My easy chicken soup recipe has evolved over the years as I learned shortcuts and discovered ingredient substitutions that suited my family’s tastes and dietary needs. That means this recipe is highly adaptable, and will no doubt become a hit with your own family. (Jump to recipe.)
Every aspect of this recipe is easy, unless you decide to make it more complicated--which frankly, is an option if you want. But do yourself a favor and start with the easy options and then decide if it’s worth jazzing things up later. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed with this soup, even with ALL the shortcuts.
Here are the shortcuts:
Most of my recipes aren’t really recipes, at least not in the sense that they call for specific amounts of ingredients. Except in rare cases, I prefer to eyeball the amounts, because I’ve learned what to look for…and soon you’ll know too.
I don’t do this just to save time. It inevitably leads to better results too, because there’s no chance to make a measuring mistake (ever forget to double one ingredient when making a double batch of something?)
There are times when it makes perfect sense to chop vegetables in a perfect brunoise, such as when making a sauce. But in a soup, that’s just wasted effort. Rough-chopped vegetables are perfectly fine, as they will soften when cooked. Of course, smaller children may not like big hunks of veggies, so you’ll need to cater to their preferences.
This is not to say that finely diced onions and carrots have no place in soup. If you have them on hand, then by all means use them. Just don’t feel like you have to be super fussy.
If I don’t have leftover chicken on hand, I just toss frozen chicken breasts into the pot. I almost always have some in the freezer for just this purpose. No need to thaw them out first; they poach in the broth fairly quickly, and then I fish them out with tongs and dice them before adding them back in.
Of course, precooked chicken is ideal as it only needs to heat through to be ready. But leave the skin out, as it leaves a greasy film on the surface of the soup.
First, I'll explain each step of my easy chicken soup recipe, then I'll list the different sort of adaptations you can make.
Aromatics is just a fancy way of saying “flavorful veggies”. The classic combination, at least in French cuisine, is onions, carrots, and celery, often referred to as mirepoix. Sometimes garlic is added to the mix, depending on what it’s being used for.
Saute the aromatics in your soup pot with a little olive oil and salt until they’re soft. This will infuse your soup with much more flavor than if you simply dumped everything into the broth at once.
It’s important to add these before the broth. Only oil or fat can extract maximum flavor from dried herbs and spices, so you want to give them as much time as possible. In fact, you can add them on top of your aromatics from the start.
My favorite spices for this recipe are sage, rosemary, and thyme--just like the song, minus the parsley.
If you’re using a powder or paste for your broth, prepare it as the aromatics are cooking. Don’t skimp here--a weak broth makes for a lousy soup.Note: you're just preparing it at this stage.
If you’re using frozen chicken breasts (as opposed to pre-cooked chicken), then you simply lay them on top of your aromatics once they are finished sauteing. Avoid letting the chicken touch the bottom of the pot, or it might stick.
Add enough broth to cover the other ingredients. If you like your soup thinner, add a little more. If you like a thicker, stew-like consistency, then stop just short of covering the chicken.
Tip: Always add less broth than you think you’ll need. You can always add more later, but it’s difficult to remove broth without removing other ingredients too.
Bring your soup almost to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and let it simmer.
If you’re using frozen chicken, it should simmer for at least half an hour. If your chicken is pre-cooked, then a few minutes is all you need.
Use tongs to fish out the chicken breasts, and place them on a cutting board to cool down for a couple of minutes.
When cooled, cut them into small pieces with a large chef’s knife. Add the chopped chicken back into the soup to cook a little longer.
In my opinion, almost every savory dish can use a little touch of something acidic to brighten it up a bit. This recipe is no exception, so I like to add a splash of apple cider vinegar just before serving.
Then serve!
You can adapt this easy chicken soup recipe in several ways to make it your own.
Onions, carrots, and celery are far from the only aromatics you can use for soup. See my page on aromatics for several suggestions.
Herbs and spices are where you can go really wild. Chicken has such a neutral flavor that it works with almost any combination of spices you can imagine. Another combination I like to use is coriander, paprika, and thyme. For something lighter, I usually go with herbes de Provence, a medley of herbs with a hint of floral scents originating in France.
As for the broth flavor, I’d suggest sticking with chicken broth. Vegetable broth is okay, but it may lack the umami flavor you’d expect in a chicken soup. Beef broth has a tendency to overpower the flavor of chicken, and seafood broths (like shrimp, for instance) simply don't pair well with chicken.
Apple cider vinegar is far from the only option for adding brightness to your soup. There are plenty of other types and flavors of vinegar you can try, such as rice wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, and all sorts of balsamic vinegars with different flavor infusions.
Or, you can avoid vinegars altogether and go with a dry white wine instead, assuming you’re okay with a little alcohol.
Lastly, citrus is an excellent way to add that little zing. Lemon is easily my favorite of these, although orange can pair well with certain spices like fennel.
This is my “default” easy chicken soup recipe. Adapt it as you see fit.