Healthy Chicken Soup

This delicious and healthy chicken soup is packed with macro and micro-nutrients. It is a super easy and comfortable food recipe.

The Most Delicious Chicken Soup Recipe by Lorena Grater

Ingredients & Substitutions You Will Need:

Onion: Prefer using yellow onion for sautéing, but white onion works great too.
Garlic: Use fresh garlic for maximum flavor, you’ll need 2 or 3 cloves.
Ginger: An amazing antioxidant, ginger also gives this chicken soup a delicious taste.
Celery: Best veggies for a soup base. If you need to replace it, green bell pepper has a similar texture and flavor.
Carrots: Another soup base and pantry staple. If you don’t have any on hand, squash, turnip, and parsnip can be used instead.
Frozen Peas: They work great in a pinch, but if you have fresh or canned ones you can use them too.
Chicken: For this recipe used chicken breast, but if you prefer the flavor of darker meat, use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead.
Chicken Broth: Used chicken broth, however, you can use vegetable broth if you prefer.
Quinoa: Love using quinoa to make this soup heartier, and it is super easy to make it at the same time as the rest of the soup. You can also use rice if you prefer.
Chili Paste: This is completely optional but recommended you use it.
Thyme: Use fresh sprigs of thyme if you have them. Fresh oregano, marjoram, or rosemary can be used as well.
Lemon: Fresh lemon juice brings out the flavor of this soup. You could also use fresh lime juice or bottled juice if necessary.

Instructions For Healthy Chicken Soup:

First, grab a chopping board, peel, and then finely chop an onion. Next, get 2-3 cloves of garlic and finely chop those as well.
Grab about 1 inch of fresh ginger, peel it and use a Microplane to grate it super finely. If you don’t have one, use a knife to mince it.
Get 2-4 celery stalks, cut them first lengthwise and then into small pieces.
Grab 2 medium carrots, peel them and then chop them finely as well.
Pull out a large pot and preheat it over medium-low heat. Once hot, drizzle a little olive oil and then add the chopped onion, garlic, and ginger. Stir-fry until the onion is translucent. At this point, add some chili paste, but this is completely optional. Stir until well combined.
Add the chopped veggies, a few sprigs of fresh thyme, and 6 cups of chicken broth. Stir well and bring it to a boil. Once it’s boiling, add 1 pound of chicken breast. If the breast is too thick, cut it in half horizontally so it can cook evenly and no parts remain pink.
Add some sea salt and pepper to taste, depending on how salty your broth is. Cover the pot, reduce heat to low, and set a timer for 15 minutes.
Once the timer goes off, take out the chicken breasts and place them on a cutting board.
Add 1 cup of quinoa to the broth, cover again, and set a timer for another 15 minutes.
In the meantime, take two forks and shred the chicken breasts.
Five minutes before the timer goes off again, add the shredded chicken and 1/2 cup of frozen peas to the soup and stir well. Let it simmer until the timer goes off.
Turn the heat off and drizzle the juice of one lemon into the soup. Serve into a bowl and enjoy!

Tips:

If you know you won’t eat the whole pot of soup in one sitting and want to store some in the refrigerator, cook the quinoa separately and mix only in the serving bowl. That way the quinoa does not absorb all the broth over time and get all soggy.

Storing & Freezing:

You can store the soup in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. As mentioned above, keep the quinoa and soup separate.

To freeze, wait for the soup to cool down completely, then add it to a freezer-friendly container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. To defrost, simply place in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours then reheat and consume right away. Do not refreeze!

Other recipes you might like to try: Broccoli Cheese Soup, Keto Creamy Taco Soup, Keto-Friendly Kimchi Soup