Food blogger Kelly, the creator of Root to Sky Kitchen, shared with us this delicious recipe named Ultimate Chicken Soup for the Soul which can be found in her upcoming book, The Vital Life Cookbook. Chicken soup is a classic with its restorative, nourishing, rounding and soul-healing powers. It’s a soup that we often only fall back on in times of acute illness or fatigue, but chef Kelly enjoys this recipe so much that it’s a regular, preventative part of her meal rotations, especially during the colder seasons.
Ultimate Chicken Soup for the Soul
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp healthy cooking fat of your choice
- 1 medium onion or 3-4 shallots, fine dice
- 2-3 medium carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced (yes, six)
- 1-inch knob of ginger root, minced (skin on is fine, I like to store chopped fresh ginger in a bag in the freezer)
- 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional, to taste)
- 2 tsp ground turmeric (fresh minced turmeric works too)
- 1 tsp sea salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- 4-5 sprigs thyme
- 1 tbsp wildcrafted dulse flakes
- 1 whole organic pasture-raised roaster chicken
- 6-8 cups wild spring water (or reverse osmosis filtered water), or enough to cover the chicken without overflowing the pot/slow cooker
- 2 tbsp raw organic apple cider vinegar (with the ‘mother’)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage, or any kind of cruciferous green you like
- 1 cup bok choy, cut into strips (or other leafy greens like kale)
- handful of chopped parsley
- 1/2 freshly squeezed lemon, to garnish
- Optional: 1 spoonful of grass-fed and finished, pasture-raised or wild animal organ meat pâté
Directions:
1. In a large soup pot over medium, heat up the tallow. Once melted, add the shallots/onion, carrots and celery. Sauté and stir the vegetables until the shallots are soft and translucent, about 4 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and ginger. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chilli flakes, turmeric, sea salt, black pepper, thyme sprigs and dulse flakes. Stir to combine the spices, herbs and oil with the vegetables.
3. Carefully add the whole chicken, then fill the pot to cover the chicken as much as you can with spring water. Add in 1 tbsp (or a splash) of apple cider vinegar, as this will help draw the beneficial minerals out of the bones and into the soup. Bring the water to a full boil on medium-high for 15-20 minutes, cover with a lid, then lower to a simmer for 90-120 minutes.
4. After 90 minutes, the chicken should be just about cooked and might still be a little pink inside. Remove from heat. Carefully remove the chicken and place it on a tray to the side, letting it cool slightly for a few minutes. As the soup simmers, shred all the meat off of the bones using your hands and/or a fork. Discard the bones. Add the shredded meat back into the soup to simmer so that the meat is fully cooked and no longer pink.
5. Add the cabbage, bok choy and parsley to the pot (or any leafy greens), then stir and raise the heat to medium-low until it begins to simmer and the greens melt into the soup.
6. Season the soup generously with sea salt and pepper. Serve hot with freshly squeezed lemon juice and sourdough or rice noodles.
