We’ve all been there. You wake up feeling slightly tired, drag around all morning, feel a very slight throat tickle around lunchtime, and by mid-afternoon, you’re flat in bed with a stuffy nose, sore throat and dizzy head.
The Common Cold. So popular this time of year.
When it hits, you know your options already. You could stuff yourself with over-the-counter pills and elixirs and fizzy drinks, drink your weight in orange juice, or head to the nearest instacare to breathe in all the other germs floating around out there….
OR you could be proactive about the whole thing and stock your freezer with baggies full of Freezer Chicken Soup, for those days you need to feel all warm and cozy and WELL!
Freezer Chicken Soup is our take on the classic: chicken, veggies, herbs and spices, all snuggled together in a pot of deliciousness. Heat it to the point of almost-burn-your-tongue, sprinkle a little cheese on top, and sip your cold right away! Or just beat back those cold germs before they even surface. Make a huge batch and relish it all winter long. Chicken soup = ultimate comfort food. Probably always has been.
The secret to our intense chicken flavor…..deli chicken. That’s right. Who knew you could just add a whole cooked deli chicken to a pot and end up with chicken soup nirvana! I brought home a Costco chicken that, for a day, didn’t get much attention, which is odd. Usually they’re picked clean within hours. So I decided to just dunk it and see what would happen. What happened was YUM. YUM. YUM. Of course, you can always add raw chicken pieces and end up with an amazing pot o’ gold, BUT just try it once with that golden rotisserie bird. Such a revelation.
So, our advice is to quit the colds before they even happen.
Buy the bird. Fill the pot. Fill the freezer. Eat the goodness. Freezer Chicken Soup. Be well.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 2 leeks
- 4 stalks celery
- 4 large carrots
- 2 parsnips
- 4 red potatoes
- 3 quarts chicken stock or water
- 1 large deli roasted chicken (or bone-in chicken thighs, breasts, etc.)
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley
- 2 Tbsp. fresh thyme
- 1/2 tsp. turmeric
- 1/2 tsp. paprika
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste (be pretty liberal, especially with the pepper!)
- 1-2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- Grated pecorino or parmesan cheese, optional
Instructions
- Heat evoo in large stock pot.
- Chop onion, leeks and celery. Rinse leeks thoroughly to remove dirt. Add to pot and sauté about 5 minutes.
- Peel and chop carrots and parsnips, and chop potatoes. Add to pot. Continue to sauté 5 more minutes.
- Add chicken stock and place the whole deli chicken in pot. Stir veggies around so chicken settles towards bottom of pot.
- Add herbs and spices and simmer about 20 minutes, until chicken starts to fall off bones.
- Take chicken out of pot, cut meat off bones and add meat back into pot.
- Squeeze lemon juice into pot, and adjust seasonings.
- Serve with grated pecorino or parmesan, if desired.
Notes
*Make soup and divide into smaller portions. Place in freezer ziplocs and freeze flat. Thaw and reheat for quick, easy meals!
2 Comments
I made this for dinner tonight – so good! I’m getting over a cold and it’s supposed to start snowing tonight. The perfect meal to hunker down in a snowstorm on a Friday night!
Yay! So glad you made it and liked it! Hope you get feeling better soon 🙂