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Hearty Chicken Vegetable Soup

This is a versatile chicken and vegetable soup that starts with a quick homemade chicken broth. It's a good base recipe that can be adapted to use whatever vegetables you have on hand.
Prep Time15 minutes
Active Time1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
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Ingredients

  • 2 lbs Bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
  • 10 cups Cold water
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 large Yellow onion diced
  • 4 large Carrots chopped
  • 3 stalks Celery chopped
  • 5 cloves Garlic minced
  • 2 Zucchini quartered and chopped
  • 2 Yellow squash quartered and chopped
  • 1/2 bunch Kale stems removed and chopped
  • 1/2 Lemon juiced
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • Diamond Crystal kosher salt to taste
  • Black pepper freshly ground, to taste

Instructions

  • Place chicken thighs and bay leaves in stockpot, cover with cold water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer covered 30-40 minutes.
  • Remove chicken to cool, strain broth through fine-mesh sieve.
  • Heat olive oil in stockpot over medium heat. Sauté onion, carrots, celery 10-15 minutes until soft.
  • Add garlic, cook 1 minute until fragrant.
  • Pour strained broth back into pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat.
  • Shred chicken, discarding bones and skin.
  • Add shredded chicken, zucchini, squash. Simmer covered 20-30 minutes until vegetables are tender.
  • Add kale, cook 5-10 minutes until wilted.
  • Stir in lemon juice, season with salt and pepper.

Notes

Skim any foam from broth for clearer soup. Lemon juice adds brightness to finished soup.