Tumeric chicken soup is an amazing cold and flu-busting bowl of comfort food. Once you taste it, you will fall in love with this delicious chicken soup with turmeric!
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Make this easy anti-inflammatory chicken soup recipe and check out all of my homemade soup recipes to take you through the cold and flu season. If you are suffering from a cold or the flu, you will also want to try my grandmother's homemade chicken soup recipe! It is Jewish penicillin for the soul.
When you see the ingredients in this clean-eating turmeric chicken soup recipe, you are going to think I am crazy. This turmeric soup for colds is always on hand during the winter!
How to use turmeric in recipes:
I love using turmeric in recipes. This cold-busting chicken soup with turmeric is full of nutrients and is a natural anti-inflammatory. Just be careful if you use your hands to prep a recipe because turmeric will stain your fingers and clothes!
I found that out the hard way when I made these turmeric chicken wings. They stained my fingers and baking sheet bright yellow!
Since both of my kids love homemade chicken soup, I thought using turmeric would be a nice way to get some natural inflammatory ingredients into them in the winter.
Cooking with turmeric is easy. You will also love this easy Turmeric Curry Lime Cauliflower.
Ingredient notes:
- Low sodium chicken broth - feel free to use regular if you don't like low sodium. You can also use chicken bone broth.
- Chicken - you can use chicken breasts, parts, or a whole chicken. Feel free to use bone-in chicken if you would like some of the nutrients as bone broth.
- Turmeric - any brand is fine. I tend to use organic turmeric because it is less likely to be contaminated with lead.
- Vegetables - Use the basics like onion, celery, and carrots. Or, mix it up fun veggies like I did using peas, parsnips, potatoes, or what you have on hand in your refrigerator.
How to make turmeric chicken soup:
This chicken soup with turmeric can be made in two ways.
If you are using chicken breast:
- In a large soup pot, heat olive oil on medium heat.
- Add onion and cook 3 minutes.
- Add other vegetables and cook 5 minutes until they soften.
- Add raw chicken breasts, water, broth, and spices.
- Cover and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low and cook until the chicken breasts are done.
- Remove the chicken and with two forks, shred the chicken.
- Return the chicken shreds to the pot and simmer for 10 minutes so the flavors soak into the chicken.
If you are using bone in or whole chicken:
- Using bone in or whole chicken means this soup will need to cook longer.
- Think of this more as a slower dump and go type of soup. Add everything to the pot.
- Fill the pot with water above the chicken. Cover and bring the ingredients to a boil.
- Allow the soup to boil about 20 minutes, then turn the heat down to low and simmer another hour. This slow simmer allows the flavors to really build.
- This soup will taste even better the next day!
Seasoning notes:
The first thing you will notice is the almost "neon" yellow color of this gluten free chicken soup. My son almost wouldn't eat it because of this. After a few minutes, I finally did convince him to give it a try. After two bowls, he declared this recipe a success:-).
Fun swaps:
Add some greens to make this cold-busting soup even healthier. Kale and spinach are great additions to this soup. You can also add diced pieces of winter squash or sweet potato.
If you love chicken as much as we do, you will want to check out all of my delicious Gluten Free Chicken Recipes! I hope you can enjoy this soup for the fun of it, and not because your family is sick!!
Tips and Recipe FAQ:
If you can't eat nightshades or if you are trying to make this soup lower-calorie, you can easily omit the potatoes. You really can use any vegetables!
I love to make a big pot full of turmeric chicken soup during cold and flu season. This homemade turmeric soup freezes well too, so be prepared this winter!
This soup will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
Serve with:
- Gluten Free Fontina Cheese Herb Scones
- Easy Gluten Free Dinner Rolls
- Gluten Free Cheddar Herb Muffins
- Gluten Free Breadsticks
Recipe
Turmeric Chicken Soup {cold and flu busting soup}
Ingredients
Using Chicken Breast:
- 6 cups water
- 32 ounces low sodium chicken broth
- 2 large chicken breasts raw
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons salt I added more later so you may want to taste and add salt as needed
- 1 cup peas (frozen or fresh, not canned)
- 1 large onion diced
- 4 parsnips chopped
- 2 large potatoes diced
- 1-2 zucchini diced
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- cilantro for garnish
Instructions
Using Boneless Chicken Breasts
- In a large soup pot, heat olive oil on medium heat.
- Add onion and cook 3 minutes.
- Add other vegetables and cook 5 minutes until they soften.
- Add raw chicken breasts, water, broth, and spices.
- Cover and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low and cook until the chicken breasts are done.
- Remove the chicken and with two forks, shred the chicken.
- Return the chicken shreds to the pot and simmer for 10 minutes so the flavors soak into the chicken.
- Garnish with cilantro.
Using A Whole Chicken or Bone In Chicken
- Add all of the ingredients to the pot. Fill with water and broth to cover the chicken.
- Cover and bring to a boil. Allow the soup to boil 15-20 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low and cook an additional hour.
Notes
- You can use any vegetables in this soup. I like to use what I have on hand in my refrigerator so sometimes traditional soup ingredients like carrots, onion, and celery, and others parsnips, peas etc.
- You can use boneless chicken breasts, bone-in, or even a whole chicken.
- This soup will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator, or in the freezer up to 4 months.
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.
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Judy
What a wonderful easy flavorful recipe. I made some for my neighbor who has been fighting a cold for three days I am sure she will enjoy this. Thank you
Sandi Gaertner
That is so nice of you to make this for your neighbor. I hope they are feeling better!
Erin
Hello. Is there a reason why you don’t include garlic in this recipe?
Sandi Gaertner
I didn't think this recipe needed it, but please do try adding some and let me know what you think :-).
Katerina
It is soup time and this makes me so happy! I love everything about this soup!
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you Katerina 🙂
Jen V.
I have been trying to add more turmeric to my diet ever since I read an article about how it can be as effective as ibuprofen when it comes to its anti-inflammatory properties. I messed up my back in an accident a few years ago and am trying to add more turmeric to my diet so I can cut back on my daily pain medicine. So I am going to have to try your soup. Thanks for sharing!
Sandi Gaertner
I didn't know it could be as effective Jen, thank you for mentioning that. I hope your back feels better, that must be really hard.