Homemade Nourishing Chicken Soup from Scratch! (Using a Whole Chicken)

This outrageously delicious Homemade Nourishing Chicken Soup has it all: a rich soul-satisfying broth, fall off the bone chicken, and delicate noodles. Warm up with a bowl of gorgeous, golden chicken noodle soup that has a slew of fans and die-hard devotees. 

Try my other warming soup recipes:
Coconut Lime Chicken Soup with Noodles, Nourishing Maple Butternut Squash Soup, Nourishing Thai Carrot Soup, Spicy Kale and Tofu Soup, Savory Rosemary Kabucha Squash Soup, Nourishing Vegetable Lentil Soup

Everyone needs a GREAT chicken soup recipe, here is mine and I really hope it becomes a staple in your life too!

If you were to ask me what I feel like eating any time of any day at any time of the year 99.9% of the time my answer will be, a big bowl of soup. 

It is what I crave, what makes me feel “right”, what makes my body feel good. This homemade nourishing chicken soup is the soup recipe that started it all. This is my family's soup recipe. Made by my grandmother, and my great-grandmother, and my great-great-grandmother. It is not complicated but requires patience. It is not fussy, yet supremely flavorful and definitively curative. It has been made in my family hundreds and hundreds of times and I hope by sharing it it will be made hundreds and hundreds more. 

Let's get right to it!

WHY YOU'LL LOVE THIS RECIPE

• Good chicken soup has curative powers- This is not a wives’ tale!
• You can make and freeze batches of this soup.
• This recipe shows you how to make a good broth which can be used for many culinary purposes.

Let's Get Cooking!

INGREDIENTS

Detailed measurements and ingredients can be found within the recipe card at the end of this post.

Organic Whole Chicken– You really want the best quality organic chicken to make a nourishing soup. The collagen, bones and meat fortify the broth. It is best for this recipe to use a whole chicken. Alternatively, you can use 4-5 pounds of chicken parts which is the typical size range of a whole chicken.

Carrots– Carrots add a sweetness to this chicken soup so you want carrots that have some flavor. Farmers' market carrots that are pulled from the soil are sweeter and more nutrient-dense. Second to that variety, I would recommend a good organic bag of carrots. Not the finger-shaped variety that you dip in hummus, the real “need-to-peel” variety, bonus… no need for peeling in this soup!

Celery– A family trick was to lob off the bottom quarter of the celery bunch and use that in the soup. The rest then was reserved for other dishes. I think they wanted to use up everything and that is to be admired. We called this the “butt of the celery”.

Onion and Garlic– The onions go in skin on so you want an onion with a nice golden skin. I prefer to buy local garlic for soup, which tends to be fresher and more pungent. You can always just use grocery store onions and garlic but look for organic produce. You do not want pesticides in your nourishing soup.

Cabbage– Standard green cabbage is best and gives the broth a wonderful flavor. Do not use purple cabbage it will alter the color of the soup, and you may end up with a Bridget Jones style blue soup disaster 🙂

Parsley– My grandmother chopped off the stems and used them in soup so that the leaves could be used in other recipes. In my version, the whole bunch goes in but feel free to use just stems and reserve the leaves for other dishes. The stems have lots of flavor.

Sweet Paprika– Double check your paprika and make sure that it is not the hot or smoked paprika variety. Ideally, you want Sweet Hungarian Paprika. Szeged is my preferred brand used by generations of my Hungarian family. Most grocery stores sell it or you can purchase it online here. 

Pastina – This is where my Hungarian and Italian heritage merge into one harmonious, perfect, bowl of soup 🙂 Pastina is an Italian variety of pasta meaning “little pasta”. This is our favorite noodle to use for chicken soup, unless we are able to find the coveted “Stelline” pasta (little stars). Truly you can use any type of pasta or rice that you like. Egg noodles are wonderfully silky and orzo is another family favorite. You can also use gluten-free or brown rice noodles, or skip the noodles all together. 

TOOLS

• Cutting Board
• Good Knife
• Large Soup Pot
• Fine Mesh Sieve

HOW TO MAKE

Step One: Combine all soup ingredients in a large soup pot, starting with chicken and ending with parsley. Fill with water to fully submerge the chicken.

Step Two: Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 hours or until chicken is tender and cooked through and broth is flavorful.

Step Three: Remove chicken (it will fall apart, that's ok!) from pot and set aside. 

Step Four: Set a large fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl and strain the broth. Remove carrots and set them aside. Smoosh all of the vegetables with a wooden spoon through the sieve to extract as much flavor as possible.

Step Five: Alternatively, use a “stock sock” or a “nut bag” or just a clean dish towel, add veggies to your preferred tool and squeeze the vegetables over the stock bowl to extract all the nutrients and flavor. 

Step Six: Put soup together: shred chicken from bone and add to stock. Slice carrots and add to stock, Add Broth and chicken to individual soup bowls. Top with additional parsley.

HOW TO PREP A WHOLE CHICKEN

To prep a whole chicken for the soup pot you will want to first remove the packaging and rinse the chicken with water. (Rinsing is optional but I like to do it.)

Remove the bag of innards which you will find in the inner cavity of the chicken. You may also want to rinse the cavity of the chicken. 

Look for any pop thermometers or metal tags on the body of the chicken and remove those as well. Kitchen shears or scissors work well for this step.

Your chicken is now ready for the soup pot.

How to Freeze/ Store / Reheat

Homemade chicken soup freezes beautifully. If you can, freeze the soup without the noodles. The best practice is to boil fresh pasta when you thaw and reheat the soup. Place the soup in freezer containers, bags, or ice cube trays and freeze until firm. The soup will keep in the freezer for up to three months.

Store chicken soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to seven days.

Reheat the soup over medium heat until warmed through. You do not want to rapid boil the soup. Instead, heat it gently.

Expert Tips

Making whole chicken soup from scratch is easy and delicious.

• Buy a beautiful organic chicken for making soup, this will ensure that your broth is nourishing and clean.
• Garnishing chicken soup with fresh herbs is a fantastic flavor enhancer. Parsley is used in this recipe but dill or tarragon are absolutely fantastic as well.
• Pack your soup pot with a plethora of colorful vegetables, the more nutrient-dense the ingredients that go into the pot, the more nutrient-dense the soup.
• Soup is a wonderful way to care for yourself and your family. Enjoy this family recipe and don't tell my Mom that I shared it with you! 😉

DIETARY MODIFICATIONS

• Gluten-Free – Use gluten-free noodles or rice in the soup.
• Low Fodmap- Use scallions rather than onion and garlic. 
• Whole 30 – Omit pasta from the recipe. You can use spiralized zucchini noodles instead.
• Paleo – Omit the pasta from the recipe. You can use spiralized zucchini noodles instead.
• Keto – Omit the pasta from the recipe. You can use spiralized zucchini noodles instead. Substitute a keto-friendly vegetable for the carrots in this recipe. Red bell pepper or tomato, which are keto-approved, will add sweetness to the broth and work as a substitute for the carrots.

I can’t wait for you to try this Homemade Nourishing Chicken Soup Recipe! When you make it, snap a photo and tag me on Instagram @abrapappa or use the hashtag #abraskitchen so I can feature your photo! 

If you’ve tried this recipe, don’t forget to rate and leave a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!