Chinese Whole Chicken Soup Recipe (Make it a noodle soup!)
A simple, nourishing and light soup for days when you need comfort
It’s quite amazing how easy it is to extract all amazing flavors of a whole chicken: the bone, the collagen, the richness… Takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to make this for whose days that you just want a comforting bowl of soup with simple but incredible flavors. Very low effort, you’re just cooking the soup low and slow, and all the prep you do in the beginning will make it worthwhile.
Ingredients for soup
Whole chicken (remove giblets)
Ginger
Goji berries
Shiitake mushrooms (if you want)
Salt
Dutch oven or other heavy large pot
Ingredients to make a yummy noodle bowl
Green onion
Noodles (lo mein, ramen)
Tear up pieces of chicken for the soup
Optional: add in some stir fried bok choy or other leafy greens (but I don’t recommend cooking it in the soup!)
Steps for the Soup & Broth
Prep the chicken: In a large bowl, remove any giblets from your whole chicken and wash it thoroughly. Rub some salt to help remove any impurities. Leave the chicken for 10 minutes in the salt, then rinse off thoroughly, rubbing vigorously.
Prep other ingredients: Slice 6 large slices of ginger. Soak the shiitake mushrooms; chop it to whatever size you like to eat it.
Boil the water: While the chicken sits, get the stove going with your pot of choice filled with water. Leave room for the chicken. Get it to almost boiling.
Gently place ingredients in the pot: Very slowly drop the chicken into your almost boiling pot of water, and add the slices of ginger.
Diligently remove the impurities from the broth: As the water begin to cook the chicken, you will see what looks like white froths begin to surface to the top of the broth. Using a small mesh strainer (flat is easier) or just a spoon, skim off those impurities from the soup; prep a small bowl of water and rinse your spoon between scoops. Be patient and diligent in doing this - it will make all the difference in the flavor! May take 5 minutes or more.
Let the chicken sit: After you stop seeing as much impurities surfacing in the broth, turn the heat down to low so that the broth has a low simmer - this is important! Low simmer. Add the mushrooms now. Cook for an hour or so. Add goji berries in the last 10 minutes.
Prep your perfect bowl: In a bowl, combine chopped up green onions and salt to your liking. Cook and strain noodle of choice on the side. Once your broth is ready, splash the soup into the bowl of green onion & salt, and add your noodles and pieces of shredded chicken. You should shred your chicken with two forks; you can do it in the pot or remove it and do it on a cutting board. Add other elements like chili oil if you wish.