Grandma’s chicken soup is an effective and tasty food, that can help support your immune system and improve overall health. Packed full of nutritive herbs and spices, this tasty dish is well worth investing the time to make.
Bone broth is packed full of nutrients and minerals to help support your body. While bone broth can be made from any bones, including beef, lamb, goat, or even fish, chicken bones were traditionally used for this immune supporting broth. Chicken is inexpensive and easy to find. You can use an older stewing hen, neck and back bones, or a frying chicken for this recipe. But my favorite way to make Grandma’s chicken soup is to use the chicken I roasted for dinner that night, after the meat has been stripped from the bones. This soup is economical and easy enough for anyone to make, even if you’ve never cooked from scratch before.
I start this soup on Friday night, after our traditional sabbath roast chicken dinner. I remove most of the meat from the chicken bones and store separately in a container in the fridge for leftovers over the weekend. Then I put the entire leftover chicken carcass in my Instant Pot, along with any pan juices from roasting the chicken. This might sound complicated but the whole operation takes less than 5 minutes.
I add enough water to fully cover the chicken bones in the Instant Pot. I add chopped onions and garlic to the water, plus 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar or vinegary kombucha. (You can add the onions and garlic at this time, like I do or add them later during the second step of this recipe. Did you know that Grandma’s rarely follow recipes?) The vinegar leaches calcium, magnesium, and other minerals from the bones as they slowly simmer. Turn the Instant Pot on the slow cook setting and medium heat. Set the timer for 12 hours and go to bed.
In the morning the pot has been simmering all night long and the kitchen is full of tantalizing fragrance. I use a strainer to remove the bones from the pot. Add thyme, oregano, reishi mushrooms, leeks, celery and other herbs to the pot and continue simmering the broth. This will reduce the broth by half over a few hours. At this point you can cool the broth and portion it into 2 cup portions for freezing. Or add vegetables and serve for dinner.
If you use this recipe you’ll never toss out another chicken carcass again. You can even use the bones from a rotisserie chicken, provided you strip the meat from the bones before serving. You won’t want to use bones that have been gnawed on.
Grandma’s chicken soup is an old fashioned remedy for colds and flu, due to its dominant use of herbs, spices, onions, and garlic. This chicken soup is simple enough for anyone to make, and only takes a few minutes of hand’s on time to complete. Most of the deliciousness of this soup comes from the long simmer time, so take advantage of your Instant Pot, or crock pot to make this delicious soup.
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Grandma’s Chicken Soup
Description
A simple, bone broth based chicken soup that anyone can make.
Ingredients
- 1 – 3 pound chicken , or chicken pieces, or stripped carcass
- 1 tablespoon vinegar or vinegary kombucha
- 2 onions
- 2 heads of garlic
- 3 sticks of celery, with leaves
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley, or 2 tablespoons dried
- 2 tablespoons thyme
- 1/4 cup chopped Leeks
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger
- 4 cups diced carrots, turnip, zucchini, or parsnip, peel and diced
- 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
Instructions
- Place the chicken or chicken bones in your slow cooker or Instant Pot. Cover with water. Add vinegar or kombucha. Simmer over night.
- Remove bones and strip any remaining meat off of them. Add meat back to crock pot, discard bones.
- Add onions, garlic, spices, leeks, and ginger. Simmer for 2 to 4 hours.
- Add vegetables and potatoes 1 hour before serving.
- Serve hot. Left overs can be slow cooked overnight, or stored in the fridge and reheated to boiling the next day.
Ingredients:
- 1 – 3 pound chicken , or chicken pieces, or stripped carcass
- 1 tablespoon vinegar or vinegary kombucha
- 2 onions
- 2 heads of garlic
- 3 sticks of celery, with leaves
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley, or 2 tablespoons dried
- 2 tablespoons thyme
- 1/4 cup chopped Leeks
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger
- 4 cups diced carrots, turnip, zucchini, or parsnip, peel and diced
- 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
How to Make Chicken Soup
Place the chicken or chicken bones in your slow cooker or Instant Pot. Cover with water. Add vinegar or kombucha. Simmer over night.
Remove bones and strip any remaining meat off of them. Add meat back to crock pot, discard bones.
Add onions, garlic, spices, leeks, and ginger. Simmer for 2 to 4 hours.
Add vegetables and potatoes 1 hour before serving.
Serve hot. Left overs can be slow cooked overnight, or stored in the fridge and reheated to boiling the next day.
This simple version of grandma’s chicken soup is part of your arsenal of weapons to stay healthy during winter cold and flu season. The bone broth base of the soup provides essential nutrients and minerals to support your wellness all winter long.
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I have been making this for years and never wrote a review…well, it’s about time! This is, by far, my favorite chicken noodle soup. I always add almost a whole bag of baby carrots, after cutting them in half. I also add the noodles during the boiling stage. I use a total of 20 cups of chicken broth and a whole bag of egg noodles. Also shake in some pepper. I don’t put in any additional salt. I get a rotisserie chicken from Costco and rip it apart and add that. They have the best chickens! That’s it – fabulous soup