World’s best chicken soup recipe (with amazing croutons!)
This soup is not quick to make, but it’s the perfect Sunday late lunch or dinner, and it has those excellent chicken soup powers, too!
Even though the recipe looks long, it’s actually easy to make … it just takes a little time, as lots of very good things do.
The croutons make this soup extra special, and the roasting prior to simmering adds heaps of flavour, too.
- Makes : 6
- Prep time : 10 mins
- Cooking time : 2 hrs
- 1 free range chicken
- 1/2 kg of chicken wings
- 1 whole lemon
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 40g of butter
- 1 red onion, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped roughly
- 4 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 cloves of crushed garlic
- 1 sprig or two of fresh thyme
- 1/2 tbsp sweet paprika
- 1/2 packet of frozen peas
- 100g diced carrots
- 100g corn kernels
- 100g sliced beans
- 3 litres of water
- 4 slices loaf of sourdough bread
- Optional: a handful of kale, 1/2 cup of chopped parsley
Method
- Wash the chicken and pat it dry. Put the lemon and half the butter in its cavity. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan brushed with olive oil. Throw the wings in too. Drizzle with some more olive oil. Roast in a medium/hot oven until the chook is lovely and golden and cooked (about 60 minutes).
- Set the roasting pan and juices aside because you can use it later to make delicious chicken croutons!
- Melt the rest of the butter in a large soup pot. It needs to hold all the liquid and veggies and chicken, so no skimping!
- Add the onion and garlic. Cook until softened and fragrant.
- Add the thyme, paprika, carrots and celery and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Plonk in the WHOLE cooked chicken and the chicken wings too. Cover with 3 litres of water. Simmer for 1 hour.
- Remove the chicken and the chicken wings. Dig around and get those wings out! Remove the lemon. Let the chicken cool until it's not too hot to handle. Take the meat off the chicken and return it to the soup pot.
- Add the peas, corn, diced carrot and beans. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes, taste to make sure it’s salty enough. Throw in the kale now, if you are a kale sort of person.
- Meanwhile, cut the sourdough bread into cubes. Take the juices from the roasting pan and pour them onto a baking sheet. Add the sourdough bread pieces, spreading them out nicely. Cook for 7 or 8 minutes in a hot oven until golden and sticky and delicious. Don’t let them burn! Watch them and even turn them halfway through to make sure they brown nicely.
- Serve your soup with croutons and some more freshly ground pepper and parsley if you fancy.
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