How To Make a Hearty, Comforting Chicken Soup With Your Chicken Leftovers

We don’t know about you, but we’re not sure there’s anything more comforting than a big bowl of chicken soup, especially when you’re sick (or even when you’re not!).

It’s not quite the same when you buy a can of soup from the supermarket, however. We’re talking homemade chicken soup from scratch—the stuff mom or grandma used to make.

While it might sound intimidating, luckily, you don’t need a lot of ingredients for homemade chicken soup. In fact, it’s such a versatile recipe that you can kind of make it up as you go, and it’ll be just as good.

Another great perk to this chicken soup recipe, which comes from British chef Jamie Oliver, is that it used ingredients you might have otherwise thrown away—e.g., a leftover carcass from your Sunday’s chicken roast or the ends of a celery stalk that might be too bitter to munch on. You can really use whatever you have on hand (which is the perfect direction for someone in quarantine!).

First things first, break up that carcass and add it to a pot with boiling water—yes, even the bones too! Then add all those flavorful ingredients you might have—celebrity, rosemary, etc.

Once that boils together, all the natural flavors from the chicken will mesh together. “Build this up to be a really beautiful perfumed broth,” Oliver says.

As that’s going, you’re going to prepare the other flavorful aspects of the soup. Chop up an onion and get that caramelizing on the stove. Add some celery, garlic, and a spring of rosemary (first picking off the leaves) into the mix.

Next comes the mushrooms., which Oliver says you can simply mash up with your hands into the pan of goodness—no need to make any fancy cuts for this one. Next into the pan comes some flour, which is your thickening agent.

At this point you’re probably wondering how the heck this becomes a soup. Don’t worry, we’re about to get there.

Your broth is likely just about done at this point, boiling away, smelling up the kitchen with a comforting aroma. Slowly add a little bit of the broth to the mushroom mixture with a strainer, letting that simmer away.

Using a hand blender, liquidize your mixture, add some salt and pepper, and voila! Suddenly, you have an amazing soup you can enjoy for lunch or dinner at home.

Jamie Oliver truly makes it easy. Let him teach you his ways in the video below (hint: he also makes a delightful-looking chicken crostini you can add to your soup to give it a bit more oomph).

Yum! How good does this soup recipe look? Do you think you’ll try making it?