ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Clean Out the Refrigerator, It's Time for Chicken Soup

Updated on December 5, 2014

My Favorite Chicken Soup Recipe

It's chicken soup time and time to that means it's time to clean out the refrigerator. Soup is one of the most flexible recipes to make, and takes on the taste and flavor of the whatever ingredients you find in the refrigerator and the cupboard.

All the cook has to do is have the culinary knowledge to blend the ingredients together to make a chicken noodle soup that will have your family clamoring for the recipe.

Homemade chicken soup is meant to never made the same way twice. It may come close, the base soup is usually the same, but every good cook can't resist adding a little of this and a little of that to create the flavor of the day. Chicken soup is an opportunity to use those tiny portions of frozen vegetables left in the bottom of the bag, I know you have them, the 1/2 cup of corn, peas, okra, green beans, mixed vegetables.

As you can see from the photo I even put in two different kinds of noodles, Didn't have enough of one, so I used both. Soup is very forgiving, in fact soup welcomes different ingredients and creativity.

Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 2 hours
Ready in: 3 hours
Yields: 8

Ingredients

  • 4 -5 lbs chicken (whole or pieces)
  • 1 onion
  • 1 cup celery
  • 4 cups assorted vegetables
  • (whatever is in your refrigerator)
  • Seasoning:
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt (can use seasoning salt)
  • 3 Tablespoons dried parsley
  • 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning (or 1/2 tsp each rosemary, thyme, and sage)
  • 2 -3 cups dried noodles

Alternative Ingredients

Other optional ingredients include:

  1. Rice (instead of noodles)
  2. Barley (instead of noodles)
  3. 1/2 -1 cup spaghetti sauce at the bottom of the jar (gives an Italian spicy flavor)
  4. 1-2 cups stewed tomatoes
  5. Cubed potatoes

Don't let the total time scare you, for two of those three hours the soup is simmering all by itself, and needs no tending. The last hour it's tempting your taste buds.

Handy vegetable Chopper and Slicer

Prepworks by Progressive Fruit and Vegetable Chopper,White
Prepworks by Progressive Fruit and Vegetable Chopper,White
If you're not good at chopping vegetables with a knife, then this vegetable slicer is a great kitchen tool that not only slices, but dices into those nice uniform cubes. Prep your carrots, celery, potatoes, and onions ahead of time and place in ziplock baggies for later. Fixing soup then becomes a snap when all you have to do is empty a bag of chopped veggies.
 

Instructions

  1. Place the chicken, or pieces in a large stock pot and cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for approximately one hour or until the chicken is falling off the bone when pressed with a large spoon.
  2. Remove the chicken pieces from the stock, place in a bowl and put in refrigerator to cool.
  3. Gather vegetables from refrigerator or freezer, this is the fun and creative part (also allows you to clean out the fridge)
  4. Chop any whole vegetables such as onions, carrots and celery into 1/8" pieces and put aside.
  5. Now is the chance to use the partially used bags of vegetables in the freezer. You know the ones, 1/2 cup of peas left, 1/2 cup corn, it can all be added to the soup.
  6. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator, it should be cooled by now, remove the meat from the bones, cut into small pieces and add it back to the liquid.
  7. Add the frozen vegetables and raw veggies to the chicken
  8. Add the spices, and bring soup to a boil, reduce and simmer for one hour
  9. Add noodles and simmer for approximately 30 more minutes.
  10. Water can be added if you got carried away with adding vegetables and "other good stuff"
Fiesta Scarlet 451 9-Inch Rimmed Soup Bowl
Fiesta Scarlet 451 9-Inch Rimmed Soup Bowl
Serve your soup creation in a fancy soup bowl, presentation is part of the dining experience which makes a meal special. There is a reason why restaurants use warm colors in their decor. Red and oranges are said to stimulate the appetite. But I just like the color red, just about everything looks good in a red bowl, including soup and salad.
 
Stay Fit Soup/Meal Container, EZ Heat
Stay Fit Soup/Meal Container, EZ Heat
Take your soup to work for lunch, camping, deer hunting, fishing, just about anywhere with this all in one soup mug, cover and spoon. This soup mug holds over three cups of soup, and is microwave safe. Makes a great gift for birthdays or Christmas.
 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)