Chicken and Rice Healing Soup
This easy Chicken and Rice Healing Soup is a healthy soup that is perfect not only on those colder days but when your body needs some TLC. It is loaded with vegetables and rice and simmered in the most aromatic chicken broth.
This soup recipe came about when I wanted to incorporate broccoli into my traditional Greek Chicken Avgolemono soup. It is similar in flavour but this recipe has the benefits of added vegetables!
Here is my Chicken Avgolemono Soup
Helpful Tips
Butter or Dairy Free Alternative: If I could beg you not to leave out the butter, then I would. Therefore, please do not leave out the butter! Do not substitute it for olive oil either. If you prefer it to be dairy free, then add a dairy free alternative (in Australia we have Nuttelex). This adds a creamy texture and goes so well with the fresh lemon juice.
Water: You may think that there is a lot of water – in total nearly 3.5 litres – however during the chicken cooking time - which needs to be at least an hour - there is about a litre of water that evaporates, hence why I suggest adding another 3 cups of boiling water.
Seasoning: No amount of delicious broth will taste good without salt. Please add according to your taste but it is really important that you do, especially whilst the chicken is cooking. It gives it a completely different and wholesome taste.
And now it’s time to start cooking! As always, if you make any of my recipes, I would love to hear your feedback. I am available here via email or you can catch me daily on Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to save it on your Pinterest board as well! I have a board named CreateCookShare that you can follow and save. Can’t wait to hear from you.
Happy Cooking, Margaret x
Chicken and Rice Healing Soup
Serves 6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
1.2kg whole chicken or 8 drumsticks
3 litres of water
1 cup medium-grain rice
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 broccoli head
1 large carrot
30g butter (dairy free option)
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
1. Add water to a large deep pot and bring to boil. Add the chicken with a good amount of sea salt. Simmer for 1 hour covered but with a steam hole open and every so often skim off impurities whilst simmering. During this time the water level will reduce. After the first half hour, add another 3 cups of boiling water.
2. In the meantime, wash and finely chop in a food processor or grate using a grater the broccoli and carrot.
3. Remove chicken once cooked and set aside to cool. Taste the broth for seasoning and add more salt if needed. Once the chicken has lightly cooled, pull apart or dice it into small pieces in preparation to add to the soup.
4. Once the chicken has been removed, add the rice to the chicken broth and boil on high heat for 5 minutes. Next pour in the broccoli, carrots and butter and simmer over medium heat for a further 10 minutes. If the soup is quite thick add another two cups of boiling water if needed.
5. Finally add the chicken to the soup mixture and cook for a further 5 minutes in order for the ingredients to come together.
6. Turn off the heat, season with freshly ground pepper and pour lemon juice into the pot. Stir through and serve.
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