This homemade chicken soup from scratch is a must to make during cold and flu season. My Grandma’s incredible chicken soup from scratch is the ultimate comfort food, and it is absolutely delicious. All you need is one pot and some simple ingredients to make this incredible chicken soup recipe. See why 100s of people think this soup is the best cold and flu buster!
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Do you love homemade chicken soup? You won’t believe how easy my chicken soup is to make from scratch! I remember my grandmother making this chicken soup from scratch every time we went to visit. The memories come back every time I make it. She would dump the ingredients into a big soup pot, and magic happened as it cooked.
This chicken soup recipe takes time to make, but I promise it is worth it! It has hundreds of great reviews on the blog and on social media. People worldwide send me messages, and it makes me so happy that my Grandmother’s soup can brighten so many days.
You can also make the Instant Pot Version of this Homemade Chicken Soup! Delicious flavor in a fraction of the time!! If you love chicken soup as much as we do, you will want to check out all of my delicious homemade Gluten Free Soup Recipes!
Allergen Information:
This delicious soup is gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and soy-free. It is also Whole 30, Paleo, and Keto. It is perfect for anyone who has food allergies.
My Grandma’s Homemade Chicken Soup is Comfort Food!
This soup is as close to comfort food as it gets. I remember my grandmother making it every time we visited, and the memories come back every time I make it. This easy chicken soup recipe is made from scratch with simple ingredients. It takes time because the flavors slowly simmer, but I promise it is worth it!
Making a bowl of good chicken soup from scratch is so easy. You don’t need many ingredients. Add chicken, broth, carrots, onion, garlic, and celery to a pot. You can add noodles to make chicken noodle soup or add rice. We usually make chicken and rice soup because gluten free noodles tend to get pretty mushy. You can use brown or white rice in this soup recipe.
Pair this soup with these delicious gluten free bread for easy dipping: Gluten Free Light and Fluffy Cheddar Muffins or this Gluten Free Focaccia Bread.
You can use a whole chicken for my grandma’s old-fashioned chicken soup or chicken bone-in chicken parts to make this recipe. My neighbor loves using bone-in chicken thighs. You need to make sure your chicken pieces are with the bone, as the bone minerals are what make this soup so good!!
I prefer to use an organic whole chicken. Include the neck and organs…it all goes into the pot. You will want to cook this down for a couple of hours to infuse the chicken flavor into the broth.
If you love this soup, you will also want to try my Gluten-Free Matzo Ball recipe. This soup is great with matzo balls! Fresh chicken soup is always better than canned!
The Vegetables:
Classic chicken soup has onion, carrot, and celery. I have added turnip and rutabaga to my chicken soup recipe over the years, but I wanted to keep it close to my grandma’s recipe for this post.
(If you decide to add other vegetables, you would want one small turnip and one small rutabaga chopped up.) You can also try this easy Instant Pot Vegetable Soup with Chicken for a soup with many extra vegetables.
Chicken Soup Seasoning:
This soup is full of flavor from these spices and herbs:
- thyme
- basil
- parsley
- garlic
- salt and pepper
I used dried thyme and dried basil. I also used fresh garlic cloves because dried garlic powder doesn’t add the same flavors to the soup broth. Fresh parsley is also better than dried.
How To Make Chicken Soup From Scratch:
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I love making my chicken soup with a whole chicken. The raw chicken cooks in the soup, adding incredible flavor! If you do not have a whole chicken on hand, you can easily use other chicken parts…it is best to use chicken with the bones as the bones add a lot of nutrients to the soup while cooking.
Step 1: Add your raw whole chicken to a large stockpot. Add in low-sodium chicken broth, seasonings, vegetables, and water.
Step 2: Cover the pot and bring the chicken soup to a boil. It should take about 10-15 minutes to boil, depending on the depth of the soup pot.
Step 3: Once the soup is boiling, let it boil for 15 minutes. Turn down the heat to low and allow the soup to simmer for two hours.
Step 4: After the chicken simmers in the soup for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, remove it to a separate pan so the bones don’t fall apart in the soup.
Step 4: Serve the soup hot with rice or noodles. I recommend cooking them separately and then adding them to the bowl.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Most chicken broth is gluten–free, but I highly encourage you to read the labels. Look for any artificial ingredients, and also make sure the broth wasn’t made on shared equipment!
Some brands of gluten free pasta definitely hold up better than others. I like Jovial and Barilla pasta brands for chicken soup. As I mentioned above, you do not want to cook these in your soup…but these noodles will hold up to sitting in a bowl of soup for a little while.
You do not have to use a whole chicken to make this soup recipe. You can also use bone-in chicken parts. My neighbor loves using bone-in chicken thighs. You need to make sure your chicken pieces are with the bone, as the bone minerals are what make this soup so good!!
Add more salt and seasonings to your soup if you want the flavors to be stronger.
How to store leftovers:
This soup will keep fresh in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container. You will notice the chicken fat congeals on top of the soup. You can use a spoon to scrape the fat off if you like. You can reheat it on the stove or in your microwave oven.
You can also freeze the soup. I highly recommend freezing it in Souper Cubes. These are one-cup-sized cubes that are perfect for a single serving! Freeze in the Souper Cubes, then move the frozen cubes to a freezer-safe zip-style bag. The frozen soup will keep fresh for up to 5 months.
More Homemade Soup Recipes to Try:
- This recipe is made without a roux and tastes amazing! Gluten Free Oyster Chowder (works well with clams for clam chowder too!)
- Another great winter soup: Turmeric Chicken Soup
- For my spice lovers, this Taco Chicken Soup is hard to resist.
- If you love wild rice, this Chicken Rice Soup is also delish!
If you love chicken as much as we do, you will want to check out ALL of my delicious, easy Gluten Free Chicken Recipes!!
Love This Recipe?
If you made and enjoyed this recipe, I would be incredibly grateful if you could leave a comment below. This will help others know this recipe is delicious. Thank you!
Grandma’s Homemade Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken raw
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large onion chopped
- 5 carrots chopped
- 3 celery stalks chopped
- 2 teaspoons basil
- 2 teaspoons thyme
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 quart chicken broth low sodium
- 4 cups water
- parsley is optional
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Instructions
- Add a whole raw chicken to a large stock pot.
- Add all ingredients, cover and simmer on medium low until it boils.
- Once the soup is boiling, turn down the temperature to low and simmer for 2 hours.
- Remove the chicken to a pan. Do this carefully so the chicken doesn’t fall apart. Cut the chicken meat into pieces and add back to the soup. Garnish with fresh parsley if you like.
- Serve hot. (My grandmother served it over rice, this is totally optional.)
Notes
- This recipe uses a whole raw chicken. The chicken cooks directly in the soup making the broth full of rich chicken flavors!
- If you do not have a whole chicken, you can use chicken parts. The soup will taste the best if you use bone-in chicken parts. The bone broth is what adds to the flavor.
- You can use fresh herbs or dried.
- I like to add a small rutabaga sometimes for a flavor boost. It is totally optional but if you try this, peel the rutabaga first.
- This chicken soup is even better the next day.
- This soup will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
SPECIAL NOTE
Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn’t test, my rule of thumb is to add more flour if your dough or batter is wet and add more liquid if the dough or batter is too dry!
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
To add additional flavor try adding a diced parsnip. It give a beautiful sweetness to the broth.
I love including parsnips!!
What lb whole chicken or lbs on chicken thighs?
I use 2 pounds of chicken.
Love it!!!! Both my kids are sick and I never even thought to put it over rice! Very satisfying.
I hope your kids feel better soon!!
I always โฅ this soup because it is very simple and delicious and not complicated. Thanks a lot all my friends โค it.when need soup it is grandma’s chicken soup. ๐
I am so glad you love this soup…it brings me joy that this soup is loved by so many.
It is absolutely amazing. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
You are very welcome. I am really glad you enjoyed the soup!
Weโve made this a handful of times already and it is a huge hit! Swapped the whole chicken for 3 leg quarters, and cooked pasta right in the broth. Soo much flavour!
I am so glad you love this soup recipe. Using chicken leg quarters is a great idea!
Thank you Sandi. I made this chicken soup recipe, it was delicious. I shared with my neighbor, who just got out of hospital, she loved it too. We ladled it over rice!
I am so glad you loved the recipe. It will taste even better the next day!!
Making this today in my crockpot. Doubled the recipe. Going to freeze some for a fast meal. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Enjoy. I haven’t made it in my slow cooker, but it should work great.
Absolutely loved this easy peasy recipe, used thawed chicken breasts and 30 minutes. First time using the soup button and I forced the pressure out cause I was so hungry and used breasts, came out perfecto! Thanks so much!
I am so glad you loved this recipe. Using chicken breasts are a great time saver!
Best chicken soup. Made this for my father in law when he was sick. He loved every bite. Thank you.
I am so glad you loved it. I hope your father is feeling better soon!
Just made this the other day and it was delicious and had great flavor! I think I had way too big of a chicken because mine had way too much, but I just added a bit more broth when I heated it up and it was good to go! Thanks for a great and easy recipe!
I am so glad you loved the soup. I do the same thing as you if I have too much chicken :-).
Yes my family like the chicken soup we have made it 4 times
I am so glad everyone loved this soup, Virginia. Thank you!
What whole chicken size do you use? I used a 6+ one and had to add more veggies and water.
Hi Carolyn, I think you mean 6 pound? I typically use a 2-3 pound chicken.
Wow, simply delicious. I followed the instructions to a tee. The whole chicken really made a difference in the flavour. I usually add chicken OXO cubes in my chicken soup but this recipe doesn’t require any adjustments. Perfect the way it is.
I am so glad you all loved the recipe! Thank you so much, Tanya.
Made this tonight…DELICIOUS! I wouldn’t change a thing on this recipe! Even my 4 and 7 year loved it. It’s a keeper! Thank you
I am thrilled you and your littles ones loved the recipe. I have been enjoying my grandma’s soup since I was little too. Thank you so much!
I had to triple amount of water.
This is a nice, quick soup. I have my own homemade soup, itโs the best of course!, but this is pretty darned good!