Here's a quick version of Grandma's easy chicken soup recipe that only requires drumsticks, a cup of soup vegetables and salt as ingredients. Whether you make chicken soup when you have a cold, as a light supper or as a starter for a holiday meal - this simple soup recipe will keep you stress-free!
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Chicken soup is often on my grandma's table. She makes this simple soup both for herself as a main course and for guests as a starter. She doesn't use a whole chicken for the soup (my grandma wouldn't "waste" it for a soup), but cheaper parts of the chicken such as giblets. In principle, however, the recipe works with all parts of the chicken that have bones, skin and fat on them.
This easy chicken broth recipe is best served with garnishes such as soup noodles, pancake strips (for example this fluffy Austrian pancake recipe from grandma), egg drippings, semolina dumplings or Austrian liver dumplings go well with it.
Ingredients
You will need the following ingredients for this easy chicken broth recipe:
- Chicken parts with bones, meat and fat - you can use a whole soup chicken, soup giblets, but also legs or drumsticks, for example.
- Soup vegetables - carrot, yellow turnip, a piece of celery root, parsley root, a few stalks of parsley, a piece of leek
- Salt to taste - or alternatively soup seasoning
- Chives - to garnish
Instructions
- Cover the chicken with water and simmer for 1-2 hours or longer (without salt) with the lid on.
- Drain the soup through a sieve, remove the meat from the bones and cut into small pieces.
- Season with salt or soup seasoning.
- Cut the meat into small pieces and return to the soup.
- Clean and chop the vegetables and simmer in the soup for 10 minutes.
- Serve sprinkled with chives.
It is important not to leave the vegetables, especially the carrots, in the soup overnight, otherwise it will become too sweet. My grandma always reheats the carrots in an extra pot if she has already prepared the soup the day before.
Which soup garnishes for chicken soup
The following garnishes go well with this easy chicken soup recipe:
- Soup noodles
- Boiled potato cubes
- Pancake strips (for example, according to this fluffy pancake recipe from grandma)
- Bröselknödel (breadcrumbs dumplings)
Shelf life & Reheating
How long is chicken soup good for? Chicken soup will keep in the fridge for about 2 days. (A day or two more if you kept it cool right after cooking.) Chicken soup does not keep quite as long as beef soup or vegetable soup.
Leftover chicken soup should be cooled as quickly as possible so that it does not turn sour.
It can be cooled, for example, by pouring it into a cold pot, adding a few ice cubes or, in winter, on the terrace or balcony.
Tip: My grandma always keeps the soup vegetables (especially the carrots) outside the soup so that the soup doesn't become too sweet overnight.
To reheat, simply bring the chicken soup back to the boil on the stove and simmer for approx. 5 minutes without the soup vegetables. Then add the soup vegetables and continue to cook briefly.
How to tell if chicken broth is bad
Chicken broth lasts in the fridge about 2-3 days, if correctly stored, probably one or two days longer. If you are not sure if your homemade chicken broth is still good, do the following 3 steps:
- How does your chicken broth look? Can you see any mold? (This happens usually only if you stored it for too long outside of the fridge.)
- How does it smell? Does your chicken broth smell sour?
- Taste it - does is taste a bit sour? If so, it is not safe to eat anymore.
Before serving, bring to a boil on the stovetop and cook without the soup vegetable for about 5-10 minutes. Add the veggies and cook for another minute until they are hot.
Freezing & Defrosting
Chicken soup can be frozen well, but ideally without the soup vegetables and soup garnish like pasta or potatoes.
Leave in the fridge overnight to defrost and simmer in a pan for about 10 minutes the next day.
🖨️ RECIPE:
Grandma's simple chicken soup
Zutaten
- 500 g chicken pieces with bones and skin & innards ~ 1 lbs, any part of chicken including bones, skin and fat
- 400 g soup vegetables ~ 0.9 lbs - carrots, yellow turnips, celery root, parsley stalks, parsley root
- 1 l water ~ 4 cups
- salt soup seasoning optional
- chives to garnish
- vermicelli pasta or other garnish as cubed potatoes, optional
Anleitung
- Cover the chicken with water and simmer for 1-2 hours or longer (without salt) with the lid on.
- Drain the soup through a sieve, remove the meat from the bones and cut into small pieces.
- Season with salt or soup seasoning.
- Return the chicken pieces to the soup.
- Clean and chop the vegetables and simmer in the soup for 5-10 minutes. If you want to serve the soup with some garnishes like vermicelli pasta, simmer together with the vegetables.
- Serve sprinkled with chives.
(c) by Angelika Kreitner-Beretits / Vienna Sunday Kitchen
Januar 26, 2025 Hast du das Rezept ausprobiert? Dann freue ich mich über deine Bewertung!! / Rate this Recipe!Notizen
Optionally, add a bay leaf, a few juniper berries and some lovage.
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