Chicken Soup Recipes | Taste of Home (2024)

FAQs

How to make can chicken soup taste better? ›

Herbs: Fresh chives, thyme, or cilantro stirred in just before serving. Spices: Your soup is probably salty enough, but what about simmering a bay leaf in there for a while (don't forget to remove it before serving)? Depending on the soup's flavor profile, you could shake in some cumin or red pepper flakes.

An additional reason for elevating your chicken soup with lemon rather than other acidic ingredients is the health benefits. Lemons are high in vitamin C, help with digestion, and are full of antioxidants. Many soup recipes are made with good-for-you, healing ingredients and lemon fits right into that.

"If your broth is lacking in savory richness, try adding roasted onion, tomato paste, mushrooms, seaweed, soy sauce, or miso. These ingredients add umami flavor and depth to broth," she says. The choice of ingredient depends on the recipe, though.

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

A splash of vinegar or wine can add depth and complexity to the flavors of your chicken noodle soup. Try adding a small amount of apple cider vinegar or a dry white wine for a delightful tangy note. Just remember to add it gradually, tasting as you go, to avoid overpowering the soup.

Brown or Sear the Meat

If you are adding meat to a soup, sear or brown it in a sauté pan before you add it to the soup. This adds a deeper savory flavor to the whole soup. This trick is especially useful for things like chicken and sausage, which can sometimes get bland and rubbery while floating in a brothy soup.

While broth and stock both get richer and richer the longer you cook them, the problem is that the chicken meat will dry out and get tough if you let it go too long. Vegetables will also have an unpleasant texture if you overcook them, turning mushy and falling apart.

Whether it's white wine or vinegar, a touch of acid added to the simmering pot will create a richer finished product. That's because acid helps break down the cartilage and other connective tissues in the bones of the chicken, which helps speed up the formation of gelatin in the stock.

When you simmer a fresh chicken — complete with bones, skin, and meat — you extract the collagen from the bones. This collagen in the bones is what is causing your soup to gel. It's completely natural, and it only happens in rich, well-made chicken stock. It can be a little freaky, though, if you're not expecting it!

Why does chicken soup taste so good? ›

The salt and seasonings in soup are flavor enhancers that tantalize your taste buds more than plain water can. That may be one of the reasons soup is effective—you're likely to keep eating it. What's more, seasonings provide medicinal value as well.

Adding Worcestershire Sauce To Soups

It will work in a broad range of dishes from your favorite French onion soup to velvety tomato bisque. It definitely does a great job of amping up the meaty flavors of a beef stew as well as giving vegetable soups a flavor lift, too.

If a soup is tasting bland in the bowl, consider adding acid rather than salt. A squeeze of lemon or lime, or a dash of yogurt or sour cream can add brightness to the bowl. Our Lemony Chicken Soup will make your mouth water.

Ensure you've added enough salt and black pepper. Too little salt means your soup's flavors will remain hidden. When you know your soup is salty enough, move on to other seasonings like herbs and spices.

Basic principles of preparing soup are also outlined, including starting with cold water, cutting vegetables to size, selecting protein, simmering, and skimming.

It may sound a bit strange and unusual for some, but vinegar is a common ingredient in some soup recipes, and there is a good reason for it. If you think about it, vinegar is really a flavor-enhancer (umami). That's why it is so often used in cooking, sauces, and salad dressings. The same is true with soups.

A soup's quality is determined by its flavor, appearance and texture. A good soup should be full-flavored, with no off or sour tastes. Flavors from each of the soup's ingre- dients should blend and complement, with no one flavor overpowering another.