There is something comforting about homemade chicken and vegetable soup. Almost every culture has some form of it! There are times when you just don't want to make a labor intensive meal, but you do want something that is nutritious and hearty. During those times, I usually make this simple meal in a bowl that would have vegetables, protein and carb in about 15 minutes.
This chicken and vegetable soup recipe is one of the dishes I make from a storebought rotisserie chicken. See Things to do with a rotisserie chicken. From the storebought rotisserie chicken, I would use both the rotisserie chicken broth and the shredded chicken for this dish. However, this soup can be made with canned broth or water with chicken bouillon and fresh / leftover shredded chicken.
For an interesting taste, you can serve this stew / soup with wedges of fresh lime!
Tips for herbs
For this recipe, I add parsley and oregano. I used to think that parsley was only used as a garnish or for tabbouleh and dolma. However, I realized the health benefits of parsley and try to incorporate it into my meals. It is very high in Vitamin A & K. They are the 2 vitamins that are needed to optimize calcium absorption! So, it's not beneficial to your body if you consume your daily dose of calcium if your body cannot absorb it efficiently. Therefore, include natural Vitamin A & K into your diet!
Oregano also has health benefits. However, I really love the taste of fresh oregano. When adding herbs to meals, I have found that if you add it just before serving, the color is vibrant and the taste is flavorful, not to mention that more of the vitamins are retained! My suggestion is to get into the habit of just adding your green herbs right before serving!
INGREDIENTS
INSTRUCTIONS
- Dice all your vegetables and chop parsley and oregano. Dice onion first so you can fry it while dicing the rest of the vegetables
- Place 1 Tbsp olive oil in a saucepan and fry onions until caramelized and translucent
Raw chopped onion looks white
Cooked chopped onion is translucent and caramalized, bringing out its sweetness.
- Saute the rest of the vegetables except parsley and oregano. Veggies do not have to be cooked when adding the chicken broth.
- Add chicken broth and bayleaf
- Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes
- Add cooked chicken for the last 2 minutes.
- Remove from stove
- Before serving, remove bayleaf
- Season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
- Add fresh parsley and oregano. Stir, serve and enjoy!
CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE SOUP
Equipment
- pot
Ingredients
- 473 ml rotisserie chicken broth See Chicken BROTH from a rotisserie chicken or use 2 cup waters with 2 tsp chicken bouillon
- 1 small onion
- 1 potato
- 2 carrots
- 1 zucchini
- 2 celery sticks
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley
- 1 Tbsp fresh oregano
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 bayleaf. Optional
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup cooked and shredded chicken. Shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken is perfect.
Instructions
- Dice all your vegetables and chop parsley and oregano. Dice onion first so you can fry it while dicing the rest of the vegetables
- Place 1 Tbsp olive oil in saucepan and fry onions until caramelized and translucent.
- Saute the rest of the vegetables except parsley and oregano. Does not have to be cooked
- Add chicken broth and bayleaf
- Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes
- Add cooked chicken for the last 2 minutes.
- Remove from stove
- Before serving, remove bayleaf
- Season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
- Add fresh parsley and oregano. Stir