Imagine this. You get a terrible cold, you’re sick as a dog, your boyfriend gets you juice, soup (Pho from down the street), the works. Then you get better, fly to Florida for your parents’ 40th wedding anniversary, and while there, your boyfriend breaks the news: he has your cold. You’re not there to help, though, so when you return on Sunday–and he’s at the peak of his illness–you know you have to spring into action. You’ve gotta make up for all the TLC you weren’t there to give him during the first two days of his illness. Upon landing at the airport, you rush to the grocery store and stock up on everything you need to make the ultimate cold cure, Jewish penicillin: chicken soup. Only, you want to make it fast.
My go-to chicken soup recipe takes three hours. My more recent Asian-inspired, cold-killing soup–which is faster–isn’t what Craig was craving at this moment. So I decided to play doctor in more ways than one: I was going to doctor the classic chicken soup with boxed stock.
The results were so terrific, this may be my new go-to technique. You’re basically making a double-strength stock. Here’s how it works.
Buy a bunch of skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 8) and put them in your biggest pot or Dutch oven:
Cover them with boxed chicken stock, the best you can find (I used that Kitchen Essentials one which I like) and to the mix add a whole carrot, a whole piece of celery, a whole onion, a turnip or two, a parsnip and some dill:
Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for an hour.
The Amateur Gourmet
Recipes, restaurant reviews, and personal essays — twice a week since 2004.
Free, twice a week. One more click on Substack to confirm.
That’s it. What you’ve done is infused that boxed stock with classic chicken soup flavors while also cooking the chicken and allowing that raw chicken to enhance the stock even more. After an hour, remove the chicken and vegetables with tongs:
Adjust the broth for salt and then add chopped carrots, onions and celery:
Parsley, dill and egg noodles:
Allow them all to cook–about 8 minutes or so–until the vegetables are tender and the noodles are done. Oh and shred the cooked chicken with your fingers and throw that back in there too. Here you are, homemade chicken soup in one hour:
Nice, right? Not to brag, but Craig was almost 100% better the next day. He credits the chicken soup. I credit myself. The point is, this is a recipe to lock away in your brain forever. It’s a miracle-worker.
DATTA SAYS: Adam Amateur Gourmette-How Can I Quit’choo! You Make Me Soooo Hungry!
You and I must’ve been on the same wavelength! After your Asian- inspired chicken soup post, I followed your recipe. It was a pain, though, to take e ,eat off the cut-up, whole chicken. So, the next batch I made, I used chicken thighs. MUCH easier to take the meat off and it dramatically reduces the chance of stray bones ending up in your soup. The NEXT batch, I took the skin off about 6 of the 8 thighs. Less fat to skim off later as a result!
Good one. While it takes a few more minutes I do like to get a good brown sear on the chicken. Even though the skin comes off in the end I think it just makes for an broth with more depth. I’ve never used dill. Will definitely try it because I like dill a bunch in other things!
Dill and chicken soup are like tomatoes and basel.
Your top pic took my breath away I could so use it today. How do you clarify your soup to get that beautiful broth so yellow and clean?
No extra steps or anything… that’s just how it comes out! Good luck.
But what about the fats in this kind of soup
But what about the fats in this kind of soup
To my experience, chicken soup needs some good chicken fat. Most time, however, you can let it sit in a gravy separator, or put in the fridge and remove the fat layer once its cooled and adjust the fat level to your liking.
But what about the fats in this kind of soup
But what about the fats in this kind of soup
But what about the fats in this kind of soup
Typo. Take the meat off the whole chicken
Good one. While it takes a few more minutes I do like to get a good brown sear on the chicken. Even though the skin comes off in the end I think it just makes for an broth with more depth. I’ve never used dill. Will definitely try it because I like dill a bunch in other things!
I make something really similar based off Albert Burneko’s recipe from the always amazing/hilarious Foodspin over at Gawker. The only differences are acini di pepe for the pasta and the addition of tiny pork meatballs, which are a total game changer.
I’m making cold-killing chicken soup right now! I always use boxed stock and add lots of veggies, plus a couple Tbsp of tomato paste for more rich flavor.
Zero comments?! sounds PERF
We have a chicken ritual in our house that always starts with a whole bird, roasted. By the time we get to making soup, it’s with left-overs, and I’m sure it wouldn’t qualify as a home remedy for anything other than hunger. However, it does offer an opportunity to use the barley we were given some time ago. It might be a good substitute for your egg noodles
So . . . the turnips and parsley help flavor the stock but then don’t get chopped and put in the soup, correct? Thanks.
Question – why do you leave the onion whole (and unpeeled)? Wouldn’t you extract more flavor if you cut it in half? And did you peel the turnips – they look unpeeled in the first pic, yet peel free in the second…thanks Adam!
Jeff Smith (Frugal Gourmet) recommended not peeling the onion or carrot when building a stock because it created a richer color. I also roast my whole veggies before they go into the stockpot but that would blow the 1 hr theme.
Cutting the onion in half would work great, though the whole onion technique works well too. As for the turnips, I didn’t peel them!
I like it! But, I’ve always been a parsley in my chicken noodle soup kind of girl. Dill is different and it scares me, but I think I’ll have to try it. I’m glad you credit yourself, your a healer! 😉
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! Tomorrow night’s soup n sandwich will feature this for my hubby with his man-cold…the big baby!
This soup looks healthy and easy!
So . . . the turnips and parsley help flavor the stock but then don’t get chopped and put in the soup, correct? Thanks.
Try to put them in cubed. If U like it, it’s correct. Take some out earlier so they still have a bite to them.
Correct!
Try to put them in cubed. If U like it, it’s correct. Take some out earlier so they still have a bite to them.
I love pasta but I haven’t seen a pasta with veggies and soup. But it still looks amazing. I sure wanna try this at home, I’m sure my grandmother will love this.Need a therapists? Were born to lead an extraordinary life, we help you create this with our next level of training.
So . . . the turnips and parsley help flavor the stock but then don’t get chopped and put in the soup, correct? Thanks.
This looks delicious!!
Looks healthy too!
approximately how much soup does this make, and can rice be substituted for noodles?
As a college student cramming for midterms, as well as finals, I don’t have the time to spare to prepare some well done up meal. This meal is great. It is exciting, as well as simple. I might try this recipe tonight.
Adam: My girlfriend calls this “the best soup in the world.” I made a batch and we ate half of it immediately. The other half was frozen in zip lock bags in one bowl settings. She loved being able to pull out a bag, warm it and eat this incredible soup. Now that all those bags are gone I am preparing the “second coming” of this soup tonight.
A year (and five batches of soup) later, this is still my go-to recipe when she says she wants soup for dinner. Now it is always a two pot affair for the first step of fortifying the broth. Then everything goes in the large stock pot, which ends up being filled almost to the brim, and the dutch oven is clean by the time the soup is done.Our next door neighbors are frequent recipients of a container full when I make a batch and frequently ask when the next batch will be prepared and delivered to their doorstep. I should tell them how easy it is to make, but I enjoy the fact that they think I spent hours preparing it just for them (and us of course)!Now I have to work on my baking skills so we can have homemade bread with the world’s best chicken noodle soup!
My boyfriend and I made this recipe a few weeks ago and are STILL talking about it. This is hands-down the best chicken noodle soup I have ever had – and I have two Jewish grandmothers! It was delightfully simple and we can’t wait to make it again 🙂