How often have you wished you had a warming classic chicken soup like in grandma’s day when the first cold is on the way in spring or fall? Until now, you’ve always avoided the effort, but this recipe is very easy to make and can also be perfectly prepared.
Classic chicken soup not only warms you up from the inside, but is also nourishing, supports your immune system, loosens mucus in your throat and nose and gives you a feeling of comfort.
Grandma’s classic chicken soup as the ultimate defense against colds
As soon as you notice the first tickle in your throat, it feels colder again during the year or you are simply overtired and exhausted, you often long for a warm and comforting soup that your parents or grandmother used to make. It is a well-known and simple remedy, very effective and also tastes very good.
Simple ingredients with a magical effect
If you take a look at the ingredients of classic chicken soup, they are often items that you have in your household anyway: chicken, vegetables such as carrots, celery, broccoli, onions and various spices such as salt, pepper and bay leaves. Depending on your taste preferences, you can add fresh ginger, chilli peppers (or powder) and fresh parsley or chives.
Chicken soups are rich in nutrients
Chicken soup is already very rich in healthy nutrients that strengthen the immune system and help fight illness. The chicken meat from a soup chicken provides high-quality protein (cysteine), while the vegetables contain many vitamins and minerals, such as vitamins A, C and K, as well as iron and zinc.
Protein cysteine as a miracle cure in classic chicken soup
Grandma’s miracle ingredient in classic chicken soup was the protein cysteine, which was extracted from the soup chicken and is released when the soup is heated slowly. If you heat your soup water too quickly, you destroy the properties of the cysteine in the chicken meat. Although cysteine is also found in many other protein-rich foods, it is particularly high in chicken meat.
In addition, the protein loosens the mucus of a cold, allowing the airways to be cleared more quickly and the body to fight the cold.
It is therefore also advisable to cook the soup for more than 2.5 hours so that an intense and clear broth can be created and you can always have a portion of health aid ready in the freezer.
Hydration, tradition and love
You know it from your own experience, when you have a cold or are ill, you are usually not hungry or thirsty, even though your body needs it so much at this time. While a hot cup of tea may still be the “miracle cure” on the first day of a cold, by the third day, when your nose is completely blocked and your throat hurts, you can’t even think about it.
These were always the moments when grandma’s classic chicken soup recipe could still work wonders. On the one hand, it was a nice tradition to be able to eat a bowl of soup, but on the other hand, you also got the feeling that someone was looking after the sick patient.
At the same time, the classic chicken soup recipe is also the perfect home remedy for hydration and people who then drink even less.
Chicken soup is easy to digest and absolutely wholesome
If you have a cold, you shouldn’t think about heavy food. The smell of food coming from the kitchen is often enough to make you lose your appetite. This recipe for classic chicken soup is completely different and you will want to eat the soup even if you are healthy.
The soup is easy to digest, wholesome and provides the body with important nutrients at the same time. The stomach is not unnecessarily burdened and the ingredients make it easy to eat, even for sick patients with colds or sore throats and runny noses.
Even those with stomach problems will enjoy the classic chicken soup – it is simply clear, light and quickly provides warmth and strength.
One base for chicken soup – many possible variations
This simple chicken soup recipe is very easily adaptable, whether in the winter months with plenty of noodles and chicken on the side and ginger or chilli as spices, or with light herbs, lots of vegetables and fresh coriander in the summer months. There are countless options for rediscovering this basic chicken soup recipe time and time again.
The recipe is therefore ideal for cooking larger quantities in advance and then taking them out of the freezer. Ideally, the classic chicken soup should then be defrosted slowly in the fridge for 24 hours and the clear broth then only added with fresh vegetables or other ingredients.
Tradition meets the modern world
It’s often these grandmother’s recipes that help when you’re not feeling so well. It is the mixture of tradition and recipes that are passed down from generation to generation and the proven health benefits of a classic chicken soup for colds to strengthen the immune system.
It’s even better when you can often prevent or at least relieve a cold before you have to visit the doctor or take medication.
Classic chicken soup as a starter for Christmas or Easter
Even though classic chicken soup was initially seen as an effective household remedy for colds, the soup base has its place in traditional Christmas or Easter dishes.
A soup at festive times of year, when the weather at Easter or Christmas is still cool, often wet and rainy, or when you are skiing in the mountains, also radiates warmth and coziness, creates an inner atmosphere of calm and a sense of having arrived.
At the same time, the classic chicken soup as a starter naturally has the advantage of being light and not making the heavy main course even more extreme. Light starters are always welcome and while in summer people prefer a salad, in winter soup helps to stimulate the appetite in a light way.
The classic chicken soup base is also a perfect help in the kitchen. If you are expecting lots of guests and family for the festive season, you will be delighted if you can prepare many dishes in advance, simply add fresh ingredients and then serve them fresh.
Thanks to the pleasant flavor of the classic chicken soup, you can also just add vegetables and serve it fresh or use the chicken from the recipe as a side dish.
Classic chicken soup – for colds, Christmas or Easter
Equipment
- 1 cooking pot large
- 1 cutting board
- 1 cutting knife
- 1 sifter
- 1 bowls
Ingredients
- 1 chicken approx. 2.8 – 3kg – (it can also be 2 chickens of 1.5kg each) – preferably organic
- 1 stalk leek alternative type of leek also possible
- 200 g carrots
- 2 vegetable onion
- 200 g celeriac
- 200 g celery
- 400 g broccoli alternatively e.g. cauliflower
- 1 bunch parsley alternatively chives
- 10 g salt
- 20 g peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp chilli alternatively add 3-4cm sliced ginger, approx. 1cm diameter
Recipe-Instruction
- Remove the soup chicken from the packaging and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Remove any remaining feathers and make two or three small holes in the top half (towards the lid of the pot) with a knife. This will prevent air from forming in the chicken later and the chicken floating on top.1 chicken
- Then peel the carrots, cut the leek into about 5mm slices, peel the onions large and cut into quarters and clean the broccoli and cut into individual sprigs and add to the pot.1 stalk (1) leek200 g (7.00 oz) carrots2 vegetable onion400 g (14 oz) broccoli
- Finally, cut the celery and celeriac into strips of about 1 cm and add to the pan.200 g (7 oz) celery200 g (7 oz) celeriac
- Fill the cooking pot with cold water to the maximum level. For my recipe, I used a 10-liter pot – and had to add about 6 liters of water. If you only have smaller pots (e.g. 5-6 liter pots), you can easily divide it between two pots.
- Then heat the pot – slowly – on a medium heat on your stove until you see the first warming, then slowly increase the heat. It is important that the chicken is heated slowly and not by extreme and fast heat.
- Just before the classic chicken soup starts to boil, you can add the spices and stir the soup gently.10 g (1,5 tsp) salt20 g (4 tsp) peppercorns1/2 tsp (0,5 tsp) chilli
- Note: Chilli can also be added later and dosed individually per portion, as some people cannot tolerate chilli. Ginger can be a good alternative here, as it also helps with colds.
- Then simmer the chicken soup on a low heat (approx. 25% of the maximum power of the stove) for approx. 2.5 hours.Start 150 minutes timer hereIt is advisable to remove the turbid matter floating on top with a spoon from time to time.
- After the time has elapsed, carefully remove the soup chicken from the pot and ideally place it in a sieve, as a lot of hot soup will still run out of the chicken (be careful – the chicken usually falls apart into many pieces).
- Then pass the soup through a fine-mesh sieve and collect in a bowl or pot. The overcooked vegetables can be removed and discarded.
- Remove the skin and bones from the soup chicken and cut into small pieces. Ideally, these can also be pre-packaged in portions and then added fresh to the soup. It can also be packed in small bags and frozen. It is advisable not to freeze the chicken meat directly with the pure classic chicken soup, but preferably to treat it separately.
- You can now portion this pure classic chicken soup freely and then refine it with fresh carrots, cauliflower or broccoli, celery or other vegetables to taste and season with fresh herbs, alternatively fresh chilli, etc.Shortly before the vegetables are cooked, you can add your portion of chicken.Soup noodles or freshly made homemade noodles are also a good accompaniment.1 bunch (1) parsley
Notes
Nutrition
A good accompaniment to the clear soup is of course always delicious and freshly baked warm bread, such as the wholemeal bread we use.
I’m curious to know whether you also cook the chicken soup in the classic version, as listed below according to grandma’s recipe, or whether you add other ingredients.
If you’re looking for an alternative to classic chicken soup for Christmas, why not try what is perhaps the best lobster soup in the world?
