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I've made chicken soup several times and it's never been quite right. It tastes alright, but I think it's lacking some flavor. It's also not as thick and creamy as other chicken soups I've had. I just start by boiling a couple of chicken breasts in water. Then I add in bouillon cubes, noodles, carrots and different spices. I'm thinking I should stop using the water and bouillon cubes and just use chicken broth instead. I think the water decreases some of the flavor.
Also, do you think it's better to use dark meat in your chicken soup? Does it have more flavor? How do I make the soup thicker? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
To be honest with you the stuff we buy in supermarket as chicken soup doesnt taste like chicken. Let me tell you how I make it. I buy a whole chicken. I cut it up and pieces (legs, breast, neck, spine, wings) and boil it all, along with the heart and gizzard). I skim the foam then I take the meat out and add carots, parsnips, celery - my mom adds celery roots - potatoes and about 2 table spoons of rice. Or noodles instead of potatoes and rice.
It depends on how you make it. The one with rice we make it sour and add lemon juice when we serve it. The ones with noodles we ate like this.
My advice: put all the meat you get. Chicken breast alone doesn't have much flavor. Dont put cubes. They contain msg.
My mother makes a good chicken soup and she always uses a whole chicken (which she removes at some point and continues to cook it in the oven). I agree that boneless chicken breasts are not the way to go.
During one of my stints in China, I had a great chicken soup that tasted like my mother's soup and it had a chicken's foot in it (which I didn't eat). So chicken bones definitely seem to add flavor in order to make a tasty chicken soup.
Im happy with my chicken soup but I am still going to try some tips in this thread, thanks! One thing I do sometimes is add a little yellow food coloring, esp when using turkey broth. It adds a lot of visual appeal and I get a lot of complements
I always make it in the crock pot. And I don't see anyone mentioning my one key ingredient that I think is the key to flavor. Large cubes of parmesan or romano cheese. Adds tons of flavor and then they are all gooey goodness when you eat the soup.
And I use breast meat.
Here's what I do:
(all veggies are diced pretty large)
about three carrots
one large onion
about three celery ribs
about 1/4 cup diced parsley
1 large chicken breast (I use skinless boneless only because I don't want to pick out bones at the end) (put in raw)
4 or 5 big chunks of parm or romano cheese
about 1 TBS season salt (maybe more, I do not measure, I taste and keep adding until I'm satisfied)
fill with water to cover everything, cook on high for about 8 hours.
1 hen, 1 head of garlic, 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley tied in cheese cloth along with 7-10 whole peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves, I use the multicolored peppercorns.
Bring to boil then simmer til chicken falls off bones, remove chicken I use all the meat set aside skin and bones. While de-boning I make I make sure to toss many pieces to my fur baby. Also I have another bowl set aside for fur kitties.
I cool the broth and when cooled skim off the fat.
Cut up celery in small pieces, peel carrots and cut into small pieces. Taste, usually I add some salt. I bring it to a boil and I use ORZO instead of noodles. I just eyeball the amount. I also add some fresh chopped parsley or even cilantro and or dill towards the end. It depends on my mood as to which one I garnish with. If I have fresh lime I serve that on the side.
Side note, you can add curry powder for a lovely yellow color and it is so rich!! When I do that I add some Dry Sherry to the stock!
Enjoy!
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