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This is the best Chicken Soup Recipe to make when you’re craving simple comfort food or feeling under the weather. Made with bone-in chicken thighs simmered into a flavorful broth and filled with tender onions, carrots, celery, and juicy shredded chicken.
This classic chicken soup is my all-time favorite soup recipe. Much like my homemade chicken noodle soup recipe, this noodle-free version is wholesome, delicious, and filled with zero processed carbohydrates. Whether you make your own broth or purchase pre-made, this wintertime staple is perfect for chilly nights, sore throats, good days, and bad days.
It’s also my family’s favorite.
Filled with onions, carrots, and celery, feel free to add all your favorite vegetables, including leeks, cucumber, parsnips, potatoes, and kale.
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients
1. Chicken: I have prepared this soup using chicken breasts, bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, boneless skinless chicken thighs, a combination of each, and every other combination you can imagine. While there is no “wrong” chicken for chicken soup, if you plan to prepare your own “quick” broth as I explain in this recipe (different from homemade chicken stock or bone broth), I find that skinless bone-in chicken thighs are the best. The broth is flavorful, but not overly fatty, and the chicken remains juicy – unlike chicken breasts, which are prone to drying out from prolonged boiling.
2. Broth: Prepare your own or use your favorite store-bought broth. For this recipe, I simply simmered chicken thighs in water to make the broth base. For heartier broth recipes, check out my homemade chicken stock or beef bone broth recipe.
3. Vegetables: Nearly every country has its own version of chicken soup. As such, each version will look and taste a little different from the next. The most common vegetables, however, include a mixture of onion, celery, and carrots (also known as the mirepoix).
4. Herbs: Keep it simple or go wild, the herbs you choose to flavor your soup are entirely up to you. In this version, I left things super simple and only added a touch of fresh chopped parsley after the soup was finished cooking. Other popular herbs, dried or fresh, include oregano, rosemary, and thyme.
5. Optional: Try adding some anti-inflammatory ingredients, including garlic, ginger, and turmeric. If you’re new to cooking with any of these ingredients, start with a small amount and add more as needed.
How to Make Chicken Soup
1. Make your broth: Since we’re not making chicken stock, this should only take about 30-45 minutes at the most. Simply add the raw chicken thighs to a large stockpot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked. If you’re short on time, skip this step and use your favorite store-bought chicken stock, and add shredded rotisserie chicken.
2. Cook the vegetables (mirepoix): While you wait for your chicken to finish cooking, cook the vegetables in a separate pot or Dutch oven set over medium heat. Cook the vegetables for 10-15 minutes or until they start to soften. Toward the end, add the salt, black pepper, bay leaves, and garlic (if using).
3. Strain the broth: Once the chicken is fully cooked, carefully remove the chicken from the pot and strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into the same pot containing the vegetables.
4. Shred the chicken once it is cool enough to handle. Do not return the chicken to the pot.
5. Simmer & serve: Simmer for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are fully cooked and tender. In the last 10 minutes, add the shredded chicken and lemon juice and season to taste.
How to Freeze Leftover Chicken Soup
To freeze, allow your soup to cool at room temperature before transferring to the refrigerator to cool completely. Next, transfer to freezer-friendly containers or double-bag in freezer-friendly zip-lock bags. Remove most of the air, leaving just a small amount of space to allow the liquid to expand as it freezes.
- To reheat, allow the soup to thaw in the fridge overnight, then transfer to a pot and cook until heated through.
- Keep frozen for up to 6-8 months.
But what about if you don’t plan to freeze the leftovers? Enjoy within 5 days, thoroughly reheating each time.
How do You Add Flavor to Chicken Soup?
For the best possible flavor, make your own stock or chicken broth using fresh ingredients – ditch the bouillon cubes (most contain MSG). Brown your chicken pieces and add chicken bones, vegetable scraps, a few garlic cloves, and toss in some fresh herbs (fresh dill, fresh thyme, fresh parsley) to the simmering broth.
More Chicken Soup Recipes to Try
- Aguadito de Pollo (Peruvian Chicken Soup)
- Lemon Chicken Soup Recipe
- Chicken Enchilada Soup Recipe (Instant Pot)
- Matzo Ball Soup
- Easy Chicken and Rice Soup Recipe
- Creamy Chicken Tortellini Soup Recipe
- Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
- Chicken Vegetable Soup Recipe
Chicken Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 10-12 bone-in skinless chicken thighs
- 3 quarts cold water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 yellow onions, peeled and diced
- 8 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 6 ribs celery, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 bay leaves
- fresh chopped parsley, to garnish
Instructions
- Make your broth. Add the chicken thighs to a large stockpot. Add the cold water to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for approximately 30-45 minutes.
- Cook the vegetables (mirepoix). As the broth simmers, chop and prepare your vegetables. Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, for 4-5 minutes or until the onions turn translucent. Add the carrots and celery to the onions and mix well to combine. Continue to cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring often. In the last two minutes stir in the minced garlic and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix well to combine and add the bay leaves. If the mirepoix starts to brown or burn, reduce heat to medium-low.
- Strain the broth. After the broth has finished simmering and the chicken is cooked, remove the broth from heat. Use tongs to remove the chicken from the pot and transfer to a clean cutting board to cool. Carefully strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into the same pot as the vegetables.
- Shred the chicken. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, use two forks (or your hands) to shred the chicken. Set aside.
- Simmer. Add the lemon juice to the pot and return the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are fully cooked. In the last 5-10 minutes, return the shredded chicken back to the pot.
- Serve. Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste and garnish with fresh chopped parsley if desired.
Video
Notes
- The best type of chicken for chicken soup includes anything that is considered dark meat (thighs, legs, wings). You may use chicken breasts, just take extra care not to overcook them when making the broth.
- Do you have to cook the stock separately? No. You may cook the chicken and the vegetables at the same time if you prefer. I take this extra step because I prefer a nice clear broth. This requires straining the broth through a cheesecloth or mesh strainer.
- If you’re in a hurry cut back on cook time and use store-bought chicken stock with shredded rotisserie chicken. Adjust seasoning as needed.
- Add other veggies including parsnips, potatoes, leeks, cabbage, or even kale.
- Can you put raw chicken in soup to cook? Yes. As long as you allow enough time for the chicken to cook completely.
- How long does it take for raw chicken to cook in soup? It will take 30-45 minutes for raw chicken pieces to fully cook (or poach) in a pot of simmering broth (although the total time will vary depending on the size of each piece).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excellent! I’m new to cooking, and in particular to making soups.
Very hearty aPd delicious!
Have you used chicken leg quarters? Curious as I’ve made with thighs and loved it but I only have quarters right now.
Chicken leg quarters will work fine 🙂
With my husband being sick with a nasty cold, I wanted to make some chicken soup for him for lunch today. Living in the arctic of Norway, there is no such thing as canned chicken soup or chicken broth except as bullion cubes which I don’t use , so I was looking for something fast and easy that I also had all the ingredients to make. This recipe was easy and fairly fast to make. It turned out delicious. I followed the recipe exactly except for adding parsley. I only had fresh dill which worked out perfectly. My husband loved the soup and can’t wait to have some for dinner tonight too (myself included). Thank you for sharing this delicious, easy recipe.
I am glad this soup helped you and your sick husband. I visited Nothern Norway with my family 5 years ago and loved it 🙂
Your recipe was a bit of work but the end results were delicious.
Loved it and will make it again . I like it just the way it is . If I feel I want to have some type of noodles I will add them when I reheat.
Thanks so much.
If I made the broth separately, how much would you use with this recipe? (Not sure how much the three quarts would have cooked down)
Thank you!
At least 3 quarts, but make sure it covers all the ingredients and provides you enough broth 🙂
I’ve been using this soup recipe every season. Great for the colds, flu, sore throat and any other thing that ails you. Wonderful. I tweak it some. Serving it different ways. Noodles, or rice sometimes just crackers or plain broth.
Thanks for sharing.
Kirk
“Way Down on the Suwannee River”
Thanks for coming back, Kirk 🙂
This is now my go to recipe for chicken soup, thank you! It has a winning combination of vegetables and seasonings and makes enough to feed a hungry crowd.
The only changes I made were to substitute Better than Bouillion roasted chicken base for the salt and I added a few sprigs of thyme with the bay leaf. Thanks again, Jessica!
Thanks for the wonderful comment, Deb 🙂
I chopped 8 large carrots and 6 stalks of celery until my arm was sore
Followed recipe to a T
Tasted like dish water
I don’t understand how there’s so many good reviews….what could I have done wrong?
It sounds like you put in a lot of effort with your chicken soup, and I’m sorry to hear it didn’t turn out as expected. Sometimes the flavor can be affected by the specific ingredients, substitutions, or their proportions. Considering the number of carrots and celery you used, it’s possible the soup may have needed more seasoning, or the chicken used didn’t impart enough flavor. To enhance the taste, you might try adding more herbs, such as thyme or bay leaves, and ensuring you use chicken thighs for flavor. Also, allowing the soup to simmer for a longer period can help concentrate the flavors. Don’t be discouraged – soup recipes can often be tweaked and improved with a little experimentation!
Laura, I’ll give you my tips you did everything great all you have to do next time is add better than bullion broth in the glass jar and a can of crushed tomatoes, a little bit of Italian seasoning and parnesion & pepper the end/also, if you’re using noodles, I prefer Dini egg noodle or something very tiny and keep it separate. Do not add it to the soup. Add it to the bowls.(I also do prefer using a whole chicken) The dog and cats get the scraps
Delicious. I made this for my daughters family when they had the flu and they loved all the flavors.
This is a great recipe to make when flu season arrives 🙂
Perfect…we don’t normally eat chicken or meat, but when covid struck I went old school. Tasty, nutritious, comforting and, important when you are sick, easy, but with all the home made love and empathy you and your family need, I did add egg noodles but other than that, stuck to the plan. Week 2, covid is still here and the 2nd pot is on the stove.
Thank you