This flavorful healthy green chicken vegetable soup recipe is an easy soup recipe to make from scratch for your whole family! If you love this chicken soup as much as we do, you will want to check out all of my delicious homemade soup recipes!

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At times like this, I need to kick myself into gear and get the sugar out of my system. I created several high-protein, super healthy, nutritious green soups as a way to kick-start a week of healthy eating.
Your whole family will love this gluten-free chicken vegetable soup, but I have one word of advice. Don't tell your kids this soup is healthy. I am all about stealthy ways to get nutrition into the kids, so let them try it and let them form their own opinion :-).
This easy soup recipe is one of my favorites, not only because I feel good eating it but because my kids will actually eat it!! (My kids' mantra is, "if it is green, I won't touch it.")
Luckily, I have lots of kid-friendly soup recipes on the blog, like this Lentil Bacon Soup, and if you want to try a really special homemade soup, my Grandma's Homemade Chicken Soup From Scratch recipe.
If I am not trying to "be good", I top this soup with crushed gluten free tortilla chips and about a tablespoon of cheddar cheese.

Substitutions and tips:
You can customize this soup easily to use the vegetables you have in your refrigerator. This soup is a great way to eliminate food waste by using up what you have compared to going to the grocery store to buy more.
- Look in your refrigerator; what vegetables are going bad soon? Toss it into the pot!
- Make brown rice and serve this soup over a quarter cup of rice.
- Use nutrient-dense kale instead of spinach.
- When you pull the whole cooked chicken breasts out of the pot, put it on a cutting board. Use two forks to shred the chicken, as shown below.
Best spices?
I love to mix up the flavors when I make chicken vegetable soup. For this soup, I kept it simple, using cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Sometimes, I add minced garlic...you can customize the flavors your family loves best!

Instructions:
The first step in making this chicken vegetable soup recipe is to open your refrigerator and see what vegetables must be used quickly. Carrots, greens like Swiss chard or spinach, potatoes, onions, green beans, corn. Grab what you have and chop it up!

Sauté the vegetables in a pan with a little olive oil over medium heat for 5-8 minutes to soften the vegetables. Pour the vegetables into a soup pot, and add the raw chicken breasts, seasonings, broth, and water.
Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the temperature to low and simmer for an additional 20 minutes. Remove the chicken breasts to a cutting board.

How to shred chicken:
Shred the chicken, then add it back to the soup.
This is how I shred the cooked chicken with two forks...I use the two forks to pull apart the chicken into "shreds." You can also use special meat shredders to get the job done.

Here is the old photo of the soup...it is fun to see how far my food photography has come!

I hope your family agrees. This is one of the best chicken vegetable soup recipes around. If you want to make an Instant Pot version of this soup, check out this Instant Pot Vegetable Soup With Shredded Chicken. You can also check out all of my Gluten Free Chicken Recipes too!
📖 Recipe

Healthy Chicken Vegetable Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 raw chicken breasts
- 4 large carrots diced
- 2 zucchini chopped into small pieces
- 2 large heads of broccoli chopped
- 2 cups raw spinach sliced very thinly
- 2 ½ cups low sodium chicken broth I use a box of Trader Joe's
- 6 cups water
- 2 teaspoons chili powder more if you like it spicy
- 2 teaspoons cumin powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt more to taste
- ¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Optional sour cream
- Optional chives
Instructions
- In a pot, add oil and vegetables.
- Cook on medium heat until onions become translucent.
- Add chicken breasts, chicken broth, water, and spices.
- Boil for 30 minutes.
- Add chopped cilantro and cook for 15 more minutes.
- Remove chicken breasts and place on a cutting board or in a dish.
- If you want, you can use an immersion blender to puree all of the vegetables.
- Using two forks, shred the chicken breasts. (See photo below.)
- Add back into the soup.
- Serve with a dollop of sour cream and chives.
- (In addition to the sour cream and chives, I like to sprinkle crushed tortilla chips on top of this soup with some cheddar.)
Notes
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, you may need to adjust your moisture levels in your baked goods.
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.
This post was updated from early in my blogging days, 4/2014, with newer photos and more cooking instructions.
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Noelle
Great way to pack those veggies in! This was so warm and comforting loved it.
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much Noelle 🙂
Allison
This was the perfect recipe to get me back on track after several overly indulgent days. Thanks for sharing!
Sandi Gaertner
You are very welcome Allison 🙂
jenna urben
Okay, first of all... I love those bowls! How adorable. Are they made local or do you have a link to them? I'm a sucker for cute dishes and kitchenware. Also, this soup sounds so perfect 🙂 I would for sure make this at the beginning of the week and lunch on leftovers.
Sandi Gaertner
You are so sweet Jenna. I found these bowls at a garage sale and I just knew I had to have them :-).
Joanne/WineLady Cooks
This is a delicious soup for our chilly Northeastern weather, love all the delicious veggies for a hearty winter soup.
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much Joanne...I grew up in that Northeastern weather. I am glad for hot soup 🙂
Samantha White
I love soup but I personally love chicken soup. This one looks healthy and definitely a good alternative to the traditional chicken soup.
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you Samantha. I hope you enjoy this 🙂
Shari Eckstrom
Broccoli is just beginning to head at Pure Grace Farms and spinach is abundant. I can't wait to try this delicious looking green soup. It sounds amazing!
Sandi Gaertner
I love that you live on a farm. Even though we are trying our hand at growing some veggies on our own, we love our CSA box each week. This soup was an original attempt to hide some veggies from my kids. I put in tortilla chips and grated cheese. It seemed to work when the veggies were pureed. I got lazy one time and didn't run it through the Vitamix. After that, they have not really wanted to eat it. I can't complain too much, they love raw veggies so I must choose my battles 🙂 Thank you for commenting!
Miz Helen
Your soup will have fantastic flavor, we will love it. Hope you had a great weekend and thank you so much for sharing your awesome recipe with Full Plate Thursday. Have a good week and come back soon!
Miz Helen
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much Miz Helen. I love all of the great recipes and tips I find in Full Plate Thursday. It is my favorite link party 🙂 Have a wonderful week.