Comfort Chicken Soup

A hot bowl of soup on a cold winter night is a truly special thing - especially when it’s chicken soup! Temperatures hung around the -20s this weekend, so making soup just felt like the comforting and fun thing to do. I am proud and excited to bring you the first soup post of Sandwiches are Beautiful!

This chicken soup recipe is adapted from a hambone soup recipe I found online at allrecipes.com  Obviously, I swapped out the hambone for the leftover carcass of a roast chicken I’d made earlier in the week (thank you, Jamie Oliver!) and omitted the tomatoes and included more herbs for increased flavour, but the overall process was the same – simple one-pot, fragrant goodness!

Comfort Chicken Soup requires: 

Chicken, carrots and celery about to be added to the soup.

1 leftover carcass of a roast chicken (It had leftover sprigs of rosemary, sage and thyme stuffed in the cavity, which added beautiful flavor to the soup. If you don’t have a leftover chicken carcass, a store-bought rotisserie chicken would also do, along with the addition of the above mentioned herbs)

3 carrots, chopped

3 celery ribs and leafy tops, chopped

½ sweet onion, diced

2 bay leaves

1 cup of cooked chicken, cut into small pieces

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables 

¾ cup uncooked rice

1 cup uncooked macaroni

¼ tsp each of ground pepper and salt

One-Pot Process:

Smells heavenly!

 1- Put the chicken carcass in a large pot and cover with water.Bring to a boil for 10-15 minutes.
 2- Add the onion and the herbs (if not already in the chicken).
 3- Turn the heat down to medium and add the chicken, carrots, celery and other veggies.
 4- Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes and add the rice and macaroni. Season with salt and pepper.
 5- Cover and simmer for 60-90 minutes.
 6- Use a slotted spoon to fish out the chicken bones and carefully pull any remaining meat off the bones (it’s really hot, so use a fork!)
7- Discard the bones, bay leaves and herbs.

8- Let cool 10-15 min. before serving.

Souptacular! It's especially lovely when enjoyed with some soft buttered French bread that you can dip into the soup.  This soup would also pair with a thick tuna sandwich, like the Veggie or Spicy Tuna sandwiches from December.  It’s a comfort food that’s piping hot and hearty – just right for a lazy Sunday dinner.

Have a great week!

Doesn't get much better than hot soup and soft bread!