Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Chicken and Vegetable Soup



I am seriously in love with soup.  I eat soup all year long... even when it's hot in the summer. There's just something so satisfying about soup.

That being said, you'd think that I would have a great chicken soup recipe up my sleeve, but I don't.  I did not grow up eating homemade chicken soup.  My mom made lots of great homemade soups but we just never had chicken soup that I can recall.  Did I ever tell you that my mom makes the BEST Split Pea and Ham Soup!?  Seriously... the BEST!

Okay, back to Chicken Soup:  The other day I found a recipe on one of my favorite cooking blogs called "Best Chicken Soup".  I made the recipe but I did NOT follow the instructions exactly (I made it in the Crock Pot instead of on the stove top).  The soup was okay but there was just something about the combination of spices in the soup that was just "off" to me.  There was turmeric, garlic, ginger, rosemary, and thyme.  I used fresh ginger and garlic and dry turmeric, rosemary, and thyme.  The recipe recommended the fresh version of all of these things.  Maybe that's why my soup was a bit off... that and the fact that I did not totally follow the instructions. My bad!

This week, I set out to try again and I love the soup I made.  I used pre-cooked chicken in my soup.  You can read about the oven roasted chicken breasts I made the other day HERE. This is definitely going to be my new "go to" way to prepare chicken breasts in the future.  Rotisserie chicken from the grocery store is also great in soup.


Chicken and Vegetable Soup

a scant tablespoon of unsalted butter (may substitute olive oil or any other cooking oil you like)
2-4 celery ribs, chopped
1 small to medium sweet onion, chopped
2 to 3 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon each dried marjoram, thyme, turmeric, parsley, and basil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (if you are using reduced sodium chicken broth, use 1/2 tsp salt)
freshly ground black pepper
1 carton (32 ounces/4 cups) chicken broth
1 pound bag of frozen veggies (I used Birdseye brand with corn, green beans, carrots, and peas)
about 2 cups of precooked chicken (more or less as desired)


In a large soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add in the celery and onion; cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add in the garlic and all the dry spices and cook an additional minute, stirring to coat the onions/celery with the spices and to keep the garlic from over browning.

Add in the chicken broth, the pre-cooked chicken, and the frozen vegetables.  Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, reduce to a simmer; cook covered until vegetables are desired tenderness (8 to 10 minutes).

Makes 5 servings.

OPTIONAL:  I made up a little basmati rice in a separate pot while my soup was cooking. I am adding a few tablespoons of cooked rice to each portion of soup when I reheat it.  It's a great addition to the soup but optional of course.