You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to make this simple homemade chicken vegetable soup recipe from scratch! And you’ll discover just how much more delicious the homemade version is; not to mention, it’s packed with nutrition.
Add all ingredients to a 5-quart soup pot or Dutch oven.
Bring to a boil, and then cover the pot, turn the heat down slightly so it doesn’t boil over, and cook 90 minutes.
Cool, and then remove the chicken and strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve. You should have at least 1 liter of chicken stock. To make this chicken soup, you’ll need 2 liters (about 8 cups) of liquid, so add enough water to the chicken stock so you have 8 cups.
Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull the meat off and chop it into large chunks to use in this soup.
Save the carcass (the skin, bones, fat, any meat that’s stuck to the bones) to make chicken bone broth (or freeze them to make bone broth later).
For the Chicken Soup:
Add the chicken stock and enough water to make 8 cups total to a 5-quart soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the carrots, celery, onions, and garlic. Bring to a boil, and then cover the pot, turn the heat down slightly so it doesn’t boil over, and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Add the chicken and let it cook 2 minutes to warm up the chicken, and then remove the soup from the heat. Don’t stir it too much, or the chicken will shred.
Taste and add salt and black pepper if desired.
Serve with fresh herbs and lemon wedges if desired.
Notes
Net Carbs: 7g per serving
The Secret to Golden-Colored Stock: For a gorgeous golden-colored chicken stock, add organic yellow onion peels!
To Make Chicken Noodle Soup: If you want to add noodles, cook the noodles to al dente separately before adding them to this soup. Otherwise, if you cook the noodles in the soup it's easy to overcook them, and it changes the texture of the broth because of the noodles' starch.
Fast Version: My mom would kill me for saying this, but if it’s all you have time for, the end result will still be better than soup from a can! In a real pinch, you can use store-bought chicken stock stock and a rotisserie chicken.
How to Make This Soup in the Instant Pot
Add the chicken stock ingredients to an Instant Pot. Reduce the amount of water to 3 cups and keep everything else the same. Cook on "Manual, High Pressure" for 6 minutes for every 1 pound of chicken. So, our 4 pound whole chicken will need to cook for 24 minutes.
Let the pot naturally release its pressure for 15 minutes, and then vent the steam.
Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot and chop it. Strain the liquid and add enough water to get 8 cups. Or if using leftover chicken or turkey, use 8 cups of chicken stock.
Add the 8 cups of liquid along with the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic to the Instant Pot. Cook on "Manual, High Pressure" for 2 minutes. Once it's done cooking, vent the steam. (If you want to add noodles, add them along with the vegetables. If you do add noodles, you might need to add more chicken stock later because they tend to absorb a lot of liquid.)
Once the steam is vented, stir in the chopped chicken, place the lid on the pot, and let it sit for 2 minutes to warm the chicken.