This immune-boosting chicken vegetable soup recipe is a great meal to have on hand during the week, especially during the Fall or Winter months when it’s important to boost your family’s immune systems.

You can replace the green beans with diced zucchini or squash.

Broth Ingredients

  • 1 whole organic/pastured chicken carcass (roasted in oven or crock-pot, followed by meat pulled off the bone and set aside. Ensure you have saved all the juices and drippings that have cooked out of the chicken during the roasting process and set aside to be added back to the soup at the end when you add your meat back into the soup)
  • 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (this helps release the minerals from the bones)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 head garlic, cut in half cross-wise
  • 3 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tablespoon sea salt
  • 12 to 16 cups filtered water

Soup Ingredients

  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 small leek, chopped (this can be omitted)
  • 3 to 4 large carrots, diced
  • 3 to 4 stalks celery, diced
  • ½ pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 2 to 3 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 3 to 4 cups chopped kale
  • ½ cup chopped parsley
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To make the broth, place the chicken carcass into an 8-quart pot. Add the remaining ingredients for the broth. Cover and bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 3-4 hours (this is a good thing to do on the weekend when you have the time to supervise the pot on the stove, or do this in your crockpot overnight)

Directions

  1. Place a colander over another large pot.
  2. Pour the broth through the colander.
  3. Let it drain well.
  4. Then place the broth back on the stove.
  5. To make the soup, place the onion, leek, carrots, celery, green beans and dried thyme into the pot with the broth.
  6. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
  7. Cut the chicken meat into small pieces. Add it to the pot of simmering vegetables.
  8. Then add the kale and parsley, simmer for about 5 minutes more.
  9. Season with sea salt and black pepper to your taste preference.

-Dr. Naomi Whelan, ND