by Debbie Chapman
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Everyone has their own spin on a chicken soup recipe. It’s one of those things that uses such simple ingredients but brings so much comfort to us! This recipe is a family favourite. It’s my copycat recipe based on Swiss Chalet soup (that’s one of our favourite restaurants here in Canada). It’s easy to make, and it’s super healthy.
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4.50 from 2 votes
Hearty Chicken Soup Recipe
Make this chicken soup recipe the next time you need to add a few more vegetables to your diet!
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Total Time1 hour hr 50 minutes mins
Ingredients
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 Tablespoons oil
- 4 stalks celery chopped
- 4 carrots chopped
- 1/2 small red pepper chopped
- 3/4 cup of sweet peas
- 4 chicken thighs
- 1 L 4 cups ready to use chicken broth
- 1 L 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup small pasta shells
- salt and pepper to taste
- parsley optional
Instructions
Heat the oil in a large pot.
Add the onion and garlic and sautee on medium heat until the onion turns translucent (about 5 to 8 minutes).
Add the chopped celery and sautee for another 2 minutes.
Remove the skins from the chicken thighs.
Add the chicken, chicken broth, water, red pepper and carrots to the pot and bring to a boil.
Cover and simmer on low heat for an hour.
Add the sweet peas and pasta.
Remove the chicken thighs from the pot of water. Remove the bone and chop the chicken into small pieces. Add back into the pot.
Simmer for an additional 20 minutes until the pasta is cooked through.
Add chopped fresh parsley (optional).
Chopping is always the most time consuming part of making soup, don’t you think? If you want to make it even faster, go on a chopping spree next time you make soup and make extra. Keep a few freezer bags full of chopped onions, celery and carrots so all you have to do is pull them out. They’ll be ready to go!
Sautee the onion and garlic until the onion turns translucent. This has to be one of my all time favourite smells!
Add just a little bit of red pepper. It adds a mild flavour and an extra dose of vitamins.
You can use your favourite noodles, but since I’m trying to make Swiss Chalet soup, I used small shells for my soup. Egg noodles would also taste delicious!
Okay, it’s really hard to take a picture of chopped chicken and make it look good, but you get the idea. Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked, pull it all out and chop it up before returning it to the pot. I like to use bone-in chicken thighs to help make a better chicken stock. But since we are already using ready to use chicken stock you can really use whatever kind of chicken you have on hand. I’d recommend removing the skin though, otherwise your soup will be really greasy.
I like to leave this soup simmering all afternoon. It really only needs an hour, but I like to set it and forget it and come back to it later. Plus, it makes the house smell amazing!
Anyone who has been to Swiss Chalet will know what I’m talking about. Their soup tastes amazing! It’s always one of my favourite things to order when I’m feeling under the weather.
When you make it yourself, at least you know all of the ingredients you are putting in. Fresh carrots, celery, onion, red pepper and peas. That’s a great dose of vitamins!
Make this chicken soup recipe the next time you need to add a few more vegetables to your diet. It’s an easy Sunday afternoon soup to put on, and will give you lots of leftovers for lunches for the week ahead. It can take as little as an hour to make, or longer if you like to keep it simmering. Mmmmm… one of my favourites!
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About Debbie Chapman, the Author of this Post
I'm Debbie Chapman, founder of One Little Project and author of the book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids. I love creating fun and easy crafts and cooking up delicious recipes for my husband and 3 kids.
More by Debbie Chapman
Filed Under: Recipes, SoupTagged With: copycat, Early Post, fall recipes, soup
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Reader Interactions
Let us know what you think:
Megan says
It was really good – though I didn’t actually have a big enough soup pot – I had to use two medium sized ones, LOL. Kept having to play around with adding more salt/chicken boullion as it’s really bland. Once jt got to the right level of sodium, it really is quite a copycat recipe for sure.Reply
Christian Murray says
I have made this soup from this website a dozen times now with the following amendments. Skip the water entirely. Use regular chicken broth. Also use all usable meat from a rotisserie chicken and double all the ingredients. Mmm noodle soup.Reply
Jackie Shamir says
Can I use chicken breast instead?
Would 2 chicken breasts be enough?Reply