Homemade Roast Chicken Soup – with gluten free breadsticks from The Sensitive Baker

Waste not, want not. Chicken soup is an economical, no-guilt approach to efficiently using what’s left of your roast chicken. Combined with kitchen staples such as fresh carrots, onions, and celery, this soup is always a crowd pleaser. It gets its flavor from the slow simmer, so make sure to set aside time to make this dish!

There’s nothing like a hot chicken soup on a cold day…especially when it’s homemade! If you’ve never made homemade chicken soup before, the principle is always the same. Take your leftover roast chicken and simmer it in a large pot of water and chicken broth until all the meat falls off the bone. Then you strain out the broth and put in a pot. Then sift through the strained meat, and remove any bones and fat. Return just the chicken to the broth and simmer as you season to taste.

This soup relies heavily on the original flavor of the roast chicken you are using. Often times we will buy one of the organic roast chickens at Henry’s Farmers Market or Whole Foods, and after serving the white meat and drum sticks, I boil what’s left.

For the soup above, I used what was left of my Julia Child’s roast chicken recipe. It was full of flavor and the hard part was already done!

This recipe took about two hours to make and serves four.

Ingredients:

One roast chicken carcass (skin, bones, and remaining meat)
4 qts of water
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced thin
2 large celery stocks, sliced thin
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 cloves of garlic
1 to 2 Tbsp chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pot, bring the water and chicken carcass to a boil. Lower the heat and cover, simmering for an hour or until all the meat falls off the bone.
Place a colander or sieve over a larger bowl and slowly pour the contents of the pot into the collander to strain out all the meat, bones and skin.
Put the strained broth back into the soup pot.
Pick through all of the meat and remove any skin and bones.
Add the meat to the broth and set aside.
For the vegetables, in a large skillet, heat the oil over low to medium heat. When it’s hot, add the butter.
When the butter is melted, added the onions and saute until soft, about 5-7 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for about a minute. Make sure not to burn the garlic!
Add the carrots and celery, sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley, and cook about 10-12 minutes until vegetables are soft. Stir occasionally.
Add the vegetables to the chicken and broth and test for seasoning.
Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Serve with crusty GLUTEN FREE bread. (In the above picture are gluten free bread sticks from http://www.thesensitivebaker.com/.)