Homemade Nourishing Chicken Soup
by roy.asher
This outrageously delicious Homemade Nourishing Chicken Soup has it all: a rich soul-satisfying broth, fall off the bone chicken, and delicate noodles. Instant pot, pressure cooker and stove top instructions included!
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 90 min
Total: 105 min
8 servings
Easy
Ingredients
1 — whole chicken — preferably organic, 4-5 lbs.
1 pound carrots — cut in half, no need to peel
1/4 piece celery bunch — remove the lower 1/4 of the celery bunch for the soup, reserve the rest for other uses
2 — yellow onion — cut into quarters, leave skins on
1 head head of garlic — cut in half, skins on
1/4 small head of cabbage — cut in half
2 — bay leaves
10-15 — whole black peppercorns
1 tbsp. sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tbsp. salt
1 bunch fresh parsley — rinsed
— water — spring water, enough to cover chicken, fill pot 2/3 full
— cooked noodles — pastina is recommended but any pasta noodle will do
Instructions
Remove the innards from the chicken and rinse the cavity. Rinse the body of the chicken as well. Place the whole chicken in the soup pot.
Quarter the onions leaving the skins on. Place in the soup pot.
Cut carrots into chunks and place in the pot. No need to peel.
Cut off the whole base of a bunch of celery by measuring 4-5 inches from the bottom of the bunch and cutting from that place. Put the bottom piece in the pot.
Place a whole bunch of freshly rinsed parsley in the pot.
Cut a head of garlic in half with the skins on and place both pieces in the pot.
Add in cabbage, bay leaves, salt, peppercorns, and paprika.
Fill the pot with spring water 2/3 full, leaving room in the last 1/3 of the pot. Make sure the chicken is fully submerged.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for 1-2 hours, or until the chicken is tender, cooked through, and the broth is flavorful. Test the chicken by pulling a piece off the bone — it should fall right off, be super tender, and no longer pink. This typically takes 90 minutes, but if your chicken is closer to 5 lbs. it may take 2 hours.
Remove the pot from the heat and allow the soup to cool down slightly.
Remove the chicken from the pot with tongs and place in its own container. Shred the chicken that you would like in your soup and set aside.
Place a strainer over a large bowl and carefully pour the broth with all the vegetables through the strainer. Remove the larger pieces of carrots and set aside to slice into your soup. If desired, reserve some cooked cabbage to chop into your soup. Smoosh all of the remaining vegetables with a wooden spoon to extract as much flavor as possible, especially smashing the garlic through the strainer to create a garlic paste to stir into the soup. Discard the smooshed vegetables in the strainer.
Taste the broth and adjust seasoning before pouring into the soup terrine.
Put the soup together: shred chicken from the bone and add to the stock, then slice the reserved carrots and add to the stock. Add noodles or rice to individual soup bowls. Top with additional fresh parsley.