Looking for a chicken soup that is easy to make and is restorative to the body? I have just the right soup for you! This past week, my husband and I both caught Covid and the symptoms were pretty bad. We both had fever, body ache and a really bad sore throat. The throat hurt the worst! I actually caught Covid first on my last day of vacation in India and I was miserable throughout the entire 18 hour long flight journey back home. I did not have an appetite for anything and all I wanted was something hot to drink. So I constantly pestered the flight attendant for green tea and must have downed like 10 cups of green tea on the 2 nd leg of my journey.
My symptoms lasted for 5 days total but after the first two days I began to feel better. However, by then my husband got it from me even though I had isolated after getting home. The two days that both of us were out, my son managed to cook some food and feed us all! I asked him at one point to make a soup to which he replied that he didn’t really know how to make soup! He did however try and made a decent chicken soup for all of us.
Anyways after I began to feel better, I decided to make more soup. I wanted it to be restorative as my husband still had a lot of congestion. I also wanted to add a lot of vegetables and aromatics so that it could be both healing as well as restorative. I made the soup like how I normally do – throwing different vegetables, aromatics and herbs together. But this time, I recorded a video too so that my son doesn’t have an excuse next time! Honestly, i am so glad i recorded this video. This recipe is an Instant pot recipe and makes 8 servings! So it is a great recipe for batch cooking. Nothing like a spicy aromatic soup when your throat hurts or when you have a bad cold.
Here’s the link to the video recipe! The video lists the ingredients as well.
Scroll below for the print recipe.
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
- 2 large onions, roughly chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 tbsp, fresh ginger, finely chopped (about 2 inch by 1 inch piece)
- 2 tbsp, fresh garlic, minced (1 whole garlic)
- ¼ th of a cabbage, shredded
- 1 medium carrot, cut into ½ inch long and ¼ inch thick pieces
- 10-12 whole mushrooms, washed and sliced
- 2 tsps Himalayan Pink salt
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp coriander powder (omit for AIP elimination)
- ½ tsp cumin powder (omit for AIP elimination)
- 10-12 whole black peppercorns (omit for AIP elimination)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 whole cloves
- One 1 inch long cinnamon stick
- ½ tsp white pepper powder (Omit for AIP elimination)
- 6 cups of filtered water
- 1.5 lbs -2 lbs of Chicken Thighs (boneless or with bones)
- generous handful of fresh herbs (you can use any combination of fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme or fresh cilantro and mint)
- 1 zucchini, chopped into 1 inch cubes
- 1 bunch of scallions, finely chopped
- 2 cups additional filtered water
- salt or crushed black pepper as needed.
- Press the sauce button on the Instant pot and make sure it's on medium heat.
- When hot, add the oil and then quickly add the chopped onions and celery. Saute for 2-3 minutes and then add the ginger and garlic followed by the cabbage, carrot and mushrooms. Then add the salted all of the spices and the water. Stir to mix and then add the chicken pieces.
- Next add the herbs and close the lid of the Instant pot.
- Make sure the valve is in sealing position.
- Press 'Cancel' and then press 'Pressure Cook'.
- Change pressure cook time manually to 10 minutes.
- While the chicken and vegetables are pressure cooking, chop the zucchini and the scallions.
- Once the pressure cook time is done, manually release the pressure and open the lid carefully.
- Remove the chicken pieces into a bowl and add the additional water.
- Now add the chopped zucchini and the scallions into the Instant Pot and loosely cover the lid. Press saute to start the heat and let it cook for 5-7 minutes.
- Meanwhile, shred the chicken using your hands or using a fork. Add the shredded chicken 9discarding any bones) back into the soup.
- Check the seasoning and add sea salt or crushed black pepper as needed.
- Serve soup while hot. Discard whole spices when serving.
