Quick Chicken Soup
Wondering what to cook for dinner? Nothing beats a good homemade chicken soup, don’t you think? I’m talking the kind you make from scratch with a whole chook and loads of veggies cooked low and slow, then laced with lemon and fresh herbs. The resulting chicken broth is so wonderfully nourishing and grounding and packed with immune-boosting and healing nutrients, in easy to digest forms. It’s the kind of stuff that feeds your soul.
Traveling around Australia in a van hasn’t always allowed me the time or access to a good chook to do this. So, this is the quick chicken soup I can manage to throw together in under an hour – using some fridge & pantry staples like bone broth concentrate (I like this and this), dried herbs and cooked chicken – and still be rewarded with the same nourishment and comfort as if it had been simmering away all day on the stove top. Throw in any old fridge scrap veg and add some pasta too, if you wish. That’s a drizzle of my Activated Herby Pesto on top too, completely optional but definitely encouraged.
Ingredients
1 Tbsp ghee or olive oil
1.5L chicken broth
500g cooked chicken, diced/shredded
1 potato, diced (peeled if not organic)
1 zucchini, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 onion, finely diced
1 can (400g) cannellini beans *BPA-free
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 ear of corn, kernels
3/4 cup soup pasta (I use this)
1 frozen spinach cube
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
Sea salt & fresh black pepper, to taste
Juice of 1 lemon
Optional extra: 2 Tbsp Activated Herby Pesto mixed with 2 Tbsp olive oil, for drizzling on top
Method
- To a large pot, heat ghee over medium heat and sauté the onion and garlic until the onions they’re translucent.
- Add potato, carrot, zucchini and corn and stir.
- Add broth and herbs and simmer for 30-minutes, or until the harder vegetables like potatoes are cooked.
- While the soup in simmering away, cook the pasta in a separate pot of boiling water, according to the instructions.
- To the soup, add cooked chicken, spinach and lemon juice and cooked for a further 5-10 minutes.
- Divide pasta between your bowls and pour over chicken soup.
- Serve with a dollop of pesto and buttered crusty sourdough bread.
About the Author
Lucy is Nutritionist, mum and step-mum, who is passionate about nourishing the next generation – our little people – with delicious wholefoods.
Lucy aims to educate, inspire and empower mums, mums-to-be, parents and careers to make healthier food choices for their kids, right from the start – without spending anymore money shopping or time cooking, than you already do. Cutting through the confusion of what to feed your kids (and how to get them to eat it!) Lucy offers comprehensive research-backed nutritional advice, practical natural solutions to common childhood complaints and easy and delicious recipes that the whole family will love.