Hungarian Eats

February 2, 2021

The only chicken soup recipe you will ever need

This chicken soup is family, remedy for a cold, comfort food on a chilly day, and so much more. The chicken soup is a must in my family. Usually I make it from fall to spring. One chicken makes a whole dinner, provides leftovers for the next day, and some stock to freeze. I usually say it, that once you are done with the prep, the soup “just makes itself”, as there is not much more you have to do with it, once the pot is on the stove.

Chicken soup

Ingredients

one 1.5 kg (3 lb) chicken

4-5 medium carrots

2-3 medium parsnips

2-3 garlic cloves

1 whole onion

1 whole tomato

1 medium slice pepper (red or green)

¼ head savoy cabbage (optional)

1 head cauliflower (optional)

1/4 cup green peas (optional)

10-15 whole peppercorns

1 tsp ground turmeric

3 tsp salt

ground pepper

½ kohlrabi (optional)

2-3 litre water

Method

Separate the chicken (breast, thighs, wings, drumsticks, etc.), remove most of the skin and fat. Wash and prepare the root vegetables (peel the carrots, parsnips, celery root, kohlrabi). Cut the carrots and parsnips lengthwise into spears, cut the celery root and kohlrabi into two or three cubes.

The tomato, garlic, pepper and onion will go into the soup whole – no need to chop these. Remove the core and leaves from the cauliflower but keep in one piece, it’s easier to take it out when finished and easier to serve.

Put the chicken pieces, all the vegetables, turmeric, pepper corns, salt and pepper into a large pot, and add 2-3 L cold water. Bring to a boil, then cover half way and simmer on low to medium heat for 1.5-2 hours.

Remove any brown foam from the surface with a spoon. Remove the onion, whole tomato and pepper and discard. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

Serve it with fine egg noodles or matzo balls.

We usually serve the meat as second dish with some roasted and boiled farfel or Israeli couscous. We add some sour cherry or plum compote on the side. The meat – farfel – compote is a wonderful and delicious combination.

Jó étvágyat! Bon apetit!

The only chicken soup recipe you will ever need

The ultimate and easy chicken soup, that can serve as a full family dinner.

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Hungarian, Jewish

Keyword chicken, Hungarian, Jewish, recipe, soup

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 2

Total Time 2 30

Servings 6 people

Author Hungarian Eats

Ingredients

1.5 kg chicken
4-5 medium carrots
2-3 medium parsnips
2-3 garlic cloves
1 whole onion
1 whole tomato
1 bunch Italian parsley
1 medium slice pepper
¼ head savoy cabbage optional
1 head cauliflower optional
½ kohlrabi root optional
1/4 cup green peas optional
10-15 whole peppercorns
1 tsp ground turmeric
3 tsp salt
ground pepper
2-3 L water

Instructions

Separate the chicken (breast, thighs, wings, drumsticks, etc.), remove most of the skin and fat. Wash and prepare the root vegetables (peel the carrots, parsnips, celery root, kohlrabi). Cut the carrots and parsnips lengthwise into spears, cut the celery root and kohlrabi into two or three cubes. Remove the parsley stems.
The tomato, pepper, onion and garlic will go into the soup whole – no need to chop these. Remove the core and leaves from the cauliflower, but keep it in one piece, as it is easier to take it out when finished, and easier to serve.
Put the chicken pieces, all the vegetables, turmeric, pepper corns, salt and pepper into a large pot, and add 2-3 L cold water. Bring to a boil, then cover half way and simmer on low to medium heat for 1.5-2 hours.
Remove any brown foam from the surface with a spoon. Remove and discard the onion, whole tomato and pepper slice. Removing the garlic is optional.
Add more salt and pepper if needed.
Serve it with fine egg noodles or matzo balls.

Notes

Use a whole chicken with bones. The bones will add the real flavour to the soup.

If you don’t want to cut the chicken yourself, ask your butcher to chop it up, and remove the skin for you. I found it a huge time saver.

You can use a little saffron instead of turmeric. The point is to add a nice yellow colour to the soup.

If you don’t have fresh tomato, use a bit of tomato paste; if you don’t have fresh pepper, use a piece of bottled grilled pepper.

Using savoy cabbage, cauliflower or kohlrabi is optional, whatever you have at home, whatever you wish to use just throw it in. You can substitute the celery root with celery, but once you smell, and taste the celery root, there is no going back 🙂

To store the soup: filter the soup into containers, putting the meat and the vegetables into separate containers. Before reheating the soup, remove and discard the excess fat from the top of the liquid, then pour the soup into a pot, and place the vegetables and meat in. Always bring the soup to a boil and let simmer for a few minutes before serving.

If you wish to remove more fat from the soup before freezing, place the broth into the fridge for a few hours.

How we serve this soup in Hungary:

A chicken soup is a whole “production”, not only a soup. It makes a whole two-course dinner when we serve it in Hungary.

I serve the broth first, with noodles (boiled separately – don’t boil them in the soup!) and vegetables. I put a spoonful of noodles into an empty bowl, then I add some vegetables (a carrot, a parsnip, a celery root, some parsley, whatever you want), and then I pour on the hot broth.

For the second course, the chicken pieces are served whole with roasted and boiled tarhonya, farfel or Israeli couscous and sour cherry or plum compote on the side. You can usually find these compotes in the European section of any larger supermarket. The farfel can be substituted with any other kind of pasta, or boiled potatoes or skipped entirely.

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