Hello Steemit! Happy New Year! I am unfortunately ringing in the new year with a bit of a cold. So plenty of hot tea and homemade soup was much needed! I decided to document my favorite comforting chicken and vegetable soup recipe for you guys. I have made this soup with dumplings before, but decided this time that I just needed that warm aromatic soup all by itself. I hope you enjoy!
I like to make my soup without any store bought broths, stocks, or bullion cubes. I also prefer to use bone-in chicken thighs. I like the dark meat and the flavor it provides.
Here I have 6 chicken thighs in a pot of water with bay leaves and some thyme. I try to use fresh thyme sprigs when I can but did not have any available. Most of the dried thyme will get removed as I skim the grease and foam off of the top as the chicken cooks. I poached the chicken for 25-30 minutes until done.
Meanwhile, I worked on chopping my vegetables. I used onion, celery, carrots, and some chopped garlic. Pretty common staples in a chicken soup.
I like to gather them in a bowl to free up my cutting board
Also, to showcase one of my Christmas gifts, I got a nifty garbage bowl! Perfect for all my peels and carrot butts!
By the time all of my vegetables were chopped, the chicken was ready to remove from the pot to cool!
I add more water to the pot as needed and dump in all the vegetables to let them flavor the broth as I shred my chicken. The aroma is amazing!
Mmmmm!
All of my chicken shredded and pulled from the bones. (which my garbage bowl was also handy for)
Time to dump it in the pot! I then add my seasonings... which some may say is rather excessive, but I love the way my soup turns out! I'm sorry that I don't have exact measurements because I add and taste constantly.
Some of the spices that I use are italian seasoning, rosemary, thyme, paprika, salt and pepper, dill weed, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper.
Then I let the soup simmer until the broth reduces about half an inch.
The paprika and cayenne give it an amazing color!
And voila! An amazing, healthy, comforting soup!!!
I hope you all enjoyed my recipe! I'm very glad to share it and I hope you try it soon! Let me know what some of your favorite soups are!