spicy. Or maybe I go a little overboard with the spice.
But it is amazing.Sometimes I use tortillas in it like suggested.
Other times a dollop of soup cream and corn chips crunched on top.
Either way.
YUM.Plus it freezes well (minus the tortillas etc).
-
Oh good! I love recipes that freeze well!
-
-
Chicken noodle soup! This stuff is like Jewish penicillin, so I’ve had a LOT of it.
-
Jewish penicillin? Probably the greatest comment of the day!
-
-
Oh man, I so needed that on the weekend! But then I would have also needed someone capable of cooking it for me…
-
It’s really easy. I’m sure you even train a pet to do it!
-
-
Hehe I don’t know-the idea of being haunted by a Bulgarin ghost sounds kinda interesting no? ๐
-
Well I think so but she won’t share ANY of her awesome family recipes. Bitch. ๐
-
-
I make loads of different chicken soup recipes, depending on how sick I feel. If I need proper sustenance, I’ll make a thicker soup but if I am truly poorly, I’ll make a broth style chicken soup. Baby Mac’s is awesome but Sarah Wilson also makes a good one.
Here is my thicker soup recipe: soak half a bag of soup mix overnight. Drain. Chop one onion, two sticks of celery, two carrots, one sweet potato, half a butternut pumpkin and one potato and saute in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Throw in a kilo of skinless chicken drumsticks and the soup mix and stir to comibine. Cover with water/stock and let simmer for about 45 minutes. Strain chicken legs, debone and throw the chicken back into the soup. Stir through a good handful of chopped parsley. Yummy.
-
Thank you for clarifying thickness! I love a chunky soup.
-
-
Of course chicken soup should make you better! Chicken soup is renowned for its healing properties. Good on your friend for looking after you. This is my favourite recipe, Chicken soup with rice in honour of Maurice Sendak ๐ (RIP). You need to save the bones from your last chicken roast, or alternatively roast off some bone-in chicken thighs/legs and use this as the basis of your broth (bones add flavour as you may know). To make the soup first sautรฉ a few cloves of minced garlic (I like lots of garlic, i’m so not a vampire), followed by one chopped up onion then some minced ginger (about an inch in diameter), once softened add your roasted chicken bones and lots of water enough to fill up the pot, and let that boil for about an hour or as long as you can. Afterwards take the bones out and add any shredded up chicken meat that you have into the soup (or you can have it without the meat). Then add a cup of rice, and cook until the rice is really soft. You can add more water or chicken stock if there’s not enough to cook the rice with. There you have it. Season with s&p and chuck some chopped up spring onions in there at the end if you like. The garlic and ginger add therapeutic benefits I’m sure. Not to mention make the soup so very yummy ๐ xxx
-
Ah thank you so much! I’ll add it to the list. Mr Smags is having a major soup making moment this week.
-
