Whether it is for a Friday night Shabbat dinner or a Yom Tov meal, this Easy Shabbat Chicken Soup from scratch recipe is a delicious way to make your soup course. This recipe is gluten free and is so tasty that everyone will be asking for seconds. It uses very few ingredients, is extremely healthy, and is a Passover chicken soup recipe.
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Better Than Chicken Soup Powder
Jewish chicken soup is a staple of kosher cuisine. It is also the proverbial cure-all for any sickness, jokingly referred to as "Jewish penicillin." The flavor and nutritional properties of this recipe come from the fact that all of the ingredients are fresh. There are a lot of boxed, canned, and powdered chicken soups out there but they are full of sodium and preservatives. They do have their place in the kitchen but rarely do we use them in actual soup. Making your own easy homemade chicken soup recipe from scratch is so much healthier and does not require a lot of hands-on cooking. Here is how to do it:
Ingredients Used In the Homemade Chicken Stock
All you need to make easy homemade Shabbat chicken soup from scratch is:
- Raw Chicken
- Onions
- Carrots
- Celery
- Parsley
- Dill
- Salt & Pepper
A Step by step guide to making this recipe
Time needed: 4 hours and 10 minutes
Easy Shabbat Chicken Soup From Scratch step by step.
- Add chicken, salt, and pepper
Add chicken, salt, and pepper to the pot. If you are using chicken pieces then use 2-3 leg quarters or bone-in breast pieces, a package of legs or wings work well too. You can also use 1 bag of chicken bones or 1 whole chicken.
- Add celery and carrots
Chop the celery and carrots and add them to the pot.
- Add onions, dill, parsley, and water
Add onions, dill, parsley, and fill with water until all ingredients are covered.
- Cook
Bring the soup to a boil then turn down to a gentle simmer. Cook the soup for a minimum of 4 hours but 8-12 hours makes for an incredibly flavorful soup.
FAQ
This recipe has tons of flavor, but if you are looking for more you can try adding some other vegetables such as turnip, parsnip, sweet potato, zucchini, and/or garlic. Another fun variant is adding mushrooms, ginger, and soy sauce (not during Passover) in the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Do not cook the chicken before adding it. The chicken will cook while it makes the chicken broth. By the time the soup is ready, the chicken will be fully cooked and can be eaten along with the soup.
There is a reason that chicken soup has an almost medicinal reputation. The chicken and veggies in this soup contain protein, healthy fatty acids, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, phosphorus, and an amino acid called cysteine which is said to loosen mucus in the lungs. This is all essential to a maintaining healthy immune system.
If you have the time, try to make this recipe a day ahead of time. Eating the soup when it is fresh is always great but this recipe always seems to taste better the next day when it is reheated. I would not make it too much further ahead of time than that unless you are going to freeze it.
Typically, the chicken soup will last between 5-7 days in the refrigerator after it was made. If you are freezing the chicken soup, make sure that it is poured into an airtight container and it can be remain frozen for about 6 months. After the soup is thawed and reheated it can be refrigerated again for 1-2 days.
The great thing about this recipe is that the chicken remains tender because it is cooked in the water to form the broth. Being immersed in water keeps the chicken moist and tender and it is never removed so it does not have a chance to dry out.
Suggestions and Variations
This Ashkenazi chicken soup recipe is a staple at our table and we rarely feel the need to tweak the recipe. Every now and then we do like a change so we like to try these variations:
At the start of the Shabbat soup cooking process, add beef soup bones along with the chicken for a richer more meaty flavor.
Add 2-3 tablespoon of soy sauce (not on Passover) and mushrooms of your choice for a more umami flavor.
Use the broth as the base for our Hearty Mushroom and Barley Soup or our Easy Authentic Spanish Rice
Add matzo balls, noodles, or rice for a more hearty soup that can also be a meal.
Add ¼ inch of ginger root to the broth while it cooks.
Let us know your suggestions in the comments section below.
More recipes like this one
📖 Recipe
Easy Shabbat Chicken Soup
Equipment
- 8 quart stock pot
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs chicken pieces or whole, bone in
- 2 onion chopped
- 4 large carrot chopped
- 4 large celery chopped
- ¼ bunch parsley washed and checked for bugs
- ¼ bunch dill washed and checked for bugs
- 2 tablespoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In an 8 quart stock pot place chicken, chopped onions carrots, celery, fresh parsley, fresh dill, salt and pepper.
- Fill pot with water up to about where the handles are attached to the sides of the pot.
- Bring water to boil.
- Skin scum off top of water. This is not essential but most people prefer to do this step.
- Reduce flame and bring water to a gentle simmer.
- Allow soup to cook for at least 4 hours or longer if possible.
- Cool before refrigerating.
- Once soup has completely cooled in fridge you can skim hardened fat off the top, if desired.
Elaine Trilisky says
My entire family, including 3 kids who don't usually like soup very much, LOVED this soup. It is easy and beyond delicious!
Mark K says
I add parsnip and turnip. Mom’s addition.
Ben says
Oooh, I like those additions!