BEST Chicken Soup Recipe (aka Sunday Afternoon Roasted Chicken Soup) – The ultimate comfort food, elevated! This chicken soup recipe has become a Wooden Skillet classic and I am so excited that you all love it as much as I do! Feel free to add noodles (gluten-free or regular) if you want or leave them out!
Best Ever Homemade Chicken Soup Recipe
So I am beyond excited to share this Sunday Afternoon Roasted Chicken Soup recipe with you guys – promise me you will make it sometime soon!! Especially if anyone you know is fighting a cold! It combines two of my favorite recipes: roasted chicken and chicken soup!
So you are essentially roasting a chicken in your dutch oven first and then in that same pot and using that same roasted chicken, you are making some wickedly flavorful broth that will be the base of your soup! The depth of flavor is unreal! Comfort food at its finest :). Can’t wait for you to make some!!
Why This Recipe Works
- Roasted Chicken: the first step in this process is to roast a whole chicken – that just results in the most delicious chicken flavor ever!
- Broth: after we roast a whole chicken we then add in some chicken broth. Now, you CAN make your own, homemade broth through this process OR you can simply add in store-bought broth (or some of your own frozen homemade chicken broth) – totally up to you. But the flavor is just out of this world!
- Love: not to get too mushy .. but this recipe does require some love and attention. I know a lot of my recipes are pretty quick and easy, but I also have a place in my heart for “weekend recipes” or recipes that take a little bit more time and are meant for a cozy weekend in. This is one of them. It is also the perfect recipe to bring to a sick friend or relative that needs a little bowl of love!
What You Will Need
- whole roasting chicken (fresh or thawed): this is the base of our soup – we will be roasting it and then letting it sit in the broth before shredding and adding back into the soup.
- salt + pepper: to season the chicken before roasting.
- soft ghee or butter: this is also added on the chicken before roasting – feel free to just use olive oil if you can’t do dairy.
- yellow onion + celery + carrots: we will be using some of these to roast with the chicken and we will be using another batch to actually chop up and add in with the soup.
- garlic: for flavor!
- fresh rosemary + thyme + sage leaves + bay leaf + oregano + black peppercorn: some delicious fresh herbs to up that amazing flavor!
- chicken broth: this is added in after the chicken roasts.
Can you Freeze Homemade Chicken Soup
Yes! You can definitely freeze it – simply place in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 6 months. Note: if you are wanting to add noodles I wouldn’t recommend adding those in before freezing!
Leftovers
It makes the best leftovers! I love having this for leftover lunches during the week! Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator (store your noodles separately, if using) for up to 3 days.
How to Make Chicken Soup
Pat your chicken dry with a clean paper towel. Rub with butter and salt + pepper. Roast with veggies and garlic. Then remove from oven and place on stove top. Add broth and let simmer.
Remove chicken and let cool. Strain the broth.
Add the shredded chicken back in along with fresh, chopped veggies and let those cook until firm but soft.
Serve and enjoy!
If you want to add in noodles I HIGHLY recommend cooking those separately because otherwise they will soak up the broth in the soup!
Feel free to add noodles if you want, but make sure and cook them separately so they don’t soak up all the broth!
Other Recipes You Might Like:
- Homemade Marinara Sauce
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
- Salsa Verde Chicken (IP + Slow Cooker)
- Healthy Meatloaf
- Simple Seared Ahi Tuna
- Fried Zucchini
Feel free to add some noodles if you want – I love the Jovial brand if you are gluten-free!
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Made this recipe and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!
PrintBEST Chicken Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: Approx. 15 cups
- Category: Soup
- Method: Oven, Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Description
Best Chicken Soup – The perfect recipe to make on a relaxing, cozy Sunday afternoon – it is seriously the BEST chicken soup recipe! Feel free to add noodles if you want!
Ingredients
Broth
- (1) 5-6 pound whole roasting chicken (fresh or thawed)
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons soft ghee (grass-fed butter, olive oil or vegan butter would work as well)
- 1 yellow onion, quartered
- 1 stalk celery, cut into 4–5 pieces
- 2 medium carrots, cut into 4 pieces each
- 1 head of garlic, cut of the top (or smash approx. 5–6 cloves)
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 3–4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1–2 fresh sage leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1–2 fresh sprig oregano
- 1 Tablespoon black peppercorn
Soup
- 8 cups chicken broth (you can also use 8 cups of water to make broth completely from scratch OR you could do 4 cups broth + 4 cups water. If you use broth your soup will only turn out that much richer. Just check your ingredients on the broth if concerned with Whole30)
- Shredded chicken
- 4 stalks of celery, sliced
- 6 medium-large carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 sweet yellow onion, diced
- 1 bay leaf
- Optional: gluten-free noodles, diced parsnip, diced sweet potato, diced turnip
Instructions
Broth:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Place chicken in 5 1/2 qt. Le Creuset Dutch Oven and rub all over with softened ghee
- Sprinkle with generous amounts of salt and pepper to coat.
- Place onion, carrots, celery and garlic around the chicken.
- Roast, uncovered, for 1.5 hours.
- Remove from oven and place on burner.
- Add broth (and/or water) and turn heat up to high.
- Add rosemary, thyme, sage, bay leaf, oregano and peppercorn.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cover.
- Simmer (covered) as long as possible – if you used chicken broth I would suggest 2 hours – if you used water and broth I would suggest 3-4 hours – if you used all water I would suggest 4-6 hours.
Soup:
- Remove chicken and set aside to cool slightly.
- Strain broth and discard the cooked vegetables (they will be very soggy and not good for much after cooking for so long).
- Place strained broth back in your dutch oven.
- Once chicken is cooled enough, remove all the meat and place it in the broth (Note: depending on how big your chicken is, feel free not use all the chicken if you feel the chicken-broth ratio is off. If you want a thicker, chunkier soup then use it all, but if you want more of a broth-based soup then reserve some of the chicken for another purpose.)
- Also feel free to keep the chicken bones to make bone broth!
- Once the chicken meat is back in the broth, add your onion, celery, carrots and bay leaf.
- Taste and add salt and pepper, to taste, a pinch at a time.
- This would also be the time to add any other ingredients you want (sweet potato, turnip, parsnip or noodles).
- Let simmer approx. 8-10 minutes or until your vegetables are cooked, but still firm.
Notes
- Adaptable: This is one of those recipes that you can adapt very easily to fit what you like! My preferred method is to roast with ghee, use broth, simmer on low 2 hours (but I have also only simmered for 30 minutes – 1 hour and it is still amazing!).
- Time Saver: Since the chicken is already fully cooked you can reduce the cooking time in Step 10 of the Broth Instructions to whatever works for you!
- Bone Broth: you could add bone broth in Step 7 of Broth Instructions to make it extra gut-healing!
- Noodles: If you are adding noodles I would recommend cooking them separately beforehand and then adding to the soup – otherwise as they are cooking they will soak up all of the broth.
- Homemade Broth Version: I touched on this in the recipe card instructions, but wanted to highlight again – feel free to use water instead of broth in Instruction #7. It will need to cook much longer and you will need to add additional salt, but you will end up with some delicious homemade broth! If you have the time I highly recommend!
- Whole30/Paleo: If you are concerned with Whole30/Paleo just check those ingredients in your broth!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Approx. 1 cup
- Calories: 160
- Sugar: 7.1 g
- Sodium: 1352.7 mg
- Fat: 5.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.3 g
- Protein: 9.7 g
- Cholesterol: 28.3 mg
Lara says
I haven’t even made the soup yet (and I’m sure I’ll tweak it a bit) but this broth! All the chicken I had was 3 thighs I needed to use or lose, but roasting them and the veggies before the simmer gives this an incredible depth of flavor. This was SO easy. I can’t wait to make the soup, and also can’t wait to roast a whole bird to make a bunch of this broth for my freezer. I think this method will work well with turkey legs, too. Thank you!
Kyla says
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
I am making it today.
I just checked on it, lifted the dutch oven lid half way through the broth making process and 3/4 of my broth was GONE! I think I cooked it at too high a temp (my gas range is HOT, even on simmer) and overfilled the pot (my husband could only find a 7.5 lbs bird at the store). I added more water, switched it to a smaller burner, and put it back on. FINGERS CROSSED!! It smells amazing, I just hope I can manage to cook it correctly, lol!
Sara says
This soup is amazing! I’ve been very hesitant to try making chicken soup from scratch. I’ve tried other people’s homemade versions and they either didn’t have much flavor or were super salty/fake chicken soup base tasting. This soup is a true winner – so much flavor and packed with nutrition. Don’t be intimidated by the steps – yes it takes some time but each step is easy and the recipe is foolproof! I’ve been eating this for breakfast and lunch the last few days because it is that good and it is definitely helping soothe some GI issues I’ve been having. Tip: try adding a splash of coconut aminos to your bowl – gives it a little extra something without getting too salty. Thank you Erin for your simple but deliciously healthy recipes!!
Erin says
Thank you so much, Sara, for taking the time to write such a lovely review! I really appreciate it! Glad you are enjoying the recipe 🙂
Katie says
I have made this soup at least 5-8 times and it is always delicious! I had never made homemade soup prior to trying this recipe and both my husband I love it! Perfect on cold fall/winter days. It always feels good to eat a healthy recipe that is fulfilling!
Erin says
Aw thanks, Katie!!! I appreciate the feedback!
Anna says
Hello! Can’t wait to make this recipe, thanks for breaking it down into a few variations. A few questions from a roasting novice:
Broth, step 10: the combo of water+long simmer time basically equates your bone broth recipe, right? If so, could you make the broth with this soup and still make a another good bone broth by saving the carcass? do you leave the meat on the chicken for the whole 6 hours?
Soup 2 &6: do you really throw away the veggies or do you put them aside and then add them back in step 6?
Your instructions are great (I’m just new at this)
Erin says
Hi Anna! Re: your first question – I have never tried that so not sure how it would turn out (let me know if you try though!). Re: your second question – yes, you do discard the veggies … they are so, so mushy at that point that they really wouldn’t be good back in the finished soup. Of course, feel free to use them if you want or you can try and find another use for them. For the veggies that end up getting discarded I do try to save and use ends of celery and carrots I cut up for other recipes so I still get that flavor, but am just discarding the ends (if that makes sense). Let me know if you have any other questions!
Courtney says
Hello! Two questions: 1-You roast the chicken. When you shred, do you put the skin in the soup? 2-In the notes, you say your favorite version is to simmer for 2 hours… is that simmering the broth, or simmering the soup after you simmer the broth? (Also, did I see you comment that there is a video? I don’t see it on my end (Chrome desktop browser). I’m starting it now… Wish me luck!
Erin says
Hi Courtney! 1) It’s really up to you, I guess as to whether you want any skin in the soup! I guess sometimes I add in little pieces of it for flavor, but discard some of it too. 2) My favorite version is to use store bought broth and then simmer for 2 hours. Then add the other ingredients (carrots, celery, etc). Hope that helps! Shoot – for some reason the video isn’t showing up – I will work on getting that back in the post :). Thanks and enjoy!
Rachel says
My family loves this soup! I have made it for my parents as well and they love it! We added dumplings to it and it turned out amazing!
When I make it for others, I always make noodles on the side so they don’t get soggy.
Erin says
So happy to hear that, Rachel! Oooh the dumplings sound SO GOOD!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review + feedback – I really appreciate it!
Annabel says
Can I ask, what sort of dumplings do you use? Would you like to share your recipe?
Sharon says
Made this yesterday and it is delicious – the roasting gives the soup such a depth of flavour. Added some spring greens and leeks and blended the soup partway before adding the chicken back in so it was a bit thicker but still had visible vegetables. Some in the fridge for lunches this week and the rest in the freezer! Thanks for the recipe.
Erin says
Oh my gosh that sounds amazing, Sharon! Thank you for sharing your changes and for taking the time to come back and leave a review – I really appreciate it!