Recipe: 3-Ingredient Chicken Soup (from scratch)

I don’t know where you live, but today in NYC, it was in the low 20s (Fahrenheit), but felt like a bone-chilling 10 degrees!!! I spent my day hanging out with someone I was fortunate enough to meet through the Macaulay Honors Program through CUNY, and we ate at this fancy brunch spot called Cafeteria–go for their lemon ricotta pancakes, OMG delicious…but I will save that for another day (when I eventually learn how to make that divine whipped ricotta cream hehe).

Time flew by until it was almost the evening since we spent the day catching up and talking about Public Health (I am super stoked I have a buddy I can talk to about anything and everything related to this since she’s on a similar career trajectory 🙂 ). It was super cold and I wanted something quick and easy to make when I got home. Lucky for me, there’s a supermarket right where I get off the train, so I ran in, bought a “bag of chickens” (basically a whole chicken stripped of the wings, breasts, legs and thighs, but still has some meat leftover and great for making stew!)

When I got home, I quickly fed my dogs and took them out, and then I got to work…

Here are the 3 simple ingredients I used:

• chicken **I got 3 whole chickens for only $1.77!!!**
• a head of garlic
• dried Chinese mushrooms

Depending on the amount of time you have, you can follow my steps or omit the second step!

1. Boil a little less than half a pot of water (and add a bit of salt to get the water to boil faster).
2. Separate the garlic bulbs and peel them.
3. Soak the mushrooms until they are soft (and cut them in halves if they are large if you want!).
4. Add the garlic and the mushrooms into the water.
5. Take out your chicken and cut out the excess fat and skin from your chicken.
6. Wash the chicken of any blood and put it into the pot.
7. Stew for at least an hour. **I recommend at least 2-3 hours so the flavor of the chicken is stronger in the soup, and you can always add salt to taste**
8. OPTIONAL: Cook some noodles to go with your soup for the perfect chicken noodle soup 🙂

This soup is perfect for the cold, wintry weather and it’s really easy to make. It does take some time to make, but trust me, it is soooo worth it over canned soup or packaged Lipton chicken noodle soup!

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