JAH Poultry Soup is a phenomenal Soup that can go in a bunch of different directions depending on what vegetables, Herbs & Spices, and choice of filler is added. The main preparation is in cooking the chicken and rendering the fat. Once this is done, the soup comes together easily.

This recipe is designed to serve as a base to which additional ingredients & seasonings can be added to shape the direction of the final dish. Then with your choice of Potatoes, Rice, or Pasta for variations. The same technique and principles apply. Get this recipe down and you will be able to create a wide variety of JAH Poultry Soups.

Poultry

The Beautiful thing about this soup is that it can be made with a Whole Chicken, Chicken Pieces, Chicken Breast, leftover roast chicken, or Turkey meat and even Duck or Partridge.

Fresh Bone in Poultry

Remove the skin and trim any fat from the poultry. This will be used to render the fat from it. The Chicken will go into the stockpot and brought to a boil and then the heat reduced and simmered for 45 minutes.

Chicken Breast

Chicken Breast can be diced and fried in the rendered fat for a bit before adding in the broth. Then add the vegetables and broth, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add your choice of filler.

Leftover Poultry

Any leftover Turkey or Roast Chicken can be used and tossed in, once the broth and Vegetables are added. it’s a great way to use up leftovers.

Chicken Broth

Use 6 Maggi Chicken Bouillon Cubes with 12 Cups of water to create the Chicken Broth. Other broths may be used but in my opinion, Maggi is absolutely the best.

One box comes with 2 cubes. With each bouillon cube add 2 cups of water, so for 12 Cups, 6 Maggi Bouillon Cubes. What you want to end up with is good Flavored Chicken Broth. Use Broth, Powdered Broth, or Bouillon Cubes according to their instructions to achieve this.

Rendered Chicken Fat

Rendered Chicken Fat will promote better flavors and is ideal when making Soup from Fresh Poultry. Just remove the skin to render the fat out and discard the Crackling. Visit my post on Rendered Fat for more information.

Butter, Neutral Oil, Bacon Fat, or Lard will most likely be needed to top the rendered fat so that you get about 1/2 C of fat in total.

If using Butter, add that after the Liquids have been added to avoid burning the butter, since the rendered fat will be extremely hot.

This step may be omitted with just using a Neutral Oil, Bacon Fat, Lard or Butter. If doing so, the vegetables can be sautéed for 1 – 2 minutes before adding in the broth and bringing it to a boil.

Chicken Soup Vegetables

The Basic Soup Vegetables are

• Onions
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Celery
• Leeks are a very nice addition
• Bell Peppers are very nice in soups too

There is a whole host of vegetables that can go into this to shape the flavors even more. Some ideas are as follows.

• Leeks
• Bell Peppers
• Parsnips
• Turnip
• Fennel Bulb
• Cabbage
• Corn
• Peas
• Waxed Beans
• Squash or Pumpkin
• Radish
• Mushrooms
• Bok Choy
• Nappa Cabbage

Just be sure to chop them up to size so that all the vegetables are cooked at the same time. For quick-cook items like Green Peas, Waxed Beans, or Corn. Add them to the Soup last and bring back to a boil, just before taking off the heat and cover to rest for 20 minutes.

JAH Poultry Soup Seasoning

Here is where you can shape the flavors of the soup even further with the types of Herbs & Spices used. Always include the Butter Popcorn seasoning. It just adds so much to the soup. Other than that, add whatever you’d like and always adjust the seasoning before serving.

Butter Popcorn Seasoning

The main seasoning that really makes this soup so Fantastic is Butter Popcorn Seasoning. Such a comforting Buttery Taste comes from this. It also assists slightly in color and contributes Salt. It’s just not the same without it.

Salt

Between the Salt already in the Broth and in the Butter Popcorn Seasoning, you won’t need much salt if at all to adjust. Unless Potatoes are added, they soak up quite a bit of salt. So additional salt may be needed after the rest. Taste and adjust.

Poultry Seasoning

Add Poultry Seasoning as an all-around seasoning. One of my favorites and is used in a few places, including in this recipe is the below seasoning.

• 1 tsp Marjoram & Parsley
• 1/4 tsp Ground Tarragon & Ground Rosemary
• 1/8 tsp or a bit more of Black & White Pepper

Heat

Use Black & White Pepper, optionally with a pinch of Cayenne Pepper. This can also be substituted by adding hot peppers or hot sauce.

Chicken Soup Herbs & Spices

Besides Poultry Seasoning. Other Herbs & Spices that go well with Poultry can be added such as

• Italian Seasoning
• Sage
• Savory
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Tarragon
• Bay Leaves

You can even place an emphasis on a particular Herb such as Savory. This is one of the Soups I make up with 1 Tbl of Savory or more and a good amount of Black Pepper for heat, enough to make your nose sniffle. That’s all that goes into the soup as far as Herbs & Spices go.

Gelatin

For a more Gelatinous mouthfeel add 1 tsp of gelatin. This is a very neat trick to mimic an authentic broth where the bones have been simmering for hours with the Gelatin released into the broth. It’s good for the mouthfeel and really beneficial for the stomach.

Poultry Soup Slurry

If you don’t like watery soup, thicken it a bit with Flour or Starch. Just enough so that it is barely noticeable but enough so that there is some viscosity to the soup. You don’t want the soup to be a stew, just slightly thicker than water so that the soup has some viscosity to it.

To create the Poultry Soup Filler, mix in a bowl 1 Cup of the Broth with1/2 C Flour, Butter Popcorn Seasoning, and the Herbs & Spices or Poultry Seasoning. Mix it well and add it to the Soup, when bringing it back to a boil and just before adding in the Chicken & Vegetables.

Use more or less of the flour based on your preference.

If using unwashed Rice, this will naturally thicken the soup up slightly without the need for a slurry to go in. Although you could still add the slurry or add with less flour.

Barley Flour can be used in place of All Purpose Flour.

JAH Poultry Soup Filler

The Soup filler is either Pasta, Potatoes, or Rice.

The beautiful thing about the Filler is that you practically throw it in while the Soup is boiling. Mix, cover, and remove from the heat. Let it sit for 20 minutes.

This method works pretty much the same whether you use Short Pasta, Potatoes, or Rice. Either way, it comes down to choosing the main filler. There are also variations to each category such as Barley, Orzo, and Egg Noodles.

Add your choice of filler after the Soup has simmered for 10 minutes with the vegetables.

Barley will thicken soups, depending on how much is added. Wash the Barley well if you don’t want it to thicken the soup or use as is if the thickening is desired.

Pasta

The Pasta can be any short pasta. I really like the use of Pasta Shells. Egg Noodles or Noodles for Chicken Noodle Soup or Orzo can be used too.

After the Soup has simmered for 10 minutes with the vegetables. Add in about 200 g Pasta and Mix. Once boiling again, cover and remove from heat. Let sit for 20 minutes. If you want the pasta softer then boil for 1 – 2 minutes before covering with a lid and removing from the heat to rest 20 minutes.

Potatoes

For Potatoes, just small – medium dice them and treat them the same way as the Rice. Throw them in after the soup has simmered for 10 minutes with the vegetables, and cook for 8-10 minutes, mixing often before covering. Remove from heat, let rest for about 20 minutes, depending on how large the potatoes are cut.

Rice

After the Soup has simmered for 10 minutes with the vegetables, add in 1 Cup of Rice. Continue to boil for 8 – 10 minutes, mixing often. Cover, and remove from heat. Let sit for 20 minutes. Use either Jasmine or Basmati Rice.

The Rice will also contribute to thickening the soup a bit. To minimize the thickening from the rice, wash & rinse the rice well before adding.

Don’t wash the rice if you want the natural starch in the rice to thicken the soup instead of using a slurry.

Poultry Soup Variations

So many variations of soups and Stews, simply add or remove certain vegetables, add in different Herbs & Spices with various fillers, add in Cream of Soups after the 20-minute rest and you now know how to make all kinds of various poultry soups.

Poultry Soup with Shell Pasta

Add 200 g or about 1-2 Cup of Shell Pasta as the filler of choice.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Use 200 g or about 1-2 Cup Egg Noodle Pasta. Bucatini Pasta is a good one too.

Poultry Soup with Rice

Add 1 Cup of Jasmine or Basmati Rice as the filler of choice. Wash the rice for less thickening or don’t for a soup with some viscosity.