Here’s a variation on the standard chicken soup recipe that incorporates the great flavor of roasted vegetables. It makes for a thicker rendition of this nurturing comfort food and it’s loaded with vitamin A and C.
I don’t eat meat too often, but occasionally a dark roasted rotisserie chicken calls my name. This recipe takes great advantage of roasted (or rotisserie) chicken leftovers. Of course, any chicken you have will work. If you already have stock and leftover chicken, all you need to do is roast the vegetables.
I practically live on roasted vegetables once the weather cools. My first cookbook has a simple recipe for roasted vegetables, and I shared another variation of roasted or sheet pan vegetables in my ratatouille “pasta” recipe.
This version of chicken soup is great because you not only get the great flavor of the roasted veggies, but by blending part of the vegetables in broth you get a thicker, more flavorful version of what would normally be just a broth with chicken and vegetables. And as for cutting up the butternut squash, I cheated a bit and used a pre-cut bag from Trader Joe’s.
This soup is great served with my original cornbread recipe, or the skillet cornbread recipe in the Healthy Coconut Flour Cookbook.
Leftover Roasted Chicken Vegetable Soup
To prepare the stock and chicken for this soup, the first thing I do is take the roasted chicken, remove all the leftover chicken (usually white meat) from the chicken carcass and put it aside.
Then I place the chicken carcass in a stockpot and immerse in water, bring the water to a boil and then cover and simmer while I prepare and roast the vegetables. This way you take care of both parts of the soup at the same time. When the vegetables are ready, I strain out everything from the stock and it’s ready to be used in the soup.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons high heat oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (for the vegetables)
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 1 cup of carrots, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 cup butternut squash, peeled and chopped into cubes
- 1 cup of yam, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces (for SCD, sub with another cup of butternut squash)
- 1 small yellow onion, peeled and cut into quarters
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups roasted shredded chicken (or any other leftover chicken)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (for the soup)
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme (fresh or dry)
- 1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper (optional)
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup chopped kale or spinach (optional)
Method
- Preheat oven to 425º (220°C, or gas mark 7).
- Prepare the chicken and stock (see notes above).
- Toss the vegetables in the oil and and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Spread them out on a sheet pan with a non-stick surface (I use parchment paper) and roast for 25 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender (you can slide a fork in them).
- Place all the onions and roughly half the roasted vegetables in a blender with 1 cup of water. Blend until smooth.
- Add the remaining vegetables to the chicken stock.
- Add the pureed vegetables and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the soup, and simmer for a few minutes. Optionally, you can add some chopped kale or spinach to the soup. Sometimes I add frozen peas to the mix.
- Serve hot. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for a few days, or freeze for a few months.
Serves 4
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