During cold and flu season, chicken soup becomes a staple. A dish of homemade, hearty soup is a great way to show someone special how much they are loved. This old-fashioned recipe is designed for freezing and leftovers, making it an economical way to get a number of healthy meals out of one hour's effort.
Ingredients:
- Whole chicken (with skin and bones)
- Water
- Salt (to taste - will be more than 1 tablespoon)
- Pepper (to taste)
- 1 Tbl Parsley
- 1 tsp Thyme
- 1 onion (diced)
- 1 cup Corn (canned or frozen)
- 3 large Potatoes (washed and diced in bite-sized pieces)
- 2 cups Carrots (washed and diced in bite-sized pieces)
- 1 stalk Celery (very thinly sliced)
Directions:
- Place chicken in large soup pot, and fill with water until chicken is covered. Bring to a boil on high heat and continue to boil for 30 minutes
- Remove chicken from water (reserve water, this will be your broth) and let cool for 5 -10 minutes
- Remove skin from chicken, and remove chicken meat from the bones, discarding the bones and skin. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and return to the pot of water.
- Add onion, celery and spices (to taste) and return pot to a boil.
- When broth is boiling, add corn, potatoes and carrots and boil until the carrots and potatoes are fork tender.
- Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- This recipe is designed to be frozen and to reheat well. Use plastic freezer containers to freeze several servings!
Instructions to Save Allergy-free, Gluten-free Chicken Broth
- To use this broth for later recipes, add extra water to the pot in step 1 above.
- Before adding vegetables in step 5, use a ladle to dip out excess broth
- Pour the broth into ice cube trays and freeze
- Once frozen, transfer the broth-cubes to zippered freezer bags and label with date (According to Still Tasty, this can be frozen and used for 4-6 months. Other websites say it can last up to 1 year.)
- 1 typical ice cube = 1 oz. broth or 1/8 of a cup. You may want to label your bag with the conversion information that 8 cubes = 1 cup of broth.
- Thaw cubes to use in recipes, casseroles and rice dishes like regular chicken broth.
To Prepare Chicken Noodle Soup
- Prepare pasta separately, do not overcook.
- Add rinsed pasta to soup in bowls as you serve the dish to maintain integrity of noodles.
- For gluten-free pasta, recommend corn or quinoa-based pasta rather than rice for heartier flavor and sturdier noodle.
- Store pasta and soup separately with leftovers
- DO NOT FREEZE with pasta in the soup.
Please Note: Using skinless, boneless chicken and/or only white meat rather than a combination of light and dark will result in a far lower-fat soup. However, the fat is part of what makes chicken broth taste like it should, and the water will not retain as much "chicken" flavor!
Alicia King - Alicia King has been writing for Suite 101 since June of 2007. For over a year, she was the Featured Writer for the Suite section about ...
