The best chicken soup doesn’t need much — just tender poached chicken, hearty winter vegetables, and fresh herbs simmered in chicken broth. It’s a simple combination that’s a cozy hug for your taste buds and the best kind of immunity boost.
I’ve been making this exact chicken soup for over a decade now. It’s my go-to recipe when the cold weather strikes and I’m craving something light, brothy, nourishing, and warm. And while many chicken soup recipes often contain pasta noodles, they’re definitely not needed. I swap those out for parsnips which are equally filling, but add a deliciously sweet flavor that works so well with the fresh herbs.
What’s the secret to making a phenomenal chicken soup? My answer is to keep the ingredient list minimal and simple. This chicken soup is jam-packed with a ton of nutrient-dense vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, leek, celery, and onion, plus fresh herbs. Vegetables are a big component of many of my soups recipes, from my lentil soup, to classic vegetable soup, and cabbage soup. But, it’s the fresh thyme and tarragon that really makes this chicken soup special and unique.
If you’ve made my chicken salad recipe you know that tarragon pairs beautifully with chicken, and I’d say it’s the one ingredient that really gives this soup that “wow factor” as well. So if you’re on the hunt for a chicken soup that’s cozy, healing, and flavorful, this should be at the top of your list!
Simple Chicken Soup Ingredients
- Chicken Breast: You’ll need two boneless, skinless chicken breast for poaching. Though you could also swap in chicken thighs if you’d like. Poached chicken is the best method for an easy and healthy way to cook chicken!
- Vegetables: This is a classic and hearty mix of carrots, parsnips, leek, celery, onion, and garlic. If you’re not a fan of parsnips, you can also use turnips or potatoes. Just keep in mind that potatoes may need a few extra minutes to cook until fork-tender.
- Fresh Herbs: When it comes to seasoning your chicken soup, sprigs of fresh thyme, tarragon, and a bay leaf lend herbaceous goodness. See my notes below if using dried herbs.
- Chicken Broth: With a simple ingredient list, it’s important to choose a high-quality chicken broth for the best flavor. If you’re curious about the brand I use, I’ve linked it in the recipe card below.
Find the printable recipe with measurements below
How To Make Chicken Soup
Saute the veggies. Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the carrots, parsnips, celery, leek, and onion to the pot and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Then, add the garlic, salt, and pepper, and stir for another minute.
Poach the chicken. Add the thyme, tarragon, bay leaf, chicken, and broth to the pot. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Simmer the soup for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked. You can also use an instant-read thermometer to see if the chicken has reached 165°F.
Shred the chicken. With tongs, remove the chicken to a cutting board and gently shred the chicken with two forks. Place the shredded chicken back into the pot and simmer for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
Garnish and serve. Remove the sprigs of thyme, tarragon, and bay leaf. Don’t forget to garnish the fresh parsley and black pepper before serving. Those little additions will make a difference!
Common Questions
While I’m no doctor, I think most would agree that chicken soups are nourishing. And for me personally, it’s always been one of my go-to remedies for when I’m feeling under the weather. The light and warm broth soothes my body and the mix of healthy protein and veggies gives me the nutrients I need to keep my gut happy.
While I do feel that fresh is best in this recipe, if you only have dried herbs on hand, go ahead and use them! Just keep in mind that dried herbs are a bit stronger in flavor, so I’d recommend starting with ½ teaspoon of each, and then adding more if you’d like.
You can always add more veggies to this soup, like peas or zucchini. In fact, I add zucchini noodles along with spicy ginger and earthy turmeric in the golden chicken zoodle soup recipe in my Healthy Meal Prep cookbook!
Storage Tips
- To store for the week: Always allow your soup to come to room temperature before storing away in the fridge in an airtight container. This soup will stay good for 4 to 5 days — making it the perfect healthy meal to quickly reheat and enjoy throughout the week!
- To freeze for later: If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’m a big fan of freezing extra portions of soups, whether that’s in a glass storage container or this silicone freezing tray. Leftovers will stay good for up to 3 months in the freezer.
- For reheating: To reheat a single serving, microwave it in a bowl for a few minutes until it’s warm to your liking.
More Healthy Soup Recipes
Soups always have a designated spot on my menus, especially during fall and winter. If you’re looking for some new inspirations, I’ve got plenty of soup recipes to choose from. Give one of these a try next!
- Butternut Squash Soup: A must-make during winter squash season!
- Stuffed Pepper Soup: This hearty soup with ground beef, rice, bell peppers, onion, and tomatoes will satisfy even the hungriest bellies.
- White Chicken Chili: This chicken chili is loaded with white beans and lots of veggies.
- Avgolemono Soup: A Greek lemon, chicken, and rice soup that’s naturally creamy.
- Split Pea Soup: Green split peas are simmered with veggies and a meaty ham bone for ultimate flavor.
I hope this chicken soup recipe becomes your new cold-weather favorite. If you make it, I’d love to hear what you think of it in the comment box below. Your review will help other readers in the community.
Description
Video
Equipment
- Le Creuset Dutch Oven My favorite soup pot!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 3 parsnips, peeled and sliced
- 3 celery ribs, sliced
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 1 leek, halved lengthwise, sliced, and rinsed
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh tarragon
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Saute the veggies. Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the carrots, parsnips, celery, leek, and onion to the pot and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper, and stir for another minute.
- Poach the chicken. Add the thyme, tarragon, bay leaf, chicken, and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Simmer the soup for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Shred the chicken. With tongs, remove the chicken to a cutting board and then gently shred the chicken with two forks. Place the shredded chicken back into the pot and simmer for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
- Serve. Remove the sprigs of thyme, tarragon and the bay leaf. Stir in the parsley, and garnish with additional fresh parsley and black pepper before serving.
Lisa’s Tips
- Those of you with an eagle eye may have noticed I added the garlic first in the video above. While that’s not detrimental, I do believe the steps listed above are best – so follow those.
- For the shredded chicken hack (using a stand mixer) that I mention in the video, check out my shredded chicken recipe.
Nutrition
©Downshiftology. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Recipe originally published January 2016, but updated to include new information and photos for your benefit!
All the veggies really add such great flavour you don’t need to season as much as usual. The parsnips were such a great touch !!
Glad you loved the parsnips in this recipe, Denae!
I’ve made this soup a few times now. I’m making it tonight and I’m using half a sweet potato instead of the parsnip and adding some spinach. The first time I made it I used the sweet potato and then other occasions a white potato. Maybe I’ll try parsnips the next time.
What I love about this recipe is that you don’t need pasta or rice, which is how I used to make chicken soups always, and this way is refreshing. I also enjoy the subtle flavor, the layors of the spices. I think the tarragon is what gives it a unique flavor. I had a hard time finding it, and could only find it dried and it was quite expensive. It is an herb not used as much in my area in cooking–although I definitely remember it being easy to find years ago.
Happy to hear you’re loving this chicken soup with sweet potatoes as well, Celeste!
Great recipe!!
This recipe is a keeper.
I was surprised to find all of the vegetables available at my local supermarket.
Thank you so much!!
Happy to hear this chicken soup is a keeper now, Betty!
Wow, great soup, Lisa! I made a double-batch of it for easy, nutritious meals to have on hand when a loved one was recovering from surgery. I’ve made a lot of chicken soup in my day, but it always came out meh. I really enjoyed the flavor in this version and all the yummy veggies! It was easy to improvise with what I had on hand – I didn’t have enough of the carrots and parsnips called for, so added a diced rutabaga and a handful of sliced shiitake mushrooms. I also added an entire head of finely minced garlic, and a good-sized knob of grated ginger, just because I love their flavor. Thank you, I will definitely be making this one again.
Thrilled to hear you’re loving this chicken soup so much, Karen! It really is such a great recipe that can be tweaked to your liking.
Absolutely delicious, I normally wouldn’t have made it because it has parsnips but I guess it was time something different! Will be making it often.
Glad you ended up loving the parsnips in this soup, Rhonda!
Really delicious. Easy to make and comes together so quickly. Can’t wait to make it again thank you
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve made this recipe several times. When someone gets sick, they get fresh soup and they are happy. I let the veges cook a little longer to caramelize them and scrape up the bits. It adds a little extra flavor. I generally don’t have fresh herbs so I use a little dried. I add egg noodles and use roasted chicken. I only use one parsnip. I use almost 3 cartons of broth as you need more because of the egg noodles. It is so flavorful and not mushy at all. It makes a large container to share and a little for us. Everybody loves it. ❤️
The perfect soup to heal someone! Enjoy, Jojo :)
Been making this for about a year or two now. It’s what the family asks for now when it’s cold or we’re struggling from flu season. Thanks Lisa!!!
Happy to hear this chicken soup has become a staple, Warren!
I made this recipe on a cold January PA day for lunch with leftover chicken and dried herbs. It was amazing! The flavors blended into a perfect earthy winter soup.
Hi Ruth – I’m happy to hear you loved my chicken soup. Hopefully it warmed you up a bit!
Just made this soup for tonight’s dinner as it is a perfect meal for the cold snowy weather here in PA! I had a spoonful and Oh my gosh I can’t wait to have a bowl, so delicious and nourishing. Love food that feeds my body and soul. It’s a bonus too that’s it’s a one pot meal. Easy cleanup.
Oh yay! Thrilled to hear this chicken soup was a success for a snowy day, Sheryl.
Girl! I followed this recipe exactly (I would say almost ) and it’s the best and the easiest chicken soup I’ve ever made. It used to take me an entire day to make chicken soup from my whole chicken and it was never this good!
Thank you, darling! You are my hero.
Oh yay! Thrilled to hear you loved this chicken soup, Stacey.
I didn’t have parsnips,leek, but it was amazing! I made dumplings and put them on top for 12 min. Will be making it often
Glad this worked out with dumplings, Deborah!
I was intrigued by veggies that this recipe used so went ahead and made it. I’m so glad I did! It IS delicious. The one change I made was to add Orzo. I put it right in the soup to cook. I think it made the broth creamer than it might have been otherwise. Definitely a keeper. 5 stars
Thrilled this chicken soup was a hit!
What a great idea. I’m going to make 3x quantity How much orzo would you suggest ?
This chicken soup was sooo delicious! What yumminess! Hubby wanted seconds and I’m lucky to have had a small portion for the following day.
Can’t wait to try some of your other soups.
Simply,
ME
Thrilled to hear you loved this chicken soup, Emily!