BONE BROTH CHICKEN SOUP

There's nothing like chicken soup when it’s done right. Chicken soup is pretty much foolproof, well it should be anyway, assuming you're using a mirepoix as your base, a rich broth, and some aromatics but it often shows up lackluster. I'm a sucker for flavor and old school culinary techniques and up until very recently I was under the impression that in order to make the most flavor intense chicken soup, I had to 1. roast my veggies in the oven first to intensify the caramelization of the sugars in the carrots, celery, and onions (opposed to just throwing them in the soup pan and letting them sweat) and 2. I also thought by starting with a raw bird (or sections of it) and browning it in a pan prior would add additional chicken-y flavor from the fat burning off in the pan you’re about to make the soup in. Yes, there's something to be said for both of these methods but Alicia suggested I try a new method since I spend too much time in the kitchen ;)

Since getting a Costco membership card, we’ve been picking up a rotisserie chicken every week or so since it’s so easy, cheap, and useful to have on hand. Alicia loves to make a soup, stew, pot pie, pretty much anything homey and she claimed I didn’t need the extra step of roasting my veg beforehand and ya know what, she was right. We’ve been enjoying this Detox Immune Boosting Chicken Soup recipe which you may have seen on Our Weekly Meal Plan post but after making it a couple weeks in a row, we kept adjusting it like omitting the mushrooms and chickpeas due to the textures even though we love both those ingredients, substituting the chicken stock for bone broth and adjusting the spices a bit. It’s a great recipe and worth checking out if you want to switch things up but sometimes classics like chicken soup are best at their simplest form and are meant to be left alone and that’s what we did with our now go-to recipe. So, you start with a store bought rotisserie chicken, we only like to use the breasts for this soup but feel free to add the dark meat if that’s what floats your boat. The dark meat, if I don’t save it for another recipe, I cook down with the rest of the carcass and create a bone broth to save in my freezer. That’s the other great thing about using a rotisserie chicken, you have the carcass left over to create bone broth which is so much healthier and nutrient packed than chicken stock or one of those artificial chemical-packed bouillon cubes. You’ve probably heard all about the health benefits of bone broth since it’s been trending as a superfood for a while. It’s very easy to make with an instant pot and so versatile to use so why not give it a try but there are many great bone broths out there to buy at the store, including a great organic one from Costco. The only other aromatics and flavor punchers we add are turmeric, red chili flakes, and garlic. Not just your basic couple teaspoons of minced garlic though - we use a whole head! That’s right, an entire bulb baby, usually that’s about 12-13 cloves. You're left with something that feels much more like a rich golden consommé, much like what you would find in a matzo ball soup. Liquid gold if you will, it's amazing. You can taste the natural flavors of the chicken much more this way, and it takes less than half the time, about 30 minutes. It's perfect for chilly weather and just the ticket for cold + flu season!

Ingredients

3 cups (or 2 breasts) rotisserie chicken

3 carrots

3 stalks celery

1 onion

1 head (or 13 cloves) of garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

6-8 cups bone broth

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 + 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, more to taste

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Couple handfuls of greens

Method

1. Wash, peel, and chop veggies and garlic. Shred the chicken. (Save all scraps which are perfect for making bone broth).

2. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium high heat and sauté the mirepoix (carrots, celery and onion) stirring occasionally until softened. Add garlic and sauté another few minutes.

2. Add in the bone broth, shredded chicken, turmeric, red pepper, and sea salt. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down heat to simmer for at least 15/20 minutes.

3. We also like to add in some greens like baby kale, spicy mustard greens or spinach (whatever we have on) at the very end. As soon as we add the greens, turn off the heat. Add in just enough greens for how many people you’re serving. Since greens cook down so fast, they can get mushy and lose flavor when sitting too long in the broth. Each day that you reheat and portion out a serving of soup, add in some fresh greens. And of course, you can omit the greens altogether but they add a huge nutritional punch to the soup. Enjoy!