Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-2There is a time and season for everything. There is a time for fancy cakes and there is a time for simple soups. My favorite kind happens to be cozy, family style meals. An uncomplicated recipe goes a long way to keep me motivated to feed my family healthy food.

I’ve also noticed that I actually prefer taste combinations that are simple. If you use good ingredients, there are no need for major “renovations”:). Seriously, my go-to meals for family dinners are things like Roasted Chicken with Potatoes, Steamed Lemon Chicken and Rice, Baked Steelhead Trout, Broiled Salmon any kind of roasted vegetables, etc.

My love for vegetables is followed closely by my love for soups. A warm bowl of soup will always fix my craving for a nice, home cooked meal. I actually make soup at least once a week, most of the time even more often. This particular soup is high on the list of favorites for my husband. We both really like Chicken Noodle Soup in general, and this one has the additional vegetables, which of course, only makes the soup even better.

Ingredients:

8-10 cups water

2 chicken drumsticks, skin removed

2 dry bay leaves

5 black peppercorns

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

1/2 Tablespoon butter or oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 ears of corn, about 2 cups of corn kernels

2 cups fresh egg noodles (you can also use dry pasta or noodles, you will need to use less)

1/2 – 3/4 cup fresh or frozen peas

Fresh minced herbs, such as parsley, dill, chives, green onion

salt, pepper

Instructions:

Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-3In a medium to large cooking pot, add the water, chicken drumsticks, dry bay leaves and peppercorns. Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-4Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Season with salt. Cook the chicken at a simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes. Strain the broth through a fine mesh sieve lined with a cheesecloth or paper towel. Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-5Pour the broth back into the pot. Discard the bay leaves and peppercorns. Take the meat off the bone when it’s cool enough to handle and add it to the soup. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Add the potatoes to the broth. Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-7Cook the soup at a simmer, covered. Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat the butter or oil. Add the onions. Season with salt and pepper and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the onions have softened. Add the carrots, season with salt and pepper as well and cook for another 3-5 minutes, until the carrots have softened too. Add the garlic to the center of the skillet and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until the garlic is fragrant. Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-6Add the vegetables to the soup. Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-8Continue cooking until the potatoes are cooked through, 15-20 minutes. Add the corn and noodles to the soup and cook for another 3-5 minutes, depending on the type of noodles you are using. Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-9

Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-10Take the soup off the heat and add the peas and herbs.Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-11

Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup-1-2

Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Soups
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 8-10 cups water
  • 2 chicken drumsticks, skin removed
  • 2 dry bay leaves
  • 5 black peppercorns
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • ½ Tablespoon butter or oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 2 ears of corn, about 2 cups of corn kernels
  • 2 cups fresh egg noodles
  • ½ - ¾ cup fresh or frozen peas
  • Fresh minced herbs, such as parsley, dill, chives, green onion
  • salt, pepper
Instructions
  1. In a medium to large cooking pot, add the water, chicken drumsticks, dry bay leaves and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Season with salt. Cook the chicken at a simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes.
  2. Strain the broth through a fine mesh sieve lined with a cheesecloth or paper towel. Pour the broth back into the pot. Discard the bay leaves and peppercorns. Take the meat off the bone when it's cool enough to handle and add it to the soup. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce to a simmer.
  3. Add the potatoes to the broth. Cook the soup at a simmer, covered.
  4. Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat the butter or oil. Add the onions. Season with salt and pepper and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the onions have softened.
  5. Add the carrots, season with salt and pepper as well and cook for another 3-5 minutes, until the carrots have softened too. Add the garlic to the center of the skillet and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until the garlic is fragrant.
  6. Add the vegetables to the soup. Continue cooking until the potatoes are cooked through, 15-20 minutes.
  7. Add the corn and noodles to the soup and cook for another 3-5 minutes, depending on the type of noodles you are using.
  8. Take the soup off the heat and add the peas and herbs.

23 Comments

    • olgak7

      I am using fresh noodles, Olga. You can find them in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. It doesn’t matter what kind you use.

  • Julia

    This looks so good, I’ll have to make it for my kids. My mom makes a similar soup but she never sautees the veggies outside of the pot, rather dumps the carrots right in. Does sauteing them give them a deeper flavor?

    • olgak7

      Yep! You got it, Julia. Sauteeing the vegetables gives them a deeper flavor and brings out the sweet and caramelized flavors that you just can’t get by simply boiling the vegetables.

    • olgak7

      Yep! You got it, Julia. Sautéing the vegetables gives them a deeper flavor and brings out the sweet and caramelized flavors that you just can’t get by simply boiling the vegetables.

  • Tracee

    I grew up in Austin, Tx. Soup wasn’t on our radar except for the occasional can of tomato soup or that too salty chicken noodle soup.

    Unfortunately, I left my beloved Austin and moved to western Pennsylvania. I’ve been here 15 years and I still can’t handle the cold and snow!! I HAVE become quite adept at building soups. We even bought a 9 quart le creuset dutch oven. Even though there are just the three of us, we love making soup year round.

    Our daughter Lillian is 12 1/2 years old and we adopted her from China when she was 6 months old. Adoption, albeit it domestic, runs through both of our families. My father was adopted and me and my siblings were adopted. My husband and his siblings were all adopted. When we married in 1999, I was 37 and frankly was not thrilled about birthing babies. We kept seeing all these stories about adopting from China and quickly realized we that was our answer!

    We completed our paperwork in a speedy 4 months but the wait for referral slowed from 7 months to 11 months. It felt like torture at the time. We got our referral on Nov. 7th and traveled Dec. 9th. Our Lillian is our world. She is an all A Honor Student and will begin the 7th grade this Fall. She’s grown up too fast!

    My best wishes to you and your family. Your faith will be rewarded, I’m sure of it.

    T

    • olgak7

      Thank you so much for sharing your story, Tracee! It is very inspiring. I love to hear how you adapted to the colder weather by making soup. Soup during the cold months is so comforting. I love it. By the way, I love my Le Creuset dutch oven too:).

  • Kathleen Bergstrom

    Hi Olga,
    I enjoy reading your recipes, especially your Russian ones. I fixed Spring Chicken and Vegetable Soup a few days ago. The soup was delicate and pretty good. Mine looked just like your photo. BUT the prep time was 1.5 hours instead of 15 minutes. I used fresh corn. Cutting it off the cob, cutting potatoes, carrots, mincing parsley, chopping and sautéing onions, and cooking chicken and taking it off the bones took a long time. I even strained the broth using cheesecloth. I followed all of the directions exactly since it was the first time I made it. Who could do all this in 15 min??
    Kathleen

    • olgak7

      Hi Kathleen,
      I’m so glad that you enjoyed the soup. The 15 minutes is for prep, the cooking time I have listed is 50 minutes, making it a total of an hour and 5 minutes, which is close to what you ended up doing. I hope that helps.

      • Kathleen Bergstrom

        Guess I wasn’t clear. The PREP took me 1.5 hours. Cooking was extra. I don’t see how the prep time could be faster with all the steps to do.

        • olgak7

          I included cooking the broth, sautéing the vegetables and other things like that in the cooking time.
          When I write the prep time, I usually only include washing the ingredients and chopping them. Everyone takes their own time working in the kitchen. I write the time based on how I cook, doing my best to estimate. It’s hard for me to predict how long it will take others to work. I do my best, I apologize if it was not what you expected.I will adjust the time to give a bit more time for the prep work.

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