This is my standard chicken soup. It’s good, WAY better than stuff from a can, good for you, and quick enough that it’s doable after a long day (or when fighting off a cold). It doesn’t involve making stock, or any of those really long, slow things.
Historical Tidbit: People were eating chicken soup as early as 1000 AD as a remedy for colds. It really is good for what ails ya. Bonus points if you cook it with a wooden spoon.
You need:
- onion, celery, carrot – necessary
- a 12 oz can of chicken breast, drained and kinda busted up with a fork
- some milk, or a can of cream of something soup (chicken or mushroom is best. asparagus probably not so good)
- chicken boullion, chicken base, or canned chicken broth. (I usually just use boullion)
- other veggies (optional), like potato, mushrooms, garlic, peas
- egg noodles (optional), or cooked rice (still optional)
- a soup pot (2 quarts or larger)
Directions:
Chop up about one onion, two carrots, and two spears of celery and whatever other veggies you’re using into small pieces. if you want to add potato, dice it really fine (like, 1/2 inch) and you probably only need one medium ‘tater. Since this is a fast soup, you want small pieces so they all cook.
In a pot, put a little olive oil, and heat to medium heat. Throw in the onion, cook that for a minute, then add all the rest of the veggies, stirring pretty frequently to keep anything from sticking. Toss in the chicken and get it good and hot too (and keep stirring). If you use garlic, please for the love of the FSM, do not burn it. You want to warm/slightly cook the veggies, but not brown them.
If you’re using the can of cream of something soup, add that now, and then add enough water to cover everything and fill the pot to about 1” below the edge . If you’re not using cream of something soup, splash in some milk with the water. Add in a couple of teaspoons of chicken boullion – start with three, and then taste the broth. If you’ve got canned chicken broth around, use that instead of water and skip the boullion.
Bring this up to a boil, and then reduce the heat and cook it for 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. A few dashes of pepper and maybe some “Poultry Seasoning” won’t hurt anything either. I’m pretty sure that stuff is just sage and thyme. <shrugs>
If you’re doing the noodle thing, add the noodles 5-8 minutes before you want to eat soup. Or don’t, because this is just fine without noodles. If you’re doing the rice thing, make sure it’s cooked first, and just chuck it in the soup a few minutes before serving so it’ll get nice and hot.
TLDR version:
– chop veggies
– cook them slightly in pot. add chicken too.
– add water/broth, milk/soup
– cook until done (20 minutes or so)
– add starch, if you feel like it.
– eat, feel warm and cozy and better.