How to Make Homemade Chicken Vegetable Soup

Learn how to make the most delicious and nourishing soup from a whole chicken and a variety of vegetables. This recipe is part of our Elimination Diet and can be used during phase 2 and phase 3.

I suggest making a pot of this soup every week if you are following The Elimination Diet—it’s easy to digest, full of beneficial nutrients, and deeply satisfying.

Chicken Vegetable Soup


Make a pot of this soup on the weekend so you will have ready-to-go food during the week. You can vary this recipe by adding different vegetables to the soup portion. Replace the green beans with diced zucchini. Try shiitake mushrooms, lemongrass, and grated ginger for an Asian-inspired soup. You could also add diced root vegetables such as parsnips, rutabagas, celeriac, turnips, and golden beets for a winter vegetable chicken soup. 

Broth:
1 whole organic/pastured chicken (about 3.5-4.5 pounds)
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 cups filtered water

Soup:
1 small onion, diced
1 small leek, chopped (optional)
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, first rinse the chicken inside and out, then place it 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 1.5 to 2 hours.

Place a colander over another large pot. Pour the broth through the colander. Let it drain well. Then place the broth back on the stove. Carefully remove the whole chicken (it will be hot) from the colander and place it onto a plate to cool.

To make the soup, place the onion, leek, carrots, celery, green beans, and dried thyme into the pot with the broth. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Pull all of the meat from the bones of the chicken and cut larger pieces into smaller ones. Add it to the pot of simmering vegetables. Then add the kale and parsley, simmer for about 5 minutes more. Season with sea salt and black pepper as desired. Serve.

 

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Comments

Hi Ali
I am so glad I found your site. I eat mostly organic and try to eat healthy as much as possible. You and your husband remind me of the way my mother raised me and my siblings. By the way, your daughter looks adorable drinking the coconut water and spooning the coconut meat. I am eager to make and try your "Chicken vegetable soup." It is the kind I love to eat. I also watched the video on fermenting vegetables and have fermented pickles but not other veggies. I can't wait to try that too. I ordered two of your books and am looking forward to getting them. God bless you, and keep up the good work.
sophie

Thank you Sophie for the sweet comment! I'm glad you are enjoying the videos.....hope you have fun diving into the books too. ~Ali :)

With SIBO I can't use garlic onion or celery. What else can I use to substitute? I've been on the strict SIBO diet for 3 1/2 wks and can slowly add these back but not sure when I should try.

Hi Susan! I would let your symptoms do the talking here.

Do you have less gas, nausea, bloating, distention, diarrhea, or constipation? If your symptoms have not changed then I would stick with the diet. If they are significantly better AND you have consulted with your health care provider about your next steps, you may be ready to add in small amounts of some foods.

With my clients, celery is usually better tolerated than the onions and garlic. You might want to try that first. Just a half a stalk at a time.

If you are not ready to challenge these foods yet but you want some of their flavor, I recommend replacing your regular salt with Herbamare. This is a sea salt product that is infused with the flavors of many herbs and includes garlic, onion, and celery flavors. It can really add to a broth, soup, stew, or any other dish that you would normally put salt in to.

My very best wishes to you! 

The low FOD map SIBO specific diet I'm on is the one from Dr Siebecker and they don't want you using onion or garlic powders as well so I'm unsure if I could try the Herbamare or not. The only way to use garlic is to infuse it in oil then throw out the garlic.
I haven't tried the celery just yet but tried peanut butter, organic with no added ingredients, plus some tasty coconut and had some diarrhea. I'll avoid both till later but would like to try the celery. Onions garlic celery and avocado's were staples in my kitchen until the SIBO showed up. Can't wait to get back to eating fresh fruits and veggies!

Hi Susan.....

Herbamare is a sea salt that is infused with garlic and onions, so it is quite a bit different than using the powders. You could also add chives or the green part of green onions to both the broth part and soup part. :)

Such a wonderfully clear and easy to follow video. The peppercorns in the stock are brilliant and your unique combo of herbs gives the soup uber-bright flavor. Thank you for this winning recipe Ali!

Thank you! :)

Hello,
I'm looking to start the diet soon. I can't really afford a home water filtration system and am wondering if I'm going to be hurting my chances to heal if I use my hard water to drink/ make broths/ fermenting etc.? I'm not opposed to buying bottled water if that is a major factor but am unsure of what kind to purchase?Do you have any suggestions? I know you've mentioned purified water but that seems to be such a broad term... So would any water labeled purified be ok to use? And where is it most important to use? For straight drinking or for cooking/ broths? If it helps main problems trying to alleviate are: Depression, Severe anxiety, acne, bowel problems (most likely due to gluten). Sorry for long email just excited to do the diet right and get the most out of it. Thank you so much in advance!

I buy gallons of water at our health food store. I take my empty gallon jugs and fill them there from their filtration system station. Unlike the same set up in grocery stores theirs also filters out fluoride. Costs 39 cents per gallon.

Hi Jennifer~ First I would get your water tested to see what types of contaminants (and at what levels) are present. If the results are poor then I would suggest a Berkey Water Filter. You can learn more about them here: http://www.berkeyfilters.com

You really want to avoid tap water at all costs. Sometimes though, well water can be very contaminated. 

Sorry for the late response. I missed these comments. :)

Would this protocol help someone who suspects they may have a histamine intolerance? Also, would this be a form of a detox?

Hi Rita~ No, our Elimination Diet program is not designed for those dealing with a histamine intolerance. 

I am following along with the video and cooking with you! But I'm at the stage where I drained the broth from the chicken and veggies, and there is a thick layer of fat floating on top. This chicken is a pastured chicken. I can't imagine that we'd want to eat a soup with that much fat in the broth, so I will skim off what I can. Just wondering if you skipped this step or just leave the fat in the broth in the soup recipe here. Thanks!

 

Hi Natalie~ I never drain the fat off, but if you feel it is particularly fatty then go for it. Whatever you feel best doing. :)

Hi Ali,
Thank you for your response. I made the chicken vegetable soup. it is delicious and healthy. It is so soothing to my stomach. I've also been making fermented red cabbage with beets and carrots and have served it to my guests. They just loved it and wanted to get the recipe. I've tried other recipes such as teff flour pancakes with apples. These were also a winner with my guests and my family. Thank you so much for your great healthy recipes. How do I schedule a consultation with your husband?
Sophie

That's so good to hear Sophie! :) Happy that all of my recipes are working out for you and your family. 

You can go to our Services page here on the site for more info on setting up an appt. with Tom: https://wholelifenutrition.net/services

Happy cooking! :)

I'm preparing to try the Elimination Diet, and I noticed your colander/bowl set used in the video. It seems to work very well. Can you give me any information about the brand? Thanks for all your work and good recipes! Mark Hays

Is it ok to make stock in the instant pot or any pressure cooker? If so, when using roasted chicken that still has some meat in it, it should all be discarded? it definitely does not have any flavor left and I wonder if any nutritional value at all.

I have had a lot of stomach issues lately and my doctor put me on the big six elimination diet for the next two weeks. I struggled trying to figure out WHAT exactly I could eat. I love soups but realized the broths I buy use yeast extract which could contain gluten. So I decided to research and stumbled on this site.

I made the chicken soup literally as soon as I got home from the grocery today and holy guacamole it’s good!!! I didn’t add the kale as I’m not a fan but I followed everything else exactly. It’s so tasty! I’m going to make more broth (just broth) to freeze for later use so I can get myself off that store bought garbage!

Thank you!!!!!

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