Chicken Soup
272 Comments
Updated May 23, 2024
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The best chicken soup doesn’t need much — just tender poached chicken, hearty winter vegetables, and fresh herbs simmered in chicken broth. It’s a simple combination that’s a cozy hug for your taste buds and the best kind of immunity boost.
I’ve been making this exact chicken soup for over a decade now. It’s my go-to recipe when the cold weather strikes and I’m craving something light, brothy, nourishing, and warm. And while many chicken soup recipes often contain pasta noodles, they’re definitely not needed. I swap those out for parsnips which are equally filling, but add a deliciously sweet flavor that works so well with the fresh herbs.
What’s the secret to making a phenomenal chicken soup? My answer is to keep the ingredient list minimal and simple. This chicken soup is jam-packed with a ton of nutrient-dense vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, leek, celery, and onion, plus fresh herbs. Vegetables are a big component of many of my soups recipes, from my lentil soup, to classic vegetable soup, and cabbage soup. But, it’s the fresh thyme and tarragon that really makes this chicken soup special and unique.
If you’ve made my chicken salad recipe you know that tarragon pairs beautifully with chicken, and I’d say it’s the one ingredient that really gives this soup that “wow factor” as well. So if you’re on the hunt for a chicken soup that’s cozy, healing, and flavorful, this should be at the top of your list!
Simple Chicken Soup Ingredients
- Chicken Breast: You’ll need two boneless, skinless chicken breast for poaching. Though you could also swap in chicken thighs if you’d like. Poached chicken is the best method for an easy and healthy way to cook chicken!
- Vegetables: This is a classic and hearty mix of carrots, parsnips, leek, celery, onion, and garlic. If you’re not a fan of parsnips, you can also use turnips or potatoes. Just keep in mind that potatoes may need a few extra minutes to cook until fork-tender.
- Fresh Herbs: When it comes to seasoning your chicken soup, sprigs of fresh thyme, tarragon, and a bay leaf lend herbaceous goodness. See my notes below if using dried herbs.
- Chicken Broth: With a simple ingredient list, it’s important to choose a high-quality chicken broth for the best flavor. If you’re curious about the brand I use, I’ve linked it in the recipe card below.
Find the printable recipe with measurements below
How To Make Chicken Soup
Saute the veggies. Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the carrots, parsnips, celery, leek, and onion to the pot and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Then, add the garlic, salt, and pepper, and stir for another minute.
Poach the chicken. Add the thyme, tarragon, bay leaf, chicken, and broth to the pot. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Simmer the soup for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked. You can also use an instant-read thermometer to see if the chicken has reached 165°F.
Shred the chicken. With tongs, remove the chicken to a cutting board and gently shred the chicken with two forks. Place the shredded chicken back into the pot and simmer for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
Garnish and serve. Remove the sprigs of thyme, tarragon, and bay leaf. Don’t forget to garnish the fresh parsley and black pepper before serving. Those little additions will make a difference!
Common Questions
While I’m no doctor, I think most would agree that chicken soups are nourishing. And for me personally, it’s always been one of my go-to remedies for when I’m feeling under the weather. The light and warm broth soothes my body and the mix of healthy protein and veggies gives me the nutrients I need to keep my gut happy.
While I do feel that fresh is best in this recipe, if you only have dried herbs on hand, go ahead and use them! Just keep in mind that dried herbs are a bit stronger in flavor, so I’d recommend starting with ½ teaspoon of each, and then adding more if you’d like.
You can always add more veggies to this soup, like peas or zucchini. In fact, I add zucchini noodles along with spicy ginger and earthy turmeric in the golden chicken zoodle soup recipe in my Healthy Meal Prep cookbook!
Storage Tips
- To store for the week: Always allow your soup to come to room temperature before storing away in the fridge in an airtight container. This soup will stay good for 4 to 5 days — making it the perfect healthy meal to quickly reheat and enjoy throughout the week!
- To freeze for later: If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’m a big fan of freezing extra portions of soups, whether that’s in a glass storage container or this silicone freezing tray. Leftovers will stay good for up to 3 months in the freezer.
- For reheating: To reheat a single serving, microwave it in a bowl for a few minutes until it’s warm to your liking.
More Healthy Soup Recipes
Soups always have a designated spot on my menus, especially during fall and winter. If you’re looking for some new inspirations, I’ve got plenty of soup recipes to choose from. Give one of these a try next!
- Butternut Squash Soup: A must-make during winter squash season!
- Stuffed Pepper Soup: This hearty soup with ground beef, rice, bell peppers, onion, and tomatoes will satisfy even the hungriest bellies.
- White Chicken Chili: This chicken chili is loaded with white beans and lots of veggies.
- Avgolemono Soup: A Greek lemon, chicken, and rice soup that’s naturally creamy.
- Split Pea Soup: Green split peas are simmered with veggies and a meaty ham bone for ultimate flavor.
I hope this chicken soup recipe becomes your new cold-weather favorite. If you make it, I’d love to hear what you think of it in the comment box below. Your review will help other readers in the community.
Ultimate Chicken Soup
Description
Video
Equipment
- Le Creuset Dutch Oven My favorite soup pot!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 3 parsnips, peeled and sliced
- 3 celery ribs, sliced
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 1 leek, halved lengthwise, sliced, and rinsed
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh tarragon
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Saute the veggies. Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the carrots, parsnips, celery, leek, and onion to the pot and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper, and stir for another minute.
- Poach the chicken. Add the thyme, tarragon, bay leaf, chicken, and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Simmer the soup for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Shred the chicken. With tongs, remove the chicken to a cutting board and then gently shred the chicken with two forks. Place the shredded chicken back into the pot and simmer for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
- Serve. Remove the sprigs of thyme, tarragon and the bay leaf. Stir in the parsley, and garnish with additional fresh parsley and black pepper before serving.
Lisa’s Tips
- Those of you with an eagle eye may have noticed I added the garlic first in the video above. While that’s not detrimental, I do believe the steps listed above are best – so follow those.
- For the shredded chicken hack (using a stand mixer) that I mention in the video, check out my shredded chicken recipe.
Nutrition
©Downshiftology. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Recipe originally published January 2016, but updated to include new information and photos for your benefit!
My husband rarely comments on my meals especially when it comes to chicken (his least favorite protein) and said the soup was good! That means it was excellent! Thanks
I’m so glad you and your husband love this chicken soup, Jeanne!
Tastes so good.
My husband said that it’s the best soup I ever made hehe. Really delicious soup! So much flavor, richness and just yummy!
Yay, love to hear that! Hope you both enjoy. :)
I made this! It’s fabulous! So……good, tasty, delicious soup. Thank you so much, really like your recipes
I’m so glad you enjoyed this soup, Rebecca!
I am so happy to have found the Ultimate Chicken Soup recipe. Having made other chicken soups, I was happy to find a method to poach the chicken—quicker & simpler. Also, the addition of leeks adds a different level to the taste. This recipe is now my go to chicken soup—my husband loves it, he now makes it himself—no more cooking the chicken with bones & skin for a prolonged time.
Thyme and tarragon are a great addition.
Lisa, thank you for your recipes, advice & videos —love them all. ❤️
Thanks so much for your lovely comment, Mary. I’m happy you and your husband both love this chicken soup! :)
Can this be made in a slow cooker rather than stovetop?
Hi Karen – Yes, I’m sure you can!
Lovely healthy soup, Thank you
So thrilled you loved it!
Hi Lisa,
I’m currently enjoying your fabulous chicken soup recipe. I followed the recipe to a T. The turn out is sheer perfection. Thank you ❤️
So happy you loved it!
Lovely recipe very delicate flavors all came together very nicely my wife really enjoyed it!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Carl!
Best chicken soup ever. Saving this recipe for sure. I added a small amount of pasta, so delicious 😋
Yay, I’m so happy you loved it, Nora!
My new go to recipe. So easy and delicious.
Hi Sheila – Happy to hear you love this chicken soup!
Made this first time tonight
It was so yum
I will be saving the recipe for sure.
So happy you enjoyed it!
Made this soup for my elderly dad who came down with a nasty cold, it hit the spot he couldn’t stop talking about it.
Hi Tins – Happy to hear this chicken soup hit the spot for your dad!
My husband made this soup a week ago. It is the best chicken soup recipe we have ever tried. It was absolutely delicious! I added a little cooked rice to mine. We are going to make it again this week. Fabulous!!!
Hi Tara – I’m so glad you loved this chicken soup!
Yummy :-)
Hi Tani – Happy to hear you love this chicken soup!
I am convinced your soup recipe is curing my pneumonia. It’s packed full of flavour, the yummiest chicken soup I’ve ever had. Thankyou so much.
Hi Lizette – The magical wonders of this chicken soup! Happy to hear you’re loving it.
This soup was so delicious – the whole family loved it! I couldn’t find Tarragon but even without it, the soup was great!
Thrilled to hear this chicken soup was loved by the whole family!
Amazing flavour and very quick and easy to make. I love it.
Hi Simone – Happy to hear you love this chicken soup!
Excellent
Hi Sally – Happy to hear you’re loving this chicken soup!
Great recipe – we have tons of fresh herbs and they sure add a punch. Also tried shredding the chicken in the Mixer and OMG that works so well!! Thanks – this will be a staple for us!
Hi Jennifer – Happy to hear you’re loving this chicken soup and the shredded chicken method :)
I like how much vegies this recipe has and cooking came together quickly after chopping all the vegies. My husband and I tasted it and it was sweet but I was happy that the sweetness came from all the vegies or at least thats what i thought until I read the ingredients of chicken broth that has cane sugar listed twice. Lesson learned for me to read the ingredients next time. Thought i’d share this. We still ate the soup and will make sure to make this again without cane sugar.
Yikes, yeah, there’s really no need for sugar in chicken broth. That’s a good reminder to double check ingredients for next time though. Glad you and your husband still loved this chicken soup recipe!
The best recipe for “adapting”. My ethnic background taught me to make chicken soup the looooong way…cook with bones of chicken, cook with chicken fat, cook for hours. However, my husband cannot eat liquid cooked with meat or chicken liquid or he gets migraines. I followed this recipe exactly (added some dill and basil), made matzoh balls (gluten free) and toasted and shredded 1/4 pound of chicken tenders in tin foil and olive oil. I was out of the kitchen in less than an hour…yay!
You’d never know the soup was made “fowl free”! It was delicious. Will now be my go to recipe! I’ll bet it’s beyond delicious made with the chicken in it! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!!
So happy you both loved the recipe, Sharon! And love those tweaks you made.
Nice and simple chicken soup, tasted clean and comforting. I used organic potato instead of parsnip and it worked well! Tarragon adds an interesting flavour and smell to the soup, i liked it. Can’t go wrong :) thanks Lisa!
Hi there – I’m so glad you’re loving this chicken soup!
This is the best chicken soup I’ve ever tasted. Packed full of flavour. Thank you! Just what I need as I’m recovering from a head cold.
Hi Dawn – I’m so glad you love this chicken soup!
So delicious and simple! Made this with homemade broth and loads of veggies. So comforting and delicious!
Hi Adrienne – Happy to hear you love this chicken soup!
Unfortunately my family didn’t like this 😔 for some reason it tastes really sweet? Followed the direction 100 percent! I was really looking forward to it as all the positive reviews and the photos looked good.
Hi Edith – I’m not quite sure how it could taste sweet when the ingredients are only chicken and vegetables. But thanks for giving it a try, and hopefully you’ll enjoy some of my other recipes more!
Could the sweetness come from the tarragon?
Very tasty! I’ll do it all over again. Delicious! Two thumbs up
Hi Pete – Happy to hear you love this chicken soup!
My Husband didn’t feel well so I decided to try and make this soup for him. It came out so good!! Even my Husband loved it!!
Thank you!! 😊
Hi Laura – You can always depend on chicken soup when sick. Glad he loved it!
Hi there I am new to cooking. I was being asked if I want regular parsley or Italian parsley. Which one should I choose? Thanks in advance!
Hi Skye – I normally like to use Italian flat-leaf parsley.
So flavorful! Best chicken soup I’ve ever made!
Hi Peg – I’m so glad you love this chicken soup!
The most flavourful chicken soup I’ve ever made. My husband requests this soup a few times a month since my first time making it. It’s easy to make so I’m happy to make it over and over again. We often boil some gluten free pasta separately and add it to our bowls to make it even more filling. As always, this recipe is a winner!
Yay, love to hear that you and your husband love this chicken soup recipe, Kourtney!
Love your recipes. I still haven’t found one I don’t like. They are all super yummy and you make them seem so easy.
Thanks so much, Michelle! I really appreciate that!
Made this recipe and took the batch to a new mom when we went to visit. We took sandwichs as well and had lunch with her and left the remainder with her. We all enjoyed it so much I came home and made it again! It is going into the family recipe book. So much flavour and colour! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Kim – Wonderful! I’m glad both you and your mom enjoyed this chicken soup.
I just moved to Paris, France and they have these wonderful roast chickens. I wanted something to do with the leftover chicken and was craving some American chicken soup. I found this recipe and saw that it was highly rated. I just made this soup and it is AMAZING! Exactly what I was looking for. I am not sure if it was the spices or the vegetables but it just had the most amazing flavor. If you are looking for a recipe and reading this review, just go make it. You won’t be disappointed!
Hi there – I’m glad you made good use out of your leftover chicken to make this soup!
I have made chicken soup for years and this is by far the best recipe! The parsnips and leeks just add that special touch. I make my own chicken broth from only pasture raised chicken. I also used pasture raised chicken breasts in this recipe. Pasture raised just elevates the taste and nutrition. Thanks again for a recipe that I will make lifetime.
Hi Amber – I’m so glad you found a chicken soup recipe you can come back to!