Homemade Veggie Broth Chicken Soup
Let me start by repeating this, I am in no way a health nut, but I do try my best to explore alternatives if they exist. Since I will never turn down a bowl of homemade chicken soup, I decided to use homemade veggie broth, which is a brand new phenomenon to me!
About a month ago, I saw a post online in passing that shared how to create your own veggie broth simply by saving all your unwanted veggie scraps in a freezer bag and then boil, simmer, and sip! My first batch was a little foreign to me since I'm use to Swanson in a box, you know, all that sodium filled liquid goodness. It was good enough though that I stocked up another freezer bag full of veggie waste to go round two. This time, I had a package of chicken thighs that needed to be cooked today, so it was perfect timing to try making chicken soup out of my veggie broth.
Like I mentioned before, I'm not Suzy Homemaker, so before I started the chicken part {and I'm not embarrassed to share this} I Googled how to bake chicken thighs. Go ahead, shake your head, but I really have no clue why these types of things don't get stored in my brain! Luckily, the rest of the directions were easy since I posted a while back about my favorite homemade soup using store bought chicken broth. Moving ahead about 3 hours later, I was enjoying a remarkably delicious veggie broth base chicken soup.
Even if you're not super health conscious, this soup is definitely worth trying if you'd like to try your hand out at making your own veggie broth.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, 4-5 lbs {easy time saving substitute - precooked rotisserie chicken}
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 full freezer bag of frozen veggie waste
4-6 bouillon chicken cubes
4 large carrots, roughly chopped
4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs parsley
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
If you don't cheat and buy the chicken already roasted then continue to the next paragraph!
Start by roasting a whole chicken, rubbed completely with canola oil, for 1 hour 45 minutes at 400 degrees F. Let the chicken cool enough so that you can handle it, then peel off all skin, discard it, and cut the chicken meat into bite sized pieces.
In a large stock pot, toss in your frozen veggies and fill with water to cover. Boil and then simmer for 30 minutes and then dispose of the veggies. Then, add the chicken bones and bouillon cubes to the veggie stock, adding salt and pepper to taste, simmering for another 30 minutes. Remove the bones from the broth with a slotted spoon. Discard them.
Now, add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaves, salt, black pepper, and fresh thyme. Let this simmer for 30 minutes until the veggies are soft. Add all of the chicken meat to the pot and stir to combine. Simmer for a final 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and thyme.
Serve by itself or add your favorite pasta to finish!
