Immune Boosting Chicken and Rice Soup
Immune Boosting Chicken and Rice Soup is a warm and therapeutic cozy cold and flu fighting bowl of deliciousness.
Servings: 6 bowls
Calories: 307kcal
Equipment
- large soup pot at least 6 quarts
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup onion
diced - 2 tablespoon ginger
fresh grated (or ½ teaspoon dried ginger) - 4 cloves garlic
crushed and minced - 1 teaspoon red chili peppers
fresh minced or ½ teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes (optional/ hold if you have a fever) - 1 teaspoon turmeric dried, ground
- 12 ounces chicken breasts
chopped or 3 small breasts - 1 cup carrots
diced - 1 cup celery
diced - 1 cup white rice
uncooked (we used jasmine) and rinsed - Salt and pepper
to taste - 10 cups Chicken bone broth
or chicken stock (gluten-free if needed) - 3 whole bay leaves
dried - 2 cups spinach chopped or leafy green vegetable of choice (optional)
Instructions
- In a large soup pot add olive oil, onion, ginger, chili peppers and turmeric. Sauté on medium high heat until aromatic. Stir in garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add chicken and salt and pepper and cook for 2- 3 minutes. Next, add the rice and sauté for just 1-2 minutes or until all the grains are coated with oil and spice.
- Then, add carrots, celery and stir. Cook until vegetables start to soften slightly. (Feel free to add any any vegetables you have in your crisper)
- Add chicken bone broth (or chicken broth) and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat to simmer and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. The soup is done when the veggies and rice are fork tender. Remove bay leaves and discard. Skim the top of soup. Check for taste. Add more chili flakes, salt and pepper as desired. FYI - the soup will thicken as it cools. (*please see notes below)
- Serve your Immune Boosting Chicken and Rice soup in a large bowl and start feeling better soon!
Slow Cooker Option:
- Place all chopped items together in the pot, except oil and spinach or any leafy green vegetables. Place on low heat for 6 - 8 hours or high heat for 4 hours. Add your spinach to the hot soup and serve. If you happen to come home from work with cranky sick kids, dinner is already prepared and the madness can begin.
Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot Option:
- Turn your instant pot to sauté function. Add oil, onions, ginger, chili and turmeric and sauté until just aromatic. Then add your garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add your chicken to the pressure cooker and sauté for about 3 - 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the spinach, and pressure cook on high for 6 minutes. Let your instant pot decompress for 10 minutes and then perform the quick release. Remove the bay leaves, skim the soup and add your spinach or leafy green vegetables of choice and enjoy.
Video
Notes
- Choose a big soup pot. This recipe makes 6 large bowl servings, so we used a 6-quart (5.6 liters) large soup pot.
- Shoot for around 1.5 pounds (680 grams) of boneless skinless chicken but it does not need to be exact. Less is just as delicious, and more is just heartier.
- Chop the chicken into small little bites. From a texture perspective, it is nice to have everything around the same size.
- The same goes for carrot and celery. Make sure the vegetables are small and thin so that they cook quickly.
- This immune boosting chicken and rice recipe needs 10 cups of broth. That is 2 of the 32-ounce cartons plus 2 cups of broth from a 3rd It is good to have the extra broth on hand as you will need this to thin out the soup as it sits and to reheat.
- Wash your rice until the water runs clear and drain well. This removes some of the excess starches.
- Periodically stir the soup while it is cooking to make sure the rice is not cooking to the bottom of the soup pot.
- The longer you cook the soup, the higher the probability your rice will start to break down and become the consistency of congee. We personally love it this way as it is extra cozy and gets this thick creamy texture without the addition of cream. However, we know that many prefer a clearer soup.
- If you prefer to have distinct grains of rice with a thinner texture soup, cook the rice separately from the soup. Then just add a scoop of cooked rice when serving up the soup.
- Feel free to add any vegetables you desire. If you want to add frozen veggies it is best to add them at the very end, right before you add the spinach.
Nutrition
Serving: 1large bowl | Calories: 307kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 223mg | Potassium: 791mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 4626IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 2mg
