If you enjoyed Grandma Lola’s roasted chicken last night, you will love this recipe for chicken soup — especially if you are saving it to use for its medicinal properties for the next cold or flu. Use the carcass, vegetables, and gravy from last night’s meal to create the stock needed for this healing elixir. Since I imagine my grandfather Sam wouldn’t want to waste all that goodness leftover from Lola’s roasted chicken, this recipe keeps his spirit close.
Grandpa Sam’s Chicken Soup
Roasted chicken carcass (remove as much meat as you can and save) and gravy remnants (veggies and juices)
Water — 6 quarts
Orange juice — 1 cup
Onion — 1 large white, Spanish, or Vidalia onion, diced. Save the onion ends.
Baby carrots — 8 oz, sliced into thirds.
Celery — 4 stalks, diced. Save the celery leaves.
Garlic — 6-8 cloves, diced
Salt and pepper to taste (Not too much salt!)
Herbs (A light sprinkle of fresh or dried parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme is recommended)
Directions: Place carcass of roasted chicken, gravy remnants, and the saved onion ends and celery leaves into a large stockpot and add enough water to cover it. If you saved the neck when you cleaned the chicken before roasting, be sure to include it in the pot. Add orange juice. Sprinkle in salt, pepper, and herbs. Bring pot to a boil and then simmer for one hour. Allow to cool for 30 minutes on stovetop, then carefully remove all bones, the neck, and veggies, first with tongs and then by pouring the soup through a strainer. Return strained soup to the stockpot. Add diced vegetables and garlic. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Add leftover chicken meat (cubed, diced, shredded) to hot soup, bring back to simmer. If desired, noodles can now be added directly to simmering soup and cooked until soft, or cooked separately and then added to the soup.
This soup freezes very well. Thaw and enjoy the next time illness strikes.